Come one Classic... lets end this (heated) debate... Holyfield - Lewis?

Don King said they were only worried about Mike killing Holyfield! :deal

 

I second this. :good

 

You know if you just want to use someone else' list this would be the one to use http://www.ibroresearch.com/?p=52

This is the IBRO which stands for the Internation Boxing Research Organization, who's members are boxing historian's. This has Lewis at 12, Tyson at 13 and Holyfield at 14.

Of course you can also form your own opinion.

 

Yep. And all the pre-fight talk was along those lines.
"Holyfield could have given Tyson a fight a few years ago, but now it's just a mismatch" .... that's what they were all saying, even knowing that Tyson was untested and less sharp since prison.

There are people here who are trying to re-write history to make Holyfield PRIME when he went 12 rounds twice with Lewis !
It's silly, because we end up having to explain Holyfield was clearly past prime instead of giving Lewis the credit he deserves.
And I mean, Lewis deserves credit ; credit for being a bit better than a 1999 Holyfield, and better than many thought he was.
But not credit for beating a prime Holyfield - 'cos he didn't !

 

Actually this is all bull****, because I don't normally bet on boxing and I predicted Holyfield would win before he fought Tyson. Not because of how good Holyfield was, but because Tyson has such obviously poor opponents that it was easy to see he wasn't the same fighter after he got out of jail. The fact that average joe, who sets these odds with their bets thought otherwise, doesn't mean anyone watching the sport at the time would have come to the same conclussion.

You could probably have a Tyson match tomorrow and the general public would likely still bet he'd win and the odds would be set accordingly, but that doesn't make him a good fighter, nor does it make the general public correct.

 

No argument from me, other than I don't quite understand what point you're trying to make.

 

They overrate Lennox Lewis around here. :deal

But I don't take those lists too seriously.
It's sad when people try to twist and re-write history though.

 

Actually where history is being re-written is how close the fighter were and that Holyfield basically won the second fight. When the facts were that Lewis won about 9 rounds in the first fight and about 8 in the second, for a combined total of 17/24. (give or take a round)

Yes, he fought a past prime Holyfield, but it wasn't nearly as close as Holyfield fans like to believe, and in fact, they almost exclusively just focus on the 2nd fight.

So if anyone is putting a spin on this, it's far more likely to be Holyfield fan's rather than lewis fans.

 

Good for you for picking Holyfield. :good

BUT just about every respected voice in the boxing world thought Tyson would destroy Holyfield.
Not just Joe Public, but just about everyone who followed boxing at the time.
Fighters, promoters, veteran writers .... 99% predicted Tyson win by KO, most inside 3 or 4 rounds.

 

I agree yet the general consensus believes his biggest career win is over Mike Tyson in 1996.

That leads to the question, what is the biggest win in Holy's career? The Bowe win was razor thin in my opinion. I would say it is Tyson where he was supposedly far removed from his prime.

I do think Holyfield does get some unfair passes because of his size.

 

I actually have a hard time believing that, because it was extremely obvious that Tyson's opponents were being hand picked and Tyson wasn't getting any meaningful rounds under his belt. I'm simply a fan, surely professionals in the sport could have spotted that as well.

 

What I find with Holyfield as he continues with his career - It just highlights what an excuse maker he is and has always been - He gets a free pass for some of his heart, hepatitas excuses - but as he showed recently 'a leopard never changes its spots' with pulling out a NC with the smallest cut in the history of stoppages.

 

I thought Lewis should have won both fights but the second was very close.
Many of the individual rounds were very close.

Lewis certainly didn't beat the crap out of Holyfield in either fight. So, if he's better prime-for-prime, and they fought when Holyfield was past prime, I would have expected Lewis to do better than that.