Seriously. How much higher might the Real Deal be ranked, both in concrete historical terms and in the realm of head to head fantasy, if he instead of trudging on stubbornly had simply dropped the mic and walked away while still on top and having never been licked in the prize ring? I submit for your consideration the respective halves of his professional career. Evander Holyfield pre-Bowe I: 28 bouts. Record of 28-0 (21) Became cruiserweight champ within 20 months of debut. Undisputed 21 months later. Moved up and became Undisputed heavyweight champ a little over 2 years later. Defended thrice against Foreman (unbeaten yet in his comeback and dating back to 1977), Cooper (on a 4-knockout W streak) and Holmes (6 w streak in his return after retirement). Evander Holyfield Post-Holmes: 29 bouts. Record of 17-10-2 (8.) 1-2 with Bowe. 1-1-1 with Ruiz. 1-1 with Moorer. 0-1-1 with Lewis (but should be 0-2). Additional losses to Byrd, Toney, Donald, Ibragimov, and Valuev (controversial, but not to same degree as Lewis I). Best victories aside from those in his rivalries above include the pair over a faded and mentally deteriorated Tyson, Ray Mercer, and Vaughn Bean. That's it. Nothing else worth mentioning. Does adding the names Mercer, Tyson, and Moorer to his resume (despite the version of Tyson in question not being the same mythological creature that Douglas had once triumphed over) and the historic value of becoming a 4-time heavyweight champion satisfactorily offset the negative impact and embarrassment of ten losses and some real dud performances? (including being stopped by a former middleweight, and saved from the same fate at the hands of lowly Tank Williams by a cut) Even if you want to award him the Valuev and Ruiz III decisions, you must in fairness cede the Lewis I and Ruiz I and leave him with an 18-11 record in this drawn out second act. For me, skipping the addition of the name "Tyson" and the unique distinction of triplicate recapture of pieces of the heavyweight crown would tremendously help in preserving intact Holyfield's legendary status and immortal mystique. :think Those accomplishments only seem very special on paper, compared to what he managed to put together in his prodigious first six years.
If he never beat Tyson, no one would think he could beat Tyson. He needed that depth, along with the losses. Unlike Tyson, no one thought Holyfield icicle cool in his day- it took the big wins to do that.
Tyson was not faded tis a myth! Tyson fought better against Holy than he did against tons of his fights on the way up AND as champ.
Well said. And also the Bowe trilogy considerably enhanced his standing too. If Holy had retired after the Holmes fight, not a single sane fan could have him anywhere near a top 10-15 heavyweight ranking. Heck, even the 2nd Lewis fight. He lost, but he put up a good effort there.
Nobody liked Holy as an all timer before Tyson. Nobody liked Holy as a heavyweight until he beat Bowe. I however knew he was a great heavyweight after the Dokes and Cooper fights. The Holyfeild v Dokes fight was voted "best heavyweight fight of the 1980s" by ring magazine. That's when I knew evander was a great fighter, but I was in a minority because Tyson set the standard during that period. Unless you could overshadow Tyson it meant nothing then. And nobody could! Even when Tyson lost there was excuses, young Tyson the phenom was a hard act to follow. It was always going to be the next man after Douglas to beat Tyson with a title at stake that the mainstream world was going to hold up as the next best thing at heavyweight, and so it proved. Holyfeild was proberbly always good enough to do it though. it annoyed me Evander wasn't given credit for the Foreman, Holmes and Cooper fights because each were seen as a joke at the time. Watching those fights however I knew then what everyone can see now each fight was hard fought, exciting and only a great fighter could have won them. Had Evander retired after Holmes nobody could have cared less. The way the public saw it he could not beat a good big young heavyweight and old men gave him trouble. He would have been Mike Spinks without the Tyson blow out. Just a champ from a lower weight class who managed to beat a ripe champion then struggled all the way until a retirement. Holy needed the Bowe, moorer and Tyson fights to win over mainstreamers outside of the sport.
Holy himself has stated that he was desperate to beat Tyson. Him and Tyson were the best 2 of that era, so he needed to defeat him to be taken seriously. If Evander had retired after Holmes he would have left way too many unanswered questions. Hed have been a black Joe Calzaghe. Yes he would have been undefeated but at what price? the fights with Bowe, Moorer, Tyson and Lewis are what make the Holyfield legend. I think a similar thread should be done about Tyson, i personally feel he ruined his legacy by coming back after prison. I think his post prison record was something like 11-6-2 Holy really should have called it a day after the Lewis fights, to me, that was his last hurrah
Bowe II, Lewis II, Tyson I and II, Moorer II, Mercer, all enhanced his legacy. Hell even in losses he proved just how tough an out he was. He barely lost to Moorer (if you agree with that scoring, which I don't), was in two awesome wars with Bowe even in losses, having a much bigger man down in one of them, the Ruiz fights were all close and debatable, and he beat Rahman, a former lineal champ, even when he was past-it. He probably should have retired after the Ruiz fights, though. After Rahman, nothing on his resume was worthwhile (unless you want to count Valuev), but I don't think historians will hold those fights against him, given that we all know he was near the end as of 2001 but his mind just didn't catch up with his body in realizing it.
Holyfield's status was actually elevated by his loss to Bowe. Before that fight he was heavily criticised for his inability to finish his two 40+ challengers, and his difficulty with late sub Cooper. If had retired at that point there would have been too many unanswered questions, and he would have been seen as a transitional champ between prime Tyson and the Bowe/Lewis/(post-prime)Tyson era that followed. A lot of Holyfield's reputation as a warrior was based on his wars with bigger men, and overcoming Tyson when he was a huge underdog. I think there's a much stronger argument if he retired at various alternative points in his career, such as Moorer I, Bowe III or Lewis II (or any of his significant wins). From the Ruiz fights onwards, it was all downhill.
Nov 6/1993 Riddick Bowe Las Vegas, Nv W 12 May 20/1995 Ray Mercer Atlantic City, NJ W 10 Nov 9/1996 Mike Tyson Las Vegas, Nv TK 11 Jun 28/1997 Mike Tyson Las Vegas, Nv WF 3 Nov 8/1997 Michael Moorer Las Vegas, Nv TK 8 Aug 12/2000 John Ruiz Las Vegas, Nv W 12 Jun 1/2002 Hasim Rahman Atlantic City, NJ TW 8 Apr 10/2010 Frans Botha Las Vegas, Nv TK 8 ADDING that to his resume and becoming the ONLY 4 TIME HW CH EVER! Retirement at that point is insane.
