The disrespect towards Holyfield during his first reign

Ezzard Charles?

Sonny Liston, because of his outside-the-ring issues.

 

Holyfield - Ruddock is a very juicy morsel when Ruddock was at his best. I mean, i fully believe Holyfield would have outclassed and likely wore him down but it would have made for a nice spectacle with all the power flying around.

 

I think Holy survives some scary moments. Ruddock was like Ricardo Mayorga in that he would be getting outclassed then lands something fierce out of left field. Never count em out.

But I agree with Holyfield being the victor in a scorcher.

The only guys beating Ruddock at that time were Tyson, Holyfield, Bowe, Lewis and that might be it. Mercer, Moorer and Morrison weren't ready for prime time players quite yet.

 

My feeling is that Ruddock would be a bit too predictable in really coming from only one side. If Holyfield boxed properly I'm not sure Ruddock could give him such a frantic time tbh. Tyson really warred with Ruddock and perhaps made him look better than he really was. Holyfield was however known for getting easily dragged into exchanges when he shouldn't be so it could indeed turn out as you envision.

 

Well to be fair Buster just showed up for the payday when Evander beat him for the title. Then, Evander looked less than stellar in 1991 when fossils Holmes and Foreman went the distance and he was close to being stopped by Bert Cooper. Bowe did end up hurting him and winning his title.

 

Those fossils were still pretty good as we saw later though.
Holmes beat the likes of prime Mercer and George won the title back.