Evander Holyfield vs. Lennox Lewis - 1993

I think that Lennox was still too green in 1993 and Holyfield was well schooled and would have in turn taken Lewis to school.

Incidentally I also think that had Bowe fought Lewis in 1993 he would have actually beaten Lennox which considering how things turned around would have done wonders for his Legacy.

 

I didnt care too much for Lennox Lewis previous to 96. The technical boxers were exposing some of his shortcomings. A sharp shooting solid counterpunching Holyfield would have had chances against the reckless Lewis of 93. Holy was more reckless as well, but he was busy and fast, and unless Lewis bombs him out, which Bowe couldnt do, I see Holy stopping him late.

 

I think that the difference between Holyfield of 1993 and the one who fought Lennox in 1998, or whenever it was, is huge. Say what you want about his never ending boxing career, but he was still past his prime by this point. There are some who say that he actually had greater upper body strength and conserved himself a bit more, but I don't buy it.. His wars with Bowe, Dokes, and Qawi proved that he had both stamina, a high workrate and the ability to fight at maximum capacity from start to finish. He could really put pressure on another man and I think his punches had a bit more snap to them as well. He also hadn't developed the type of health problems that he would later undergo and wasn't subject to extended layoffs, temporary retirements, etc.......

Lewis on the otherhand, was certainly dangerous in 1993, and his destruction of Ruddock proved it... I don't think that his skills were quite as polished yet, and frankly, he had the tendency to disrespect fighters and get cought while coming at them. My thinking is that if these two had met in the early 90's, Evander would take a close decision, but a stoppage at some point wouldn't surprise me either.

 

Im a Lewis fan but Id maybe favour Holyfield by close decision, Lewis didnt use his jab as well then and was more reckless, he might get wobbled a coupla times too

 

Tough to say...

Lewis looked devastating in destroying Ruddock, yet an uninspired Tony Tucker exposed some of Lewis' inexperience at the top level and took him the full distance. Bruno too made Lewis look ordinary at times.

Evander was probably in the prime of his life at this point, and a very experienced, battle-hardened warrior with a very good corner backing him.

That said, I still may lean towards Lewis here. My reasoning is based on the fact that Lewis' size would always be an advantage vs. Evander (the similarly sized Bowe basically beat Holyfield by simply being bigger) and that when they fought, Lewis' athletic size proved to be problematic for Holyfield, who admittedly had seen better days by then.
Holyfield also seemed more capable of hurting the bigger guys only when he put some more mass on, which I'm assuming he would not see the need to do here, had he beaten Bowe the first time around.

We must also keep in mind that despite his relative inexperience at this point, Lewis did manage to overcome some adversity in his fights with the stubborn Tucker and the pumped up Bruno. Neither were in Evander's class obviously, but Lennox did beat both convincingly in the end. The finish of Bruno was particularly impressive.

Would Lewis be Evander's most dangerous opponent at that point in Holyfield's career? I'd say yes. The opposite holds true as well...

I dunno...it's very tough to pick a winner here. As I see it, it's almost a toss-up. I'm sticking with my tentative Lewis pick, but I could change my mind on this one...I see Evander being busier and probably landing the more punches, but I feel that Lewis would be packing the heavy artillery and his physical dimensions and mobility would be a tough hurdle to overcome.
It could boil down to what the judges are looking for. (I definitely see this going the full distance.)

 

I think Skeletor would beat them both...

 

Without question.

 

If Evander keeps on fighting, one of these days he may look like the dark lord of snake mountain himself!!!

 

If they had a trilogy Lewis takes it 2-1. Lewis 96-00 was an animal.
I'm giving Holy the first, UD-SD.

Holyfield ain't knocking Lewis out - 1 ko from 91-95, albeit mostly against durable fighters like Foreman, Holmes, Mercer and Bowe.

 

He wasnt far off knocking Bowe out in was it the 3rd fight? He did have an excellent left hook but Lewis doesnt let people get off much in close

 

Although Holy was the more faded of the two when they finally fought, I've always felt Lewis handled him decisively enough to warrant the benefit of the doubt under any circumstances. He just has too much combined size and tools for Holy to overcome.

Lewis by clear decision after a hard-fought battle.

 

Holyfield KO3

 

Holyfield UD.

 

Lewis may not have had all the ring smarts he'd later have and Holy had more stamina. BUT Lewis was also more ferocious, faster and fitter in 1993, Holyfield was also smaller/weaker in '93. I think if anything in 93 it would be more of a brawl and the bigger Lewis comes out on top. Holy goes the 12 but gets put down once or twice

Lewis UD