What is it? I could see him at 5-7 without me protesting too much. That would be generous to Holyfield to some degree but I think it's without the realm of possibility. Then again I think his wins over Foreman and Holmes are somewhat underrated quality wins. Your thoughts?
Difficult fighter to rate. On one hand, he has one of least padded records in history, but on the other, he was on the losing end of big fight series such as the Riddick Bowe trilogy, the Lennox Lewis battles, etc. Although he was arguably the best cruiser of all time, I'm not sure what it does for him in terms of rating him at heavyweight. Overall, his heavyweight record is 24-10-2-12. He is the division's only 4 time titlist, and at least 3 of those occasions were arguably as a lineal claimant. His best wins were probably James Douglas, Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe, George Foreman, Michael Dokes, Michael Moorer, John Ruiz, Ray Mercer, and Hasim Rahman. Also, for whatever its worth, he challenged the largest titlist in the history of the sport at age 46 and arguably won on most people's cards... I think Evander is worthy of a spot somewhere between perhaps 8-10, but probably no higher. While he definately had zero fluff on his record and possesed more heart than almost anyone I can think of, he simply has too many losses for the relative small number of fights that he had within the division...... In my opinion, his resume would have been better served if he had called it quits after the Ruiz trilogy or even sooner.
How much can you fault a man who was literally a zombie in the ring at a certain point due to advanced age, compounded by endless wars, and to top it all off failing health due to steroid HGH abuse? I take everything he did post Lennox or so with a truckload of salt, personally.
I don't hold his later losses against him. In fact, I think its conceivable that he may well have been slipping just a hair by the time he met Bowe for the first time in 1992. He was in aweful shape for their third match in 1995. Had it not been for the temporary interruption by the fan man in their 1993 bout, he might not have won that one either. My point, is that there is not enough there to justify placing him in the top 5, but a top 10 spot may be justifyable.
Probably about 8. Holyfield was as tough as they come but I don't think he's in that elite HW group of Ali, Louis, Holmes etc.
I don't have the real deal in my top ten, but I don't mind seeing in the top ten. Top 5 no way. To rate Holyfield high, I think you need to have Tyson in the top 12, and Bowe in the top 15.
I would rate him about 7 or 8. He is not in the Louis,Ali,Holmes group because he was not as dominant, but his opposition and heart put him in good company.
