I liked the idea and thought he would do very very well. The division did not have many pedigreed up and comers at the time. more like lots of old names. And Commander Vander had showed gains of a full magnitude during his cw carrer. I was positive he would make more gains as a heavy and have the fortune to fight worse and slower defensive fighters. So his great conditioning and mental toughness would see him through any tough moments in the division. But this was all because of the timing and me not thinking the division was very strong at all. And with a multitude of world titles and a strong management team behind him, I really liked the guy's chances.
Holyfield wasn't going to be 190lbs forever, he has the frame to go up and alot of roids helped aswell.
I was very excited when he moved up and always felt his run to the title from Tillis through to Douglas were his absolute peak years 1988-1990. The fact he was still able to give a peak Lewis fits a decade on from then and was getting robbed against Valuev two decades later shows his insane quality.
My thoughts when Holyfield moved up to heavyweight was that he would be the guy with the best chance to beat Mike Tyson when the fight happened. I knew the fight wasn’t happening the day he tipped the scale at 195 1/2 or 201 or whatever the limits were then. You seem to interpret the thread title as ‘Who did you think would win if Holyfield fought Tyson in his first fight at heavyweight’ — which isn’t the title or premise of the thread. Nobody had any thoughts on who would win between Holyfield and Tyson if they fought the day Evander scaled over cruiser because they weren’t fighting yet.
I was fighting to exist a few years later haha. It's great to hear ur thoughts from those who remember that time vividly. Holyfield is one of the most important boxers of my life but I didn't get my first impressions of him until Knockout Kings '00 n Real Deal Boxing. Showing my age lol. His impact to me is up there w Tyson, Ali, Sweet Pea n RJJ.
When he moved up the weight gap for him wasn’t that great. Some thought his legs were too thin and this was before his “ transformation “ I thought he could fight and belonged , but I did not see him having the heavyweight career he had. He caught Tyson at the right time and Holmes and Foreman were 40 +.
It was an exciting knockout run and development to the title. Holyfield tested the heavyweight waters against journeyman James Tillis and former champion Pinklon Thomas but then tore through three in form top 10 contenders in Michael Dokes, Adilson Rodriguez and Alex Stewart. Dokes had won his last 11, Rodriguez his last 18 and Stewart was 24-0 (24 KO). He then had a tune up and highlight reel KO against 19-1 Seamus McDonagh, who was also ranked in the top 10 before he dethroned Buster Douglas. This Holyfield was an ATG and H2H monster.
I remember Holy had a very big neck and looked as mean as hell. Tyson back then seemed invincible to most people including me as a 16 year old . Holy didn't seem bothered which was impressive.
So.. you said it wasn't. Like I said , he manhandled that big guy that resorted to rough stuff when the boxing wasn't working. Like a rag doll. Big difference from, say, Michael Spinks.
Except it was never my intention to say anything about Holyfield. You seemed to think that it should have been. I was merely making an observation about Thomas. He was shot then. Nothing against Evander nor the performance he had.
No...you don't speal English correctly, or at least you are pretending not to because you have realized you are wrong. Holyfield moved up in 88, not 90.
Whatever you say bubba. When Holyfield moved up, as stated, I thought he was going to be the best of the lot and had a real chance — not on that exact day, but that he would. Once Buster beat Tyson I felt like Holy and probably some other guys would have real chances (also not on that day, because Tyson wasn’t going to be allowed to fight on the same day he got knocked out).