The Great Evander Holyfield Finally Retires

:deal

 

Loved watching Holyfield,true warrior,should have retired after the 2nd Ruiz fight,gotta be honest though I have mixed feelings about him cause of his steroid abuse..

 

Should have done it a decade ago.

One of the greats of his era though. Undeniable warrior.

Him beating Tyson down was one of the great boxing nights of the 90s

 

Best HW since Holmes, a true all-time great.

 

The definition of a boxing warrior. If Evander was just a bit bigger, maybe 230, he would have been the best ever. But instead he was giving up 30, 40, even 50 pounds in some fights. The guy was as tough as they come. My hat is off to the The Real Deal. In my book, an ATG.

 

Nah.

http://www.boxingforum24.com/showthread.php?t=241945

(referring to everything until your last sentence, that is - he is a surefire ATG!)

 

atsch

I clearly said that my "nah" referred to everything but Jack's last sentence - meaning I definitely agree Holyfield is an undeniable ATG. The point on which I disagree with Jack is that he was undersized or "up against it" facing such big men and therefore handicapped or held back from his true potential. That is a leftover impression from his rivalry with Bowe, who is freaking huge...which, along with his starting out at cruiser, and later reaching the peak of his mainstream profile in the Lewis bouts and with the last impression most people have of Holyfield on the big stage, taking on the Valuev, has left everyone with this romanticized image of Holyfield as some plucky giant slayer who somehow deserves extra credit. In truth he was perfectly average for a heavyweight in this era and much bigger than many of his opponents.

That poor little Evander was 'only' ever in the range of two hundred and teens or twenties in poundage, all of that pure muscle (which may or may not have been aided synthetically at various times) - was hardly some big disadvantaging obstacle.

People need to disassociate the mythic quality of those misleading factors (starting at cruiser, and having some famous battles with super heavies) and realize that Holyfield by any measure was a perfectly normal sized heavyweight and not some perennial outsized underdog. He was neither a midget for HW, nor some rail-thin wispy shrinking violet. He was a solid and ox-strong two hundred and teens or twenties all throughout his run, placing him smack in the middle - neither especially big nor small.

 

Yeah but I went outta my way to be like "not saying nah about the ATG part tho"! :yep

 

In his prime he would easily accumulate 25+ defenses against all of the bums of today's HW era

 

That is true.