Quote Originally Posted by liquid
It makes a bit of difference depending on which version of Foreman we're talking about.  The one who fought Michael Moorer would lose.  Moorer was nowhere near the fighter Tyson was and Moorer, until he walked into a straight right, was crushing Foreman.  Tyson would have done that and then some; chopped away at the body until he made the old man hunch over to protect his body.

The Foreman that fought Ali was probably faster and had reflexes.  But Foreman had what I like to call "Big Man Syndrome" where some guys' bodies are just too big on them and they seem awkward, struggling to do the things that smaller guys do with ease.  I saw a former NBA player trained by Emmanuel Steward who was like this.  Steward gave him a good jab, but everything else he tried to do he looked like he was on marionette strings.  Frazier was easily handled because he had a hard head and relied on it for defense.  Tyson was actually elusive and would have weaved around one of those big hands and began carving Foreman up like a turkey.  It's the guys who knew how to stay away from Tyson's power who had the greatest success, like Holyfield clinching Tyson's right arm or circling away from his power, like Tillis who was constantly on his feet and didn't let Tyson to settle in and throw.  Foreman would have trodded forward, hurled a club and had a club just as big thrown right back at him.  The only thing Foreman was good at was throwing heavy shots that ripped guys in half.  That was why he couldn't bit Ali.  Tyson was no Ali, but if he could get underneath or to the side of Foreman's bigger shots and essentially had a guy who was right in front of him with subpar defense Foreman goes away early.

But this is predicated on the rumor that Tyson was afraid of Foreman NOT being true.  Fear will turn a fighter into a completely different animal.  Just ask Michael Spinks.
#21 I agree on pretty much your whole scenario except I think the older Foreman had a bigger heart a superhuman chin and had a astonishing will and determination to absorb and win a war of attricion against Mike Tyson were as a younger version of Foreman hadn't matured and relied on the same things Tyson did and thats intimidation and bullying. The older Foreman had to dig down deep numerously and really defined his character as a true Warrior and never wilted in the face of adversity