Prime Holyfield VS Prime Lewis

I see your reasoning but there's also a good chance that a prime Evander would be far more gung ho and leave himself open to more of Lennox' power punches.

 

Holyfield IMO.

By the time the actual matches happened, Holyfield was a little too shopworn and could only fight sporadically - and he still kept the rematch close. I think a younger, more active Holyfield could pull it off.

But with his tendency to come to a fight without a plan and just slug it out, Lewis could very well beat him, even convincingly. Holyfield in a way was his own worst enemy.

 

I've voted for a Lewis win by decision but it could well be a tko win for Lewis.
I think Lewis could bide his time behind his jab before he started to dismantle holydield

 

I think Lewis style would always be difficult for Holyfield to deal with. I'd pick Lewis by decision, but it could go either way.

Course Swag, has Lewis losing to everyone by KO.

His next thread is probably going to Lewis and his Swag's mother, with his mother cracking Lewis' chin in the first couple of rounds.

 

I pick Holyfield by decision, but not by a wide margin.

My pick based on fact that young Holyfield had better speed, stamina and workrate than 1999 version of Holy.

 

Holyfield did better in the second fight because he was the man who had to make the adjustments, not Lennox. Lewis, who is generally better prepared in rematches, didn't have to make these same adjustments to his game that Evander made. We can infer that when Evander sticks to a game plan, he is equally if not more effective. So despite him having a bit a bit more youth on his side, I don't agree fighting fire with fire against Lennox, hence why I favour the Brit, Holyfied might take a rematch if the first was close enough to warrant one.

 

Lewis is just too big for Evander. There's only 3 years between them anyway. What would Holyfield do better in his prime? Box better outside? Nope. Defensively better? Nope. Hit harder? Nope. Take punishment better? Nope. Quicker? Yes but I don't think it changes allot. Higher workrate? Yes, but this doesn't necessarily help, it means he'll give more counter opportunities for the bigger hitter to land on him.

When he was in his prime, he was lighter with less weight on his punches and easier to buzz. Easier to hit too.

What's the actual gameplan for prime Holyfield to win? Beat Lewis up inside? He'd be eating countless uppercuts and overhand rights. It wouldn't happen.

Love Holyfield and Lewis, best HW era ever without a shadow of a doubt.

 

:good

 

Lewis in a close fight for me.

 

God no, but an extremely elite H2h fighter at his best, yes.

I'm mostly just refuting the premise that he looses every fight with ATG's because of his chin.

I find that whole line of reasoning to be flawed and I've illustrated why.

But in terms of H2H match ups I do think he's in the top 5.

 

Holyfield from Bowe 2
Vs
Lewis from Holyfield1?

Both have Steward...very interesting.

I do believe Holyfield pre Moorer would beat Lewis up to the Mercer fight.

 

This is a write up on the first fight between Lewis - Holyfield which was found on Monte Cox's website.

"Every sports writer, boxing fan, boxing historian, and fighter who witnessed the bout all saw Lennox Lewis win. Al Bernstein of ESPN had it 11-1 for Lewis in rounds. Brian Kenny, of ESPN2's Friday Night Fights had it 10-2. Professional boxing judge and HBO commentator Harold Lederman had it 9-3. The AP also had it 9-3. I had a couple of "sympathy" rounds for Holyfield and still saw Lewis win going away 8-4. Former heavyweight champion George Foreman e-mailed me saying "I did not see the fight close at all. Holyfield did nothing at all". "

I post this to refute some people who suggest the two fights between Lewis and Holyfield were close. The 2nd fight was closer than the 1st, but it still wasn't all that close, and if you combine the two fights, it's not close at all. I scored the 1st fight 9-3 which is about the median of the scores above, and the second fight 8-4 (but 7-5) also works. Combine the score and it's 16-8 over the 24 rounds.

Now in their primes it would probably be closer, but I don't see the argument people often use in picking these fights to justify a Holyfield win in their primes, especially when those people using this line of reasoning, tend to only pick the 2nd fight.