Prime Evander Holyfield vs Holmes Title Opponents

Holyfield would go thru all of those. Over a decade or so he only lost to Bowe and had that poor performance vs Moorer. Even in the Holmes time frame of 7 years he'd hold up. Douglas to Lewis was 9 years with 3 losses and the Bowe he fought was comfortably better than anyone on that list.

Holmes packed more fights in but Holyfield's opposition is notably higher at the top end with 3 x Bowe and 2 x Tyson so that would well and truly even out. Holyfield had a couple of poorer performances in there but so did Larry. Against Larry's opp Holyfield may well get thru those lesser nights as Larry himself did a couple of times.

Norton would be the toughest for me maybe followed by Spinks. If we went linear Norton would fall at the time of Douglas and that Holyfield for me would beat Norton. He looked insanely sharp. Spinks late in the peace would be very akward with Holyfield aging. Witherspoon would be energetic but i'd take Holyfield over him by decision as long as it wasn't one of his couple of weird nights.

 

Could see Witherspoon upsetting him also Holyfield sometimes tired at heavyweight and if all those fights were 15 rounders maybe someone does enough in the later rounds to get the nod. Could maybe even see Weaver doing what Bert Cooper almost pulled off.

 

Holyfields would go through most of them like butter, well except for

Shavers who would be the hardest fight, good thing holyfield has an iron chin here but he may hit the deck like Holmes if he gets caught.

Cobb would probably go the distance he was a very tough man but definitely get battered.

He would be very frustrated fighting michael sprinks and find him a very difficult and unusual opponent to adapt to, but as underrated as michael sprinks is I still can't imagine him beating a prime holyfield.

Norton would be a tough fight but also a short fight, I think norton gets k.o.ed by round 6

 

I doubt any beat him but Norton, Weaver, Witherspoon, Micheal Spinks and Carl Williams all give him tough fights and are live underdogs.

 

I'd give Snipes and Shavers a puncher's chance. Neither are particularly technical but I remember Snipes in particular having a lot of heart. If Holyfield comes in the mood to brawl that could be a wild one and closer than their particular talent levels would initially indicate.

 

Shavers could drag holy into a war where both men are rocked. But the real deal wins by a ten round KO. Spoon could take him to a close decision. Cooney gives him a rough time before he gets cut down.
By the time he gets to Williams he d be slowing down, so there could be a upset. If he gets past the truth then I see spinks finally beating him. The rematch though could see holy field regain the belt by a close decision.

 

I don’t think Evander would do very well unless we use the same performance over and over. The Tyson performance was one fight. The Douglas performance was one fight. If we use his Douglas performance with Norton - who was far less reluctant than Douglas- he might not win that one. Then after that loss he gets to use his Foreman performance against Evangelista, well he would win that, then with the shakey Cooper performance he might go life and death with Ocasio. The night he fought Holmes, Evander would get Weaver who I know was better than Cooper and Foreman. That’s a 50-50 fight. And this is what? Two years into seven years of this?

Don’t get me wrong, what was great about Evander is his career was never going to drop off after one hard loss. He always comes back. He lost to Moorer. Moorer would not win more than what? Three fights on this list? But then Evander beat him back a few years later. So I cannot dismiss Holyfeild winning a rematch with Norton. People say Larry didn’t have rematches but Evander would actually need them to win the belt back. He could be a five time champion with Larrys challengers. Like Ray Robinson was at middleweight.

I think a guy like Berbick would be problematic. I think Witherspoon beats him. I think Williams beats him. I think Cooney would at least be life and death. Snipes 50-50. Bey would be hard. Jones would be tough. Cobb would be rougher for Evander than Larry.

The fights I see Evander win are Lexoux, Rodriguez, Frank,Evangelista, Shavers, jones, Smith, Marvis Frazier, Leon Spinks, old man Ali, as the only ones I would put my house on Evander winning - and some of those would be very hard fights. Harder than Larry made them look.

 

Jesus Christ.

 

I said the same when I read your garbage “Holyfield goes through all of those”. How is he going through all of those when even Moorer beat him?

 

Because the title says prime holyfield.
Shavers gives him a scare but is outclassed and stopped.

Williams gives him major trouble because of the reach, speed. His susceptibility to left hooks is not that big of a worry either holy was not that big of a puncher in his prime(more so after he bulked up after the Bowe loss) however holyfield was a better class of fighter and class tells over time, holyfield outworks him and wins even if williams is a stylistic problem.

Norton and Witherspoon would be really close fights, but witherspoon was green and holyfield was more resourceful. Not sure about holyfield norton, norton is another guy who's style might confuse holyfield. Norton also was also a guy who holyfield might underestimate and make unnecessary mistakes with as he did with cooper and Bowe(vs the respect he showed tyson, Lewis and foreman by fighting a much smarter and more disciplined fight) but i favor prime holyfiekd based on youth, punch variety and better combinations.

Smith and berbick might give him some problems(holyfield tended to allow alot of opponents to give him more trouble than they should) but are ultimately beaten because of holyfields quickness, class and workrate.

Spinks is a stylistic problem, he would confuse holyfield but holyfield is physically too much for him. Holyfield really punishes him and stops him late

 

I agree with you on most of this. Shavers wasn’t good enough point blank. He’s not going to beat Holyfield but would give him a scare.

The guys you say give Evander major trouble probably beat him in my view..first time. I think Evander was resilient enough to rematch and improve on a guy who beat him. His career actually shows this. He most likely beats all Larrys guys but he would need two tries at beating a lot of them.

 

Norton could win, but spoon was just too green at that point and qilliams consistently found a way to lose close fights

 

I see what you mean but I think Williams had all of the same kinds of attributes as Bowe had. Obviously, overall Bowe was better, but I have a hunch that Evander always was going to lose to the first skilful tall boxer he met in the HW division. It happened to be Bowe but it may well have been the Williams of the first Holmes fight. A good 15 rounds he put in there.

 

Can you not even read? Prime Holyfield! I branched off for my own amusement speculating that he could well have done it even over Holmes time frame.