Evander Holyfield...

He’s up there. Great, great fighter.

 

Too inconsistent to be the best of his era. He wasn't even the best heavyweight of the 90's.

 

He can't be number 1 of his era when he lost to Bowe/Lewis.

And his form was up and down in the 90s despite having a few years in 90s when he was considered the top man.

Fighters like RJJ/Hopkins/Tito/ODLH/Whitaker had stretches for years upon years without losing whilst winning title fight after title fight.

For example....

Tito = Was 21-0 in world title fights before he lost his first title fight.

Hopkins = Had a run of 20 successful Middleweight world title wins.

RJJ = Was 23-1 in world title fights before he started to go downhill.

Whitaker = 20-1 in world title fights before his career started to wrap up.

Chavez = 31-1-1 in world title fights before he started to really go downhill.

And whilst ODLH did lose some of his big fights his overall stats are still crazy good.

ODLH = 24-5 in world title fights overall.

Holyfield in comparison was 10-7 in world Heavyweight title fights. To be fair some context is needed some of those losses were when Holyfield was past his prime.

But Holyfield never really had a long stretch at Heavyweight where he dominated and there was also a loss every few years or so.

So whilst I respect Holyfield's Heavyweight record and his Cruiserweight achievements add to his legacy.

Overall his Heavyweight record was a little bit too up and down for me.

 

He was overall the best of the 90's thanks to his wins against Tyson and Bowe, coupled to the fact that he was the undisputed/unified champion longer than the others, but he was very inconsistent.

 

I applaud him for taking the tough challenges without reserve. Too rare now. But as mentioned, it’s an enormous stretch to call him the best heavyweight of the era, and as heavyweights are inferior by definition, that removes any possibility of him being the “best of his era.” Many were historically better at that time.

 

For those who say that Evander wasn't the best 90's heavyweight, who could claim that instead ?
Lewis, who was not seen as true champion until 1998/1999 ?
Bowe, who held the title only during a year ?
Tyson, who missed half of the decade through jail and suspension ?
Foreman, who only had one great win ?

 

Lewis, for sure.

 

Lewis did not beat Bowe/Tyson/Moorer/Foreman who were arguably in the top 6 of the decade.
How a boxer who became the true champion at the end of the decade can be considered the best of it ?

 

Let’s not forget Holyfield lost two of three to Bowe, and also lost to Moorer. Tyson wasn’t exactly the fierce monster of the 80’s when Holy got him either.

 

I agree. But the thing is that Holyfield was able to came back from those defeats and beat his conquerors.
Let's not forget that he was the only one who beat Bowe, and one of the two who beat Moorer in the 90's.
And 1996-97's Tyson was still a very good version.

 

Well we could pick this one apart all day, but suffice it to say Lewis avenged his two defeats as well and was far more consistent.

And Bowe got his rear end comprehensively whipped by Golota twice. He “won” those fights in name only, not in substance. Other than those two fighters, Bowe’s resume is really rather thin given the possible big names out there for him to fight.

And of course Lewis ended up stopping Golota in one.

 

Lewis only lost once in the 90's and avenged that defeat in controversial fashion.
Before Lewis, Holyfield also avenged his defeats so I don't see why Lewis should get more credit for that.
I think people conflate the 90's and the 1999-2003 period where Lewis truly showed he was the best.

It don't matter whether Bowe truly won against Golota (which he did by being the stronger man mentally), the fact is that Holyfield beat him in a great fight when Bowe was the unified, undefeated champion of the world.

 

I don’t agree, but that’s fine. We can disagree. I don’t know how being a technical winner because your opponent went nuts equates to any fortitude of your own. Luck is what Bowe had on his side against Golota. Only luck.

I don’t necessarily give Lewis an “advantage “ because he avenged his defeats. Just suggesting that that factor cannot then be used to elevate Holy over Lewis, that’s all.

 

He was only the greatest at consuming copious amounts of pharmaceutical grade HgH, throwing headbutts and elbows.

Lennox Lewis was the greatest of that era.