How would 190-lb Holyfield have fared at heavyweight?

If he had been able to move up to heavyweight without putting on any additional muscle mass, and decided to do so, how does the cruiserweight version of Holyfield fare against the toughest men he fought at heavyweight?

Does he survive 31+ rounds over 3 fights trading blows against Riddick Bowe?
Does he beat a 224-lb Ray Mercer?
Does he survive the 3rd round scare against Bert Cooper?
Is the Dokes fight just as one-sided?
Does he beat old George?

 

much worse for sure, you need the extra mass to take better the punishment, and you are stronger in the clinch.
old Foreman 91 stops 190 holyfield. evander added the weight because it was necessary

 

It would have been a heck of a lot tougher for, he came along at a time when heavy s were morphing in to super heavy s so it would have made him struggle. The style of fighting he had would work against him at a lot lower weight. Facing guys like bowe, foreman, Lewis he I believe would have suffered. The will to win would have been as strong as would the holy field chin but it would be a up hill battle. I think he beats Douglas still and dokes, but he would find foreman a hard task. He would still beat him but not by as big a margin. Bowe would have knocked him off down several times instead of the once. He would have put on a great performance in the rematch but bowe I feel ko s him in this one similar to third fight. But despite that I feel he could Still beat moorer on points. Tyson fight would be a hard one to call and Lewis would have stopped him in their first fight. Imo

 

He probably still has enough to beat the contenders on the run up to Douglas.

Given the shape of Douglas he imagine he beats him as well.

He gets knocked out by Bowe first time though, loses the rematch by KO. Gets knocked out by Tyson and knocked out by Lewis. I don't think he'd beat Foreman or Holmes either.

I'd probably say all of his best victories over 200 wouldn't have happened without his extra strength and mass.

Competing in a consistently heavier division giving away 40-50 pounds is not advisable.

 

Based on these articles a invasion of the hw was always the plan.
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/12/sports/boxing-notebook-gaining-weight-remaining-hungry.html
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/06/sports/boxing-holyfield-is-aiming-to-take-a-shot-at-tyson.html
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/22/sports/a-hungry-holyfield-gets-his-chance.html?pagewanted=all

 

I don't think the weight gain improved his durability or punching power. What the muscle did do was make it harder to push him around and grind him down.

He was 205 for the close Bowe loss where he seemed to run out of gas from the constant wrestling. He was 217 when he defeated Bowe. So that's a decent gain between fights. There are other factors to consider in the rematch, don't get me wrong, Bowe did not treat his body like a temple, Stewert tightened Holyfield's gameplan, and that god damn fan man, but the extra muscle likely played a part in that win, you can't ignore that.

On the flip, if Evander wasn't messing with his body so much, he likely doesn't loose the Moorer fight or maybe even Bowe III, where he gassed out, sick or not.

 

Interesting articles. Holyfield's team was great in preparing former LHW and CW to the big HW opponents

 

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Think I'd still give him an edge against everyone he met up to Bowe, but only if his extra size disadvantage would make him fight somewhat more cautiously. He'd lose all fights against Bowe and also to Tyson, though.

 

He wouldn't have done nearly as well.

He had a type of style where strength mattered.

He would have been run over by Tyson and Bowe.

 

I'll voice the first dissenting opinion. The best I've seen of Holyfield was when he was a cruiser. I think he lost speed and coordination in the move up to heavyweight. Besides, I don't see his later campaign to be the kind of success it's being made out to be. He's 0 for 5 against the credible big men of the era on my score sheet, so he could do no worse than what already transpired. He'd almost surely run into less trouble against Moorer and Mercer. Tyson could make it interesting, but strength was just one component of that winning strategy.

Holyfield, while a terrific fighting machine, never had a giant-conquering style.

 

It's hard to say. We have no performances of a 190 Holyfield against a 220+ heavyweight to gauge off of and the fights of Holyfield at 190, he was pretty green.

 

One thing I can for sure say is that he didn't add weight for nothing. At the very least the weight gain added strength which was very useful because of his up in your face style. Always going to war...

 

Given that many people here seem to think that weight pretty much becomes irrelevant after someone hits 180lbs or so, I'm surprised more people don't agree with you.

 

Also makes me wonder--does anyone feel that the mid-90s version of James Toney would have fared well at heavyweight?

The James Toney who was draining down to 175 in 1995 probably would have been fighting at heavyweight in the earlier, pre-cruiserweight/pre-24-hour-weigh-ins eras.