BoxRec

When these guys were originally scheduled to fight in the early '90s, which one was favored and by what odds? I seem to remember the odds were very close, but I can't remember who was the favorite. Was it pick 'em?

from memory Tyson was favourite. but hey thats just my memory make of that what you will.

I don;t remember the exact odds, but Tyson was definitely the favorite - Holyfield was considered all washed up at that point, after his TKO loss the year before in the third of his wars with Bowe.

Eric the Viking wrote:I don;t remember the exact odds, but Tyson was definitely the favorite - Holyfield was considered all washed up at that point, after his TKO loss the year before in the third of his wars with Bowe.

Sorry Eric if that was intended as a joke... but just so it's clear for everyone, I was referring to when they were scheduled to fight in the early '90s, just before Tyson went to jail.

As for the time they actually did fight... yes, you're right... Holy was near washed-up and Tyson opened as a 25-1 favorite.

THey were originally meant to fight in 1992.

Tyson was a huge favorite, with Holyfield at around 10-1.

The Keed wrote:Sorry Eric if that was intended as a joke... but just so it's clear for everyone, I was referring to when they were scheduled to fight in the early '90s, just before Tyson went to jail.

Whoops, I guess I should've read your post more carefully. Egg on my face. :(

(Still beats a dumb tribal tattoo from a tribe I don;t even belong too, though. ;))

yeah tyson was considered the clear favorite.

tyson had beaten highly feared razor ruddock twice, holyfield was still sneered at as a cruiser who had his hands full with 'an old man'.

people still loved & feared tyson back then, holy was lowly regarded by many.

I am sure they were first scheduled to meet on November 8th, 1991. Mike Tyson pulled out with a rib injury, sustained during training. The bout was then rescheduled to January 1992, I think it was January, but that did not happen because of Tyson's court case pending.

I have a poster of the original scheduled fight date, Nov, 1991, and from memory, I think Tyson was an 8-1 favourite. You all must remeber the Big Fight posters that use to come about, it is a shame they do not do them any more.

The posters use to provide analysis of the fighters and then pick a winner. For the Tyson-Holyfield original date, the outcome was predicted to be Tyson by KO, round 8, or a clear points win.

Rocky Balboa wrote:I am sure they were first scheduled to meet on November 8th, 1991. Mike Tyson pulled out with a rib injury, sustained during training. The bout was then rescheduled to January 1992, I think it was January, but that did not happen because of Tyson's court case pending.

I have a poster of the original scheduled fight date, Nov, 1991, and from memory, I think Tyson was an 8-1 favourite. You all must remeber the Big Fight posters that use to come about, it is a shame they do not do them any more.

The posters use to provide analysis of the fighters and then pick a winner. For the Tyson-Holyfield original date, the outcome was predicted to be Tyson by KO, round 8, or a clear points win.

Yeah, great posters cant remember when they started, by KO werent they?

The first one i got was Hagler - Leonard in 87.

They were full of information.

If they had fought in 1991, I reckon Tyson would have won by mid round KO.

anyone ever seen the holmes/mercer poster? awesome!!!!!!!

Tantum wrote:

Didn't see a whole lot of "power" from the "vicious hitter" that night.

Score: Pride = 1, Power = 0.

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

The Keed wrote:When these guys were originally scheduled to fight in the early '90s, which one was favored and by what odds? I seem to remember the odds were very close, but I can't remember who was the favorite. Was it pick 'em?

From what I know, the only time Tyson has ever been an underdog in a fight was against Lennox Lewis. Even for Holyfield 2 he was a 2-1 favorite.

Alister

Alister wrote:From what I know, the only time Tyson has ever been an underdog in a fight was against Lennox Lewis. Even for Holyfield 2 he was a 2-1 favorite.

The first Holyfield fight, or the second? It'd be interesting to know the odds on both bouts.

Eric the Viking wrote:

Alister wrote:From what I know, the only time Tyson has ever been an underdog in a fight was against Lennox Lewis. Even for Holyfield 2 he was a 2-1 favorite.

The first Holyfield fight, or the second? It'd be interesting to know the odds on both bouts.

Damnit Eric, he said right there Holyfield 2!

Don't you pay attention anymore?? :P

I was the victim of an optical illusion - my eye was drawn to the 2 in "2-1" and skipped over the 2 immediately following Holyfield.

The Keed wrote:Don't you pay attention anymore??

No I don't, Steve.

Eric the Viking wrote:

Alister wrote:From what I know, the only time Tyson has ever been an underdog in a fight was against Lennox Lewis. Even for Holyfield 2 he was a 2-1 favorite.

The first Holyfield fight, or the second? It'd be interesting to know the odds on both bouts.

Anyway, to answer your question, in Tyson-Holyfield I (when it actually happened) Tyson opened as a 25-1 favorite, then the odds dropped to somewhere around 7- or 6-1.

For the 2nd fight, Tyson was still a slight favorite (2-1 sounds about right).

The Keed wrote:Anyway, to answer your question, in Tyson-Holyfield I (when it actually happened) Tyson opened as a 25-1 favorite, then the odds dropped to somewhere around 7- or 6-1.

For the 2nd fight, Tyson was still a slight favorite (2-1 sounds about right).

Thanks for the info, Mike.

I wonder what the odds on Holyfield-wins-rematch-via-DQ-for-Tyson-earbiting were.

25-1 wow they must have really underestimated Holyfield.

{amateur} wrote:25-1 wow they must have really underestimated Holyfield.

That, and way overestimated Tyson. Like so many people still do.

Holyfield hadn't looked good in a long time when he fought the first Tyson fight. He had only fought once after losing the third Bowe fight, a lackluster win over Bobby Czyz, and it looked like the wars had finnaly caught up with him. Most people were shocked when he came out and dominated Tyson from the get-go.

I think Holyfield would have beaten Tyson in 1991 for sure, and might even have beaten him in 1988, when he first called Tyson out as a pro. Tyson was all about intimidation, and Holyfield is fearless (a good thing then, not so good today...).

yeah, i always remember in the build up to that fight people harkin`on about the evander / smoking burt cooper fight.
they were saying if cooper could have evander wobbling all over the ring what was tyson going to do?
i must admit i bought into that theory at the time, i couldn`t see tyson losing.
evander holyfield brought a lot of credit back to boxing the way he handled himself in and out of the ring before, during and after the two tyson fights.
the two moments i remember are the way he faced down tyson in the prelims to the first fight, he looked the baddest man on the planet straight in the eye without any fear, that unnerved the iron one.
and the other is a few days after the second fight he was asked about what he thought of tyson and evander replied along the lines of `the mans got problems and i`m not gonna start badmouthing him when he`s at a low point in his life.`
he`s a classy bloke holyfield