I’ve seen that fight a million times, it’s my favorite one actually, but aside from rocking Holyfield cooper was a punching bag. Either way Holyfield would fight up and down to the level of his competition, great fighters brought the best outta him. Trust me, your not gonna see a bad version of Holyfield against Louis.
Holyfield fought back and changed a 10-8 round into a 10-9 round. Otherwise, all Holyfield.. competitive for one round. Look, if Holyfield counters with a left hook, Joe is going down. All his balance will not keep him up. There's not too damn many heavyweights I would pick to beat Louis. No, no, no. But prime Holyfield could.. the one that beat Douglas, but some of you guys put an asterisk* beside that win. Or: 37 yr old Louis that fought Marciano vs. 37 yr old Holyfield that fought Lewis
Not necessarily. Holyfield may have done well against super heavyweights, but were they as accurate, fast and technically diverse as Louis? No, not even close. Its the punch one doesn't see or expects that gets the most ko's. Though I do believe Holyfield probably beats Louis it wouldn't be because of Holyfield's ability to handle bigger punchers from bigger men, it would be because of Louis's lack of a great chin. If Holyfield boxed smartly and patiently, I see no reason he wouldn't eventually catch Louis with something and stop him. But we are talking about Evander Holyfield. It was his nature to immediately retaliate when he got nailed with something serious. Against possibly the greatest offensive Heavyweight in history , that would be very dangerous, even suicidal. If Holyfield's ego got the best of him, and he immediately goes to war against Louis more than likely, he gets K'oed. Like I wrote earlier, its the punch one doesn't see or expect that gets the most ko's, Louis's ability to land perfectly timed, perfectly targeted, fast hard punches would catch Holyfield clean, unlike most if not all the "Super heavyweights " he faced. Getting hit on the side of the head vs at the point of the chin gets two completely different reactions. One can have the power of prime Shavers, or Lewis but if you don't have the ability to get it too the " sweet spot" its difficult to ko a world class professional opponent. Especially if the punches are telegraphed. That millisecond reaction to seeing a punch coming , and not knowing its coming can make all the difference in the world. Its the reason why fighters considered lite punchers like Ali, Leonard, etc had so many ko's though not considered particularly hard punchers. If Holyfield elected to go to war against Louis, I believe Louis unlike the so called "super heavyweights " he faced, would land the perfect punch, at the perfect time, at the perfect spot , and would stop Holyfield with a perfect combination of fast , hard and precise. Holyfield never faced an opponent as offensive lethal as Louis could be.
That's just it.. as smooth and tight as Louis is, Holyfield is THE guy that could hit Louis with one HE wouldn't see and make it stick. Completely laughable to say that Holyfield was slow and without great balance of foot. And if Louis was looking for a left hook, it might be a Holyfield right (like Douglas, Rodriguez, Qawi, Tyson, Moorer etc., Bowe got CTE from it, hate to say, caught) that could drop him. Louis is #1 but Holyfield is #1 underrated. Holyfield will adapt greater than anybody.
I really think opposition should be a factor, Louis looked so great because no one in his era could really match him in hand speed and power, add in the fact that a good amount of his opponents were stationary punching bags, nobody has even mentioned how sharp a puncher Holyfield was, if he were to fight Louis’ opponents he’d be just as accurate as Louis. I can’t really see Louis coping with someone who can match him in speed and accuracy, but who also surpasses him in foot speed and durability. I can see Holyfield being just as successful in Louis’ era but it just wouldn’t be the same the other way around.
And Holyfield could crouch down and throw body shots ad nauseum Hmm.. you might be on to something. Old Louis vs. Lewis? Old Holyfield had to do it.
I think Holyfield would push Louis and give him a lot of uncertain moments, but ultimately I expect Louis to eventually get the better of him by slipping inside and catching him with pinpoint accurate punching. Not sure he stops Holy though
Or how about 21 year old Louis (that beat Max Baer) Vs 21 year old Holyfield It's a silly comparison. Louis peaked way younger, and had had way more professional contests at that point in either case. There have been plenty fighters that were elite at 21, and plenty that were elite at 37, there haven't been many who were elite from 21 to 37.
Yeah, unfortunately for Evander he only fought dancing masters like 40 years old Foreman and Holmes, Bert Cooper, Michael Moorer, Riddick Bowe and James Toney. They all landed very solid shots on him, but it doesn't matter because it's only because of their quick feet right? Come on, Louis was quicker than all of these fighters.
Holyfield definitely had the tougher opposition. Like I said, if they switched eras Holyfield could come out successful while Louis likely wouldn’t.
In terms of hand speed, definitely. But not in terms of footwork (except Foreman). The thing is Louis's style wasn't meant to be about fast footwork, so even though he had the physical assets to do that, he wouldn't be an effective boxer cause he never trained/developed that way.
I'm positive that Louis would be more successful in the 1990s than Holyfield was. I'm certain that Holyfield wouldn't be as successful as Louis in 1930s and 1940s.
