Well, he fights Holyfield and I suspect beats Holyfield in the early 90s, though Holy fans would disagree. Thing about Mike is, if he never goes to prison he just burns out quicker. Focused or not, he had a young man's style. Tyson's style was not conducive for longevity, so while people think of him as having this really brief prime, the fact that his prime spanned over 3 years isn't that bad. Maybe Bowe catches him as he's fading and wins. Or maybe Tyson blasts Bowe. Hard to say. Lewis wasn't ready for Tyson in the early 90s.
I think it would have been good for Tyson to take a page out of the other great Mike’s book (Jordan not Jackson) and maybe take a year off. Success had gotten to his head and he lost his hunger and desire. I think a little time off would have been good for maybe getting him to a point where he kind of missed the sport, missed the combat and then hopefully he could have come back with a renewed commitment to his training and to the sport.
I'm not sure how much it would have helped somebody like Tyson. Like X posted Tyson's style was not conducive for longevity. Obviously it would have been better if he took a one year self imposed sabbatical than 3 years in prison but a year off is a year off. His skills would have eroded regardless if he was in a better place mentally.
Based on styles, Bowe might have beaten the early 90s Tyson, who while still very good, was no longer as good as 86-88 Tyson. Bowe probably would have never beaten Lewis though, and Lewis of the early 90s gets KO'd by Tyson IMO. Why? Because he was still pawing with the jab, still didn't know to clinch, and was still very wild at times. Tyson would have slipped and countered the Hell outta the early 90s Lewis. It wasn't until 96-97 that Lewis had morphed into a fighter capable of beating Tyson.
You only know that cos Reiner got the Covid and keeled over. "Comedy is easy, My Dick is Hard"- Louis CK.
