Nobody can literally fight every significant name in their era. Even Ali missed a few. Hoylfield was more than willing to fight anyone and their mom and clearly didn't have an ounce of fear. I don't recall him ever ignoring mandatories, eliminators, or name opponents calling him out.
It did help a bit that he was well-rounded and didn't really need to worry about a specific type of fighter being an issue for him. That said, I don't think it would have stopped him anyway.
I think he fought everyone that was a legit contender. I guess it might’ve been interesting to have seen him fight someone like Tommy Morrison or Razor Ruddock but he definitely didn’t duck them. Things just didn’t line up. Holyfield was a true champion.
I mean, who could he have ducked? i guess he wasn't clamoring for a Toney rematch probably, but honestly it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he did. Evander was not short on guts and self-belief.
Looking at the rankings a few big opponents he missed out on were.... Razor Ruddock David Tua Tim Witherspoon Tony Tucker Tommy Morrison Oliver McCall Frank Bruno Andrew Golota Michael Grant Again he didn't duck any of these fighters of course, and he fought other opponents who were just as dangerous and even better in some of the cases. But it just goes to show the 90s Heavyweights had alot of depth.