This thread really shouldn't have spawned so many replies. The quote above was #3 in this thread, and is the perfect answer. End thread.
That was scarcely pigeon-holeing, it was commentary on some of Holy's more highly regarded wins in response to a poster who listed them. Wash the ****in' sand outta your vagina and read what I actually wrote. I did NOT say Mike was past it in 1996. I said "Tyson was past best by then." And he was. He has said so himself, and everbody who knows anything about him knows it. Your last statement indicates you know too little about earlier boxers and eras to comment. It also indicates that your head is to far up your ass to be taken seriously. Where is the evidence of nostalgia ? I wasn't born when Rocky retired. And finally, it appears you're one of those guys who gets hard-ons for Evander. He might be flattered, but I'm guessing not.
Holyfield was probably THE best CW. He took on almost every fighter possible and has never ducked anyone. He has some great wins and was a real warrior.
I watched the fight live, Barry was a kiwi (and incidentally, the guy that ripped Tua off), so I wanted to see how he'd go. Holyfield had been warned a few times for hitting on the break, and did it again, knocking Barry down. I think it was a decision that you make when gut instict tells you one thing, but a couple of seconds later, you think "oh ****, might have pulled the trigger a bit early there...". Fact is, Holy had already had a couple of warnings for hitting on the break. Wasn't the first time in that fight he'd done it. If it hadn't knocked Barry down, the ref may not have reacted so quickly. A tough call to make, but Holy contributed to it himself. Only has himself to blame really. He was so much better than Barry it wasn't funny. Didn't need to be doing stuff like that.
disclose your age first...and that will tell us why you would have to ask a stupid ass question like this on your first post atsch:rofl
he fought Qawi in his 12th fight I think. A grueling 15 round fight which would have almost diminished any fighter. Then he ended up having defenses at cruiserweight and stopping Qawi in the rematch, and moved up to heavyweight and fighting everyone he could and beating Bowe, Tyson, fight Lennox, , beat Holmes, Foreman. fought 5 ATGs right there. Fought Toney, Everyone, just an incredible resume. I am not sure how many champions he fought, but it would be at least 20.
I started the debate over the Olympics, and I took an incorrect position because I was full of **** and had my facts completely muck-fuddled:yep
That just about somes it up. Many people attribute his success to steroids in the early to mid 90s and that may be why the thread was started. It's really difficult to argue with his resume though.