Joshua v klitschko. :comparison s to holyfield V Holmes?

The problem for Holyfield was he had a lot of critics. He wasn't perfect but he got the job done.
Holmes never actually came close to winning that fight, and that's really want counts.
When Holyfield beat Douglas in 3 rounds everyone put that down to Douglas's poor condition and a lack of heart, few gave Holyfield much credit, so it seems he couldn't win with the critics.

Tyson's win over Holmes was better than Holyfield's.
But Tyson failed to beat Douglas, and Mercer failed to beat Holmes. Holyfield got the wins over both, so if the critics had taken time to look at it like that it doesn't really hurt Holyfield's credibility.

 

I disagree. Holyfield wasn't starting out at all, in fact he was in the last stages of his prime years.
Holyfield had done 15 rounds with Qawi, fought Tillman, Qawi again, Ocasio and Deleon at cruiser, unified all the cruiser belts, battered a past it Pinklon Thomas done an 10 round war with Dokes at heavyweight, KO'd Douglas in 3 for the undisputed title, beat Foreman over 12, etc.

 

Joshua turned professional in October 2013, just 3 1/2 years ago.

Holyfield was professional almost 8 years when he faced Holmes.
In fact in his next fight, against Bowe, the story was if Holyfield could see off a young challenger or give way to the next generation.
Holyfield had been campaigning tough fights at the top level for several years prior to facing Holmes and Bowe.

 

Completely agree Fergy. The good news is suddenly Fury and Wilder want a piece of Joshua and even better news is that he is a guy that wants the big fights.

 

The critics make unreasonable comparisons. Tyson was Tyson. Holyfield was Holyfield. The public prefered Tyson but they also liked Holyfield. Holyfield was one of boxing's stars at cruiserweight and maybe his achievements at heavyweight were being viewed too critically. Critics who attempted to make a big deal out of Holyfield winning Holyfield-style instead of Tyson-style cannot be placated. It's just silly.
Sometimes commentators take an unreasonably critical position on a boxer. I doubt Joshua is getting that treatment. Wladimir got it worse than Holyfield even, and for more years. Even a prime Muhammad Ali had loads of critics.

Holyfield had stopped everyone he'd fought at heavyweight apart from Foreman and Holmes. Many of his fights were reviewed as exciting. Fights we still talk about now. After Holmes, he stopped no one relevant until Tyson and Moorer in 1996 and 1997.

Joshua is just starting out, like you said. Completely different to Holyfield.
Holyfield might be somehow comparable to Wladimir in the sense that some of his critics started to accept him as a more special fighter when they saw him lose gallantly to Bowe. I see some people finally seeing Wlad's greatness more clearly because they saw him fight and lose the other night.
That's just my take though.

 

Holmes primary motivation was money. He didn't turn up in good shape against EH. He wasn't in the kind of shape he was in 1985-86. That's why he puked up vomit at the ring bell. He was drinking water like a fat out of shape guy during the fight.

Wlad is a professional committed to the ring for his legacy not money like Holmes.

Holmes would have done much better if he had got in shape and trained properly.

In terms of age it was similar but not much else. Wlad was a whisker away from winning the title. One serious onslaught in rounds 7 and 8 would have done it but he began coasting.
EH found larry a awkward troublesome guy but was never anywhere close to losing.

 

Wlad's condition and Larry's condition makes this a difficult comparison. Wlad still has more left in the tank at this stage than Larry did at his point; suffice to say that being a puncher tends to keep you in the game longer simply because having an equalizer can compensate for a lot of deficiencies.

It was a different fight. A better comparison would be Marciano - Walcott.

 

It would be hard to find a comparable fight in heavyweight history.
Joshua came into this fight VERY inexperienced.
I expected Wladimir to win the fight although I didn't think it would be easy.
I was suprised by how many expected it to be easy for Joshua.