What was his ultimate goal and when did he fall off? Was it during the Byrd, toney, Donald stretch where he picked up 3 losses? Was it the slump of sultan ibragimov, Nicoli valuev ? Or was it the trilogy vs John Ruiz? Or was it over once he turned heavyweight? (Since moving up from cruiser, was it a bad move and why?) Or should he have retired after the loss to Lennox Lewis? What would his legacy have been after stopping after the Mike fights? Or was it justified that he had "bad nights" until he met up with Vitor Belfort? If not listed, when else?
I remember in the Donald fight he made Larry the legend Donald look like a poor man's version of Muhammad Ali! It would be unfair to Ali to call him a "prime" version albeit. However he looked pretty good in there vs Evander! I believe at that point, Holyfield had tons of problems against movers, as the announcers said.
After the Donald fight and the suspension, that felt like it for me. To his credit he came back and came close to actually beating sugar Valuev. He was never predictable really when I think about it. Lookin not so good against Moorer and getting kod by Bowe Then smashing Tyson and Moorer and going the distance twice against Lewis. Not long after, struggling against John Ruiz! Strange.
Holyfield won just one of six fights after his first Ruiz fight.. That would be when he was done being up near the best of the best. Of course, those fights were over a four year period so there was plenty of time for the drop off.
Should of retired after the awful John Ruiz trilogy, what's funny to me though. And this is no disrespect to Lewis BTW. But as awful as that trilogy was, doesn't Ruiz deserve some credit for going 1-1-1 vs a Holyfield. Who was fresh off giving a prime Lewis a tough fight ? I hate Ruiz's style but I never really see Ruiz, get credit for giving Holyfield a tough time. Yet Holyfield was just fresh off the 2nd Lewis meeting. And Ruiz actually floored and hurt Holyfield, something a prime Lewis failed to do in 24 rounds. And you can't tell me the Holyfield in the 1st meeting with Lewis, was any better than the Holyfield who fought Ruiz.
All due respect, he was a shell of himself long before the Donald fight. He was already in his 40s by that point.
No your right, Swag. He was. But I was surprised how he actually came back, and remained competitive even, after Donald.
He had peaks and valleys until he was totally shot. Decline is usually not linear. And I agree Ruiz is underrated. (Everyone has his fights with Tua and Jones burned in their memories, but he was overall a very good heavyweight).
He was past it after the final Bowe fight, maybe even the Moorer fight, but he changed up his style a bit so it wasn't bad. His huge decline was rght after the first John Ruiz fight as it was clear as day his reaction time had dwindled greatly and his is final note was the Rahman fight. In the Valev fight he was but a ember compared to the grand flame of his prime years and he still arguably won. Quite funny now that i think about it
I once dated a very large Amazonian-type woman. Problem was, I kept falling off. Out and off, just kerflunk, let the bodies hit the floor, Rambo-style. The position was ordered to be the same way though, inconvenient as it was. And I kept failing. Flailing and failing, she used to say. Ultimately, I was beaten and left for dead in the jungles of Sao Paolo. The concrete jungles. Penniless. Cold. Naked, and afraid. I was taken in by a shepherd. A German one. We hunted together, scavenging when we could, on the streets. The cold, hard streets. Of Sao Paolo. Where the water flowed like wine and the beasts of burden broke the backs of the city and the hearts of young men. Alone. In the jungle. Where fear spread from the base of the spine and curled out like rings of smoke throughout the scrotal...veins. Each vein a worm, each worm worthy of its own can...of worms. I never saw Greta again.