How would steroid-clean Evander Holyfield do against today's top heavyweights?

Yea we do, look at his first 4 pro fights where he was a lhw. That is a for sure clean Holy

 

That one barely scrapes by Beterbiev. Forget heavyweight. I thought Mark was referring to a hypothetical clean heavyweight Holyfield

 

I think the best way to ask this question is "How would Holyfield do in this division if it would be a completely steroid clean environment?"

We know at least 3 of the current top10, including the current champion aren't or at least haven't been steroid free. And then there's a bodybuilder who blew up Holyfield style after he got gifted a gold medal.
So, only having Holyfield steroid free wouldn't be fair at all.

But, my opinion has always been that Holyfield wouldn't have been a real heavyweight even back in his era, if he didn't go all out on HGH.
Heavyweight Holyfield, would b a slightly out of shape Cruiserweight (old weightlimit) and give up quite a bit of weight/power/height and even reach (while that was huge for his size) against all natural heavyweights, certainly the really big ones.
So, he wouldn't do very well in a real dope free environment. He would be in the contender mix, but never be even considered one of the greats. Probably until the early 60's, when most Heavyweights were his natural size or even smaller.

 

Nope, it is equally irrational & unfair to assume everyone is dirty as it is absurdly naive to insist nobody is-& even those who tested + all must have been mistakes in the testing methods.

But Holyfield clean would not be nearly as good against the Big Boys.
Some of whom are natural, some not.
An anybody who says they know how many is fooling themselves-letting idology & wishful thinking lead them away fromevidence & logic.

 

Where is the evidence everyone juiced? That is an extreme, untenable position.
Many were naturally big & when young & before even getting into sports.
The Bownsville boys Tyson & Bowe are good examples.

The size & muscle & definition someone like Bowe reached is not at all unlikely, nor did he gain it very quickly or otherwise suspiciously like having sudden "heart" or baldness problems when young.

 

Against Vitor Belfort, when he couldn't afford them anymore.

 

I'm really not too clued up on the PED's side of things.

Are there any physical negatives or trade off's regarding all round performance whilst a user is on them?, at the time of use?. Or do they enhance everything physically?.

I know there's possible long term damage. Organs etc.

 

He whoops everyone

 

As with anything there's always some trade off. It alows you to train more and recover quicker. It's pretty clear though that someone carrying more mass still has the same size heart (unless it's HGH) so this is a reason for gas tanks not being as good for some fighter and we can observe that clearly ober the last 30-40 years. Though steriods have been used a lot longer than that.. It doesn't just give you big muscles or getting super ripped that depends how much an individual trains and how much advantage that PED gives them with their core genetics being the limit.
A study done a few years ago showed improvment of 3-15% over there previous personal best and it's depended on how an individuals genetics respond. As with anything the health issus come with abuse theres a long list of body builders say from Arnie's era who died prematurely with heart issues as well as the sprinter Flo Jo but these were people who took a massive amount of gear and this was the days of pre testing. It should be noted in the 84 Olympics they did a simplistic drugs test before it became mandatory and that showed just over 60% tested were on PEDS. There is a thread where I go through the history and evolution of use it's something I've always been interested since a young age.

 

Thhe framing of the qwustion is odd..Just say "Does a clean Holyfield beat the current heavies?"
Then the problem is that we know that half at least are on gear so.....not really a fair comparison.
I think as he did in his own era he would struggle with the bigger guys struggling to hurt them due to the disparity in weight. although he would be quicker on his feet but at best he can only outpoint opponents rather than be knocking them out.

 

Out of shape, huh? He was super dedicated at all times.

 

Strip PEDS from all sports and you’d still have all the same elites and ATG’s. Yes the times, distances and general performances etc would be slightly less impressive but it still all comes down to the work ethic and competitiveness of the individuals.