George Foreman vs. Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson vs. George Foreman (because you could argue both men deserve the A-side treatment). It’s one of the most awesome and guaranteed explosions in a fight that could have happened but never happened. And we fans still talk about it, we still dream about it, we still argue about it. Who would win and how?
Well, how easy could it be to answer the part: a knockout! Were these two greats to collide, as they almost did in 1990, it would seem almost impossible for the fight to go the distance. Foreman and Tyson had an amazing 112 KO’s between them.
“Someone is going to hit the ground running. This is when George would always tell anyone who would listen that he desperately wanted a chance to fight Tyson,” said Foreman after one of his comeback fights.
But who would have fallen? The idea of Big George hitting the mat and not being able to get up might be ridiculous in itself. With a granite chin as well as massive mental strength, the Foreman mark-2 has managed to catch plenty of hurtful shots from power hitters like Alex Stewart, Tommy Morrison, Michael Moorer and Shannon Briggs. And Foreman never looked like he was on the verge of breaking down.
As a younger man, when Ron Lyle groomed him, that is, after he punished himself for not giving his all in the losing battle with Muhammad Ali, Foreman showed that he could rise again after being violently pinned to the floor.
Rising from a knockdown to win a fight is something Tyson was never able to do, as special as he was. Could this be the difference in a fight between Tyson, the youngest heavyweight champion ever, and Foreman, the oldest man to wear the crown? maybe. Or maybe Tyson’s super speed was the biggest factor in this, and it’s arguably the most amazing Dream Fight you can experience and point to?
Speaking recently about heavyweight punching power, boxing student Tyson told Fight Camp that, in his opinion, Foreman ranks as the heaviest heavyweight of them all. What’s more, the somewhat unassuming Tyson said that he himself “couldn’t match the strength of someone this big.”
“George Foreman – the heaviest drill,” Tyson said.
“I couldn’t make someone’s strength so great, with that much mass. The only thing that allowed me to be sexy was that I threw punches much faster than all the other guys.”
Again, it’s great: brute force against sheer force. Slow and steady pressure against blinding speed. A chin and flip pitted against a less powerful chin and flip that sometimes let Tyson down. It can be said that Tyson has never met anyone like Foreman, but Foreman has never met anyone as fast and explosive as Tyson. Can you pick a winner between the two?
One can imagine a young Tyson, sitting with Cus D’Amato, watching intently as he studies Cus’ extensive collection of fight movies. What would Tyson think when watching footage of Foreman at his devastating best? Isn’t there a story that the wise D’Amato, never thinking there would be a chance the young man’s job might one day end up fighting Foreman, told Tyson how a “hardcore” like him wouldn’t be able to beat a long club like Foreman?
There is an anecdote, perhaps legend, that says that Tyson, perhaps remembering what Cus told him, didn’t want a part of the Foreman fight in 1990. One thing is clear, the respect and adulation Tyson has for Foreman’s massive strength. When Mike Tyson talks about who is the heaviest heavyweight of all time, you definitely listen.
Imagine the unbearable levels of tension, excitement, and intrigue that could have been felt by millions in the lead-up to the Foreman-Tesson fight. Tyson Foreman fight!
