BoxRec

Boxerbeetle wrote: ↑03 Jul 2018, 14:54

thechump wrote: ↑03 Jul 2018, 14:47

Tuan_Jim wrote: ↑03 Jul 2018, 14:31

We've already established your memory is awful!

Who is this we? How can i remember something that i didnt hear about till today? If a debate is too much for your brain to take get off the forum,i was debating with u cause i hadnt heard about bowe but instead of proving your point you just insult people,prove your point next time Jim. And my memory is fine lewis went to court against mike tyson and don king regarding them NOT wanting to fight lewis next and also lewis DID sign to fight bowe but got beat in the fight before the scheduled fight so were in this was lewis scared to fight anyone if them? I think its your memory that needs sortin out pal

Gents, take this to the History section if you wish to continue this well-worn argument

orbtastic wrote: ↑03 Jul 2018, 08:50

TheLeprechaun wrote: ↑03 Jul 2018, 08:15

orbtastic wrote: ↑03 Jul 2018, 08:04 He got $4m for effectively letting DK fighter Seldon defend against Tyson. Tyson's team tried to force it through in court (WBC/WBA unification fight) but lost and vacated the WBC title instead. He then got a vacant shot against another DK fighter, McCall.

Why did Tyson pay Lewis step aside money then if he got stripped anyway? The way I understood it was Tyson had the belt and wanted to unify and then fight Lewis but would have fought Lewis if Lewis didn't agree to step aside.

So Tyson got stripped for not fighting Lewis? Doesn't make sense as to why he paid step aside money.

DK paid the step aside.

WBC then vacated the belt because the court case mandated that Tyson face Lewis for the WBC title.

I don't think DK thought that the WBC would strip him but that's what happened. Of course, he tried his best for that not to happen.

Widely reported in all the papers at the time:

http://articles.latimes.com/1996-05-17/ ... ghts-lewis

The handlers of Mike Tyson couldn't win in court, so they paid Lennox Lewis, who agreed Thursday to step aside and let Tyson fight World Boxing Assn. champion Bruce Seldon on July 13 in Las Vegas.

The New Jersey Supreme Court had blocked Tyson's bid to fight Seldon after Lewis had gone to court, claiming that he should be fighting for Tyson's World Boxing Council title, rather than Seldon. Attempts by Tyson and promoter Don King to overturn that decision failed, and that crown will not be at stake when Tyson fights Seldon.

Though terms of the agreement were not announced, Lewis reportedly will be paid an amount in seven figures and is guaranteed a fight with Tyson by Sept. 1 for the WBC title, provided Lewis wins a tune-up bout.

http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Bruce ... Mike_Tyson

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the following on September 25, 1996:

Mike Tyson relinquished the World Boxing Council's heavyweight championship yesterday. The WBC declared the heavyweight title vacant and said it would hold a public purse bid for a title fight between Lennox Lewis of Britain and Oliver McCall of the United States. A New Jersey court ruled earlier this year that Tyson had to fight Lewis before facing World Boxing Association champion Bruce Seldon. But Tyson's promoter, Don King, paid Lewis $4 million to step aside. Tyson stopped Seldon in the first round to win the WBA title. The Lewis and Tyson camps could not agree to a deal for a bout between their two fighters. Tyson, therefore, was stripped of his title by the WBC, adhering to the court ruling. "We are disappointed and surprised that Tyson decided to give up the title instead of fighting Lennox," said Dino Duva, Lewis' promoter. Tyson is scheduled to put his new WBA title on the line against former undisputed champion Evander Holyfield on Nov. 9 in Las Vegas.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/lew ... 47818.html

Wrangling over the heavyweight championship took another twist last night when Lennox Lewis and his associates were offered $4m to let Mike Tyson go through with a challenge for the World Boxing Association held by Bruce Seldon.

The contest, scheduled for Las Vegas on 13 July, was wiped off the heavyweight agenda earlier this week when the Supreme Court upheld legal restraints on Tyson undertaking any contests until a defence of the World Boxing Council championship against Lewis.

It now appears that Lewis may be willing to step aside on the understanding that Tyson will not be risking the WBC crown against Seldon and that he will defend it against him later this year, probably in September.

Lewis's principle associates, Panos Eliades and Dino Divo of the American promotional organisation, Main Events, insist that the deal has not been finalised but reports from New York suggest that following talks with Tyson's promoter, Don King, they are close to an agreement. Not done and dusted but close.

It is also possible that Tyson in turn will step aside enabling Lewis to fight the vacant title, one he gained by decree three years ago when Riddick Bowe gave it up rather than fight him.

https://lasvegassun.com/news/1996/sep/2 ... ing-crown/

https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/04/spor ... s-off.html

orbtastic wrote: ↑03 Jul 2018, 20:40 I’m pretty sure he took the money, it was offered right at the start before any fights were signed.

Don’t forget that the events took place over the space of months, probably dragged out over a year and involved court cases, counter claims and all sorts of dk chicanery.

Also, it’s dk here, he was a shitbag of the highest order and his techniques are well documented. In the post prison Tyson vacuum he spent a lot of money making sure his fighters tied up the titles ready for mikey to pick them up and he has 3 rather large flies in his ointment to contend with that he quite clearly in this case figured could make one go away by waving 4 million dollars at

IF you look at the purses post prison Tyson was getting and the huge interest and money being thrown at him it’s obvious the money was in him owning the titles so I would say that it was just a series of miscalculations that dk made on the way to getting him to try and unify the titles. It was largely win win for him anyway as he’d had his fighters get hold of the titles as much as he could and literally put his fighters against Lenny at every step along the way to make it as hard as possible for him to hold that wbc title.

Lewis of course did the right thing and kept on with his legal entitlements.

The reporting does have different wording but I imagine that is to do with the timeline and how this information is put out. It suits dk and Tyson more to say they vacated than were legally stripped for not complying with the outcome of a legal case but the short of it is that Lewis got 4m for nowt and picked up his old title again ( against another dk fighter, it has to be noted) and Tyson went ahead with Seldon with no wbc title on the line and the freak show rumbled on with millions and millions generated for dk with mike getting his slice. The wheels came off one fight later and we all know what happened. I can’t recall at exactly what point dk was frozen out of it all but it wasn’t that long after.