He basically knocked down the iron chinned Mercer with it. Hurt Lewis with his left hook a few times. Do you think he had a really good left hook? Perhaps somewhat underrated.
Underrated. Holyfield has no signature punch because both hands did work. His left hand was nice. Good jab, good angles, all punches, all distances he would sneak in hooks. Hell of an inside hook and on the outside he could land it too. It wasn't a stone cold knocker like a Frazier or Morrison left hook, but Holyfield held guys in check with the amount of pop he had there.
Excellent. Knocked down iron-chinned Mercer with it, knocked down durable guys like Tyson and Bowe, hurt Lennox in round 7 of the rematch with a very short well-timed left hook, but my favourite moment was Seamus McDounagh picture-perfect knockout: This content is protected
His left hook knockdown on Savarese is one of the most eye pleasing left hook knockdowns you will ever see up there with Morrison's knockdown vs Ruddock.
As others have said, underrated. Holyfield seldom punched without intent and accuracy. He wasn't a 'big' heavyweight but I'm struggling to think of many at the weight that hit with as much of their weight as often and as efficiently with both hands and a variety of punches. I'll bet it was a horrible feeling being in the ring with him.
As Terror mentioned, Holyfield could throw all of the punches and his left hook flowed off of his offense. He didn't load up on the hook like some fighters who are known more for their left hook than their other punches. EH's hook could flow behind any other punch he used, he didn't need to change anything with his feet or body, if he landed the hook and hurt/stunned an opponent, he might load up (bring his right shoulder forward more) for the next one but the hook was usually just part of a combination. IMO, Holyfield's hook is excellent. EH might well be known as a big puncher if he had fought in eras where fighters were smaller. As a heavyweight, the lightest heavyweight he ever fought was James Tillis in his first heavyweight fight and Tillis weighed 210. Most of Holyfield's opponents were much heavier than him. Whether weight makes fighters better or not will always be an argument, but there is little doubt that it makes fighters harder to hurt or knockout. In Holyfield's heavyweight career, he was 40 years old before he ever weighed more than his opponent.
It's excellent. Technically, it might even be the best in heavyweight history, it's his lack (for lack of a better word) of power which stops it from being top 3 imo.
