Something I'm noticing about Holyfield's title defenses compared to Bowe and Lewis'

Lewis is ranked higher than Evan on any credible list and whilst yes, Evan evidently took roids according to discovered documentation anyways, more than likely he was taking roids in an era where every notable fighter likely also dabbled in something. It's a bit like Lance Armstrong - you can crack down on him but then every racer behind him also took roids or has high suspicion of roids. I've certainly come around to the thought process of legalise it, control it, give the fighters the same access so that they can fight to elite levels, be better conditioned and less injury prone.

Evan usually ranks highly cos of his superb skillset and the fact that he is technically a naturally smaller man who has Olympic pedigree, did great things at cruiser, and then became lineal at HW and took on the most formidable fighters of his era, as a naturally smaller man.

Valiant losing effort against Bowe in the first and a win in the rematch, combined with beating Mike twice really accentuate his legacy - going 24 rounds with Lennox without KO, with all his wear and tear are just additional cherries on icing when extrapolating his durability and H2H credentials.

 

Most have Holy below Lewis and close w Bowe. He was a warrior and fought the tougher fights more than most men. Bowe and Lewis never met Bowe and Tyson never met Bowe and Lewis missed Foreman Holmes and Moorer. Holy fought everyone. So he is beloved for that.

 

Most have Holy below Lewis and close w Bowe. He was a warrior and fought the tougher fights more than most men. Bowe and Lewis never met Bowe and Tyson never met Bowe and Lewis missed Foreman Holmes and Moorer. Holy fought everyone. So he is beloved for that.

I respect men like Holyfield, AJ, Charles, and Patterson they may not have the most dominant runs at hw but they met everyone and dodged no one

 

I disagree.
Holyfield beat: Hasim Rahman, Michael Moorer, Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe, Larry Holmes, George Foreman and James Douglas.
7 lineal HW champions.
Holyfield saved HW in the 90s by fighting "everyone" with varying success.
And all this without Holyfield's cruiserweight career.

 

But but steroids…like no one else was on them lol

Holyfield never popped dirty. Unlike Toney, Jones, Tarver, Vitali, Fury, Miller etc etc. Tyson actually was suspended for a failed drug test and still got his lights punched out by Evander.

Evander had the Balco scandal (as did Mosley who gets a pass for “beating” ODLH while juiced to the gills) and Mayweather has the whole illegal IV things hanging over him prior to PAC fight. What’s your opinion on that @NoNeck ?

Hypocrisy reigns supreme as always.

 

Honestly so were Lewis and Bowe, probably.

 

Uh oh

 

His cruiserweight shouldn't affect his HW ranking but as we are seeing now with the recent fawning over Usyk, for a lot of people it does.

I was merely giving reasons behind why he gets ranked as he does, not that I agree with it or excuse his HGH supplements, vitamins and prayers assistance.

As @young griffo states, the era and subsequent one was full of drug takers and cheats. If we tar Evan, gotta do the same with Royd Jones, Spring climate, Toney, Moseley, PAC, Nigel Benn and whole heap of names.

 

Yes but you have to take into account Holyfield wanted to fight Tyson in 1991 but Tyson pulled out of the fight due to a rib injury and then shortly after went to prison.

So there wasn't too many better options for Holyfield.

Tyson/Ruddock were fighting eachother for the next year and then Ruddock fell off completely after he got dismantled by Lewis.

Holyfield beat Douglas who beat Tyson.

Holyfield beat Holmes who had beaten top 5 ranked Mercer.

Holyfield pretty much fought the most notable contenders during that short period Holmes, Foreman, and Bowe who was top 3.

Cooper was a late replacement for Damiani that was out of Holyfield's control.

So i don't really think Holyfield missed out on anyone during his first reign apart from Ruddock but there was never a real window of opportunity for them to fight.

When Holyfield fought Moorer the 1st time he was ranked top 4 so who else would've been more suitable ? only Lewis and Bowe were ranked higher.

Neither of those opponents beat any top 10 contenders either though apart from Hide who got very fortunate to fight Bentt for a strap who is probably the weakest belt holder of the 90s.

Foreman, Holmes, Bowe, Moorer, Tyson, are also considerably better names than the ones you listed there.

That's 5 top 10 rated Heavyweights and all 5 were all world champions at some point.

Hide was the only world champion out of that list and only Hide and Gonzalez were top 10 ranked Heavyweights for 1 year. I don't believe Golota was ranked in the top 10 until after the Bowe fight.