If Tyson had not gone to jail...

[fatcookie]

How would the 90's heavyweight division have played out in your opinion ?

[jezzamundo]

Tyson was already on the slide pre-prison, but still formidable. I think had he not gone to prison, he would have fought Holyfield instead of Bert Cooper in November of 1991. If Holyfield gave the same performance he did against Cooper, I think there's a good chance that Mike stops him, but I think it's more likely that Evander is more cautious and wins the fight in similar (though more competitive) fashion as he eventually did in 1996. Either he stops Tyson late or wins a clear, 116-112 type decision.

Holyfield would then have gone on to lose to Bowe and the title lineage would have gone as it did, with Tyson regaining a piece by beating Bruno. Perhaps Lewis-Tyson would have happened in 1996 as Tyson might have been less keen to fight Holyfield having already lost to him in 1991. That would have been a more competitive fight than what happened in 2002, but I think the result would be the same - Lewis by a late to mid-rounds stoppage.

[Oswald]

If Ali hit like Ernie Shavers, how would the 70s have played out?

[BoxBuzz]

More importantly if Shavers was as fast as Willie Pep, how would that have changed boxing History?

[BoxBuzz]

Tyson was already on the slide pre-prison, but still formidable. I think had he not gone to prison, he would have fought Holyfield instead of Bert Cooper in November of 1991. If Holyfield gave the same performance he did against Cooper, I think there's a good chance that Mike stops him, but I think it's more likely that Evander is more cautious and wins the fight in similar (though more competitive) fashion as he eventually did in 1996. Either he stops Tyson late or wins a clear, 116-112 type decision.

Holyfield would then have gone on to lose to Bowe and the title lineage would have gone as it did, with Tyson regaining a piece by beating Bruno. Perhaps Lewis-Tyson would have happened in 1996 as Tyson might have been less keen to fight Holyfield having already lost to him in 1991. That would have been a more competitive fight than what happened in 2002, but I think the result would be the same - Lewis by a late to mid-rounds stoppage.

But if Bowe would have lived an Olympian life, he would have cleaned out the division and only recently retired with Holyfield being his only partial blemish. Leaving Lewis to the back pages of history.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Not much differently, Holyfield would have kicked Mike's ass.

[stevieb_8006]

It would have just been a different kind of train wreck

[The 1bangkid]

It would have just been a different kind of train wreck

Tyson would be dead by now....... things happen for a reason

[HomicideHenry]

I know prior to the Douglas fight, the two fights in Tyson's sights were against Evander Holyfield and the comebacking George Foreman. There was also talks of doing lesser title defenses against Francesco Damiani in Italy and Ken Lukaska (I think that is how it is spelled) in Brazil. However with the loss to Douglas all that went away. After the two Ruddock fights Tyson was in talks to fight Holyfield, but because of the trial and conviction it was all gone.

Had he been found not guilty, I think Tyson would have lost to Evander and probably would have fought someone of lesser ability, like a Bert Cooper or maybe even a Tommy Morrison, and then it would have been a George Foreman fight. And who would have won that is really anyone's guess.

[Ezzard]

Nothing would have changed. Mike couldn’t live that insular life forever. And he was always going to go off the rails. He’d have carried on until he did go to prison.

This isn’t like Ali who made a stance.