Nothing Can Replace What Could Have Been

It was almost impossible to watch them this time without wondering what might have been.

Five years and one day after they were first scheduled to fight, Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield met in a boxing ring Saturday night. In the glare of the spotlight, when both men were a blur of muscle and menace, it was possible to pretend nothing had changed. That this was the way it would have been. That their skills and stamina were undiminished, that each had beat back the ravages of time in that way great boxers sometimes can.

But the moment the fight slowed, the spell was broken. And then there was no denying what had been lost forever.

In those moments, the 34-year-old Holyfield looked every bit the aging warrior.

His hands have slowed and his legs, never powerful enough for a real heavyweight, have lost most of what little spring they had. Around and just above his right eye, the battered tissue has rearranged itself in the shape of a crescent moon, a testament to too many punches that found their mark. Only his courage looked not to have been affected.

Tyson’s decline was not as easily charted, if only because at age 30, he is only some 15 months back into the fight game. A three-year stretch in an Indiana prison following his conviction on rape charges may have spared Tyson wear and tear. He bears precious few of the lasting marks of his profession and the time away may even have made him a smarter fighter.

But a better one? Tyson doesn’t think so. A short while ago, he watched footage of himself fighting five years ago. “I’m a better fighter than I was back then,” he said, “but I couldn’t beat that guy back then. That guy was awesome, a wild man.”

The sad part, after seeing events unfold Saturday night, is that we’ll never know whether Holyfield could have beaten that wild man, either.

Five years ago, Holyfield was 26-0, with 21 knockouts, just coming into his own as a heavyweight. He had just drilled Buster Douglas, who months earlier had drilled Tyson, to become the champion. He was spending 12 hours each day in the most innovative training program the sport had ever seen. He hadn’t yet fought three incredibly draining bouts against Riddick Bowe. And he hadn’t retired even once, let alone a second time, because of the uncertainty his heart might give out under the strain of fighting.

Five years ago, Tyson was 41-1, with 36 KOs. Though there was plenty of debate about whether his skills were in decline, the loss to Douglas made fury an even more prominent feature of his repertoire. In Tyson’s two fights before the scheduled Nov. 8 match with Holyfield, his opponents were Henry Tillman and Alex Stewart. Both practically fainted from fright before getting knocked out in the first round.

But three weeks before the Holyfield bout, Tyson pulled out, because he tore the cartilage free from one of his ribs while training. His trial began before the bout could be rescheduled, and what was supposed to have been Holyfield’s career-defining fight turned out five years later to be the one that likely ended it instead.

“It’s one of my real regrets, that the fight didn’t happen when it was supposed to,” said Lou Duva, whose family has promoted Holyfield’s career since he turned pro after the 1984 Olympics. “Tyson was coming back strong after the Douglas fight, but Evander was at a whole other level. He would have destroyed Tyson.”

On the eve of this fight, someone asked Holyfield if that was so. Rather than answer it directly, he tried to explain how the passage of time might actually work in his favor.

“Knowledge is power,” he said, “and I’ve learned a lot between then and now.”

The question was then put to Tyson. What would have happened if they’d fought five years ago?

The answer was short. And chilling.

“I would have beaten him earlier.”