Holyfield was only 205 when he stood toe to toe with Riddick Bowe

Zurdo was 200 a few nights ago, only 5 pounds less than Holyfield when Holyfield took Bowe to war. Holyfield lost, but he lasted the distance and gave Bowe one of the most difficult fights of his career.

 

One of the best heavyweight title fight in history.

 

Involving one of the greatest Heavyweights of all time.

 

Yes but I have to add that Holyfield deliberately came in lighter at 205 against Bowe because he and his trainers thought he needed more speed against the bigger and heavier Bowe. In his previous heavyweight title fights he had weighed around 210. It was a great fight but it just looked like Bowe was just too big and too strong with many saying it was a classic example of the saying “A good big ‘un beats a good little ‘un”. I have to say that Holyfield’s willingness to engage and brawl with Bowe up close didn’t exactly help though if the initial plan was to use his speed more at his lower weight.

Tellingly it’s worth noting that in the rematch in the following year, Holyfield came in at a then career heaviest 217.

 

Yep the original gameplan was to box vs Bowe.

If you look at the 1st round Holyfield did a good job of boxing/moving in out with swift combinations and he clearly won the 1st round.

Then in the 2nd round both fighters were tying up and they both kept hitting each other and the referee Joe Cortez couldn't get in there to separate them.

So then after that vicious exchange in the 2nd round Holyfield seemed to get lured into a brawl and from that point on that's how the fight transpired.

 

And pumped to the gills with HGH.

 

This has to raise questions on how Benavidez could do against Bowe.

 

The only question would be which round Benavidez would get knocked out.

 

Round 10

 

I don't think those are questions David would want definitive answers to.

 

Some questions must be asked

 

Holyfield is one of the most interesting heavyweights ever. A true champion..The injuries and age had caught up with him in the mid 2000's. Yet to comeback and essentially beat Valuev up on his toes and get robbed but give David Haye the template for how to beat Valuev.

 

Holyfield trained in many ways like a bodybuilder, maintaining a very low body fat percentage to muscle ratio, so his weight was almost entirely lean muscle. Zurdo, on the other hand, came in with love handles hanging out of the side of his shorts.

When you factor in muscle mass, the size difference between them was much greater than the 5 pounds that OP states.

 

Holyfield trained hard and used modern methods training of the day. He was a specimen allowed him to fight successfully against larger opponents. Wasn’t the only thing he had going for him he was a highly skilled boxer with a ton of heart. Now that said what was the outcome he lost. He came back at 217 and won then lost rubber match at 213 when he might have started to be affected by the heart condition.

 

When Bowe fought Holy the first time he was 235. When Tomasz Adamek fought Chambers he was 225. What we've been told about weight at heavy for the last quarter century has been frankly stupid and driven people to put weight on that was always a net negative.