That's the thing. Lewis looks more solid because he had a height, reach, strength advantage. Holyfield didn't have those and had to punch above his weight against guys more gifted than him.
Timing.. Lewis was a prospect for most of the time Holyfield was champion along with when Foreman and Holmes were campaigning as top contenders in their comebacks. It certainly wasn't a case of HIM avoiding THEM. In the fall of 1992, Lewis destroyed Razor Ruddock who some predicted was going to be the next champ when all the smoke had cleared. A month later, Evander loses to Bowe, then Bowe ducks Lewis.. Holy rematches Bowe a year later, wins it, then loses to Moorer and temporarily retires.. Foreman and Holmes wanted nothing to do with Lennox so mentioning them is moot. He also beat Vitali Kiltschko, David Tua, Andrew Golata, Shannon Briggs, and Razor Ruddock when they were all considered major threats in the division. Evander has his share of washed up scalps too. Foreman, Holmes, Thomas, Tillis, etc..
MOST Boxers compared to Holyfield are chinny. He had the best chin from '85 till now, regardless of division.
As questions could be asked why Holyfield never fought - Ruddock, Bruno, Morrison, V Klitschko, Golota, Briggs, Biggs , Tua etc etc Simply no one can fight everyone . Its interesting that you state Mercer was not in his prime against Lewis but was in his prime in his actual previous fight against Holyfield. Dont get me wrong Evanders overall career surpasses Lewis's, but not if you just use his heavyweight achievements
85 until now? You are dreaming,he got hurt and down several times like coopert or bowe, moorer did stun him. Old foreman,tua , Mercer had better chin in the range of time that you mentioned just in the hw division,85 hagler had better chin,james toney had better chin...you are dreaming
No, Tua/Golata/Briggs were not major threats when Lemmie got to them....they were ranked but were severely diminshed......Tua sat on his ranking getting fat while fighting total stiffs.....Golata was defused/exposed three times by Bowe/Grant and Briggs does not have a live body on his record and got waxed by journey man Wilson
Just being hurt and down is not sufficient to say someone has a bad chin, in this sport anyone can get hurt or even be knocked down. Even the great Ali and Larry Holmes got hurt and knocked down, what defines a great chin is either how long can you stand still steady on your feet without looking drunk while taking punch after punch to the face or how quickly you can get back up and recover to stay in the fight after being hurt and knocked down.
When i said that evander had bad chin? One of the best no question about,but the best one since 1985? No way
Not carved in stone bit my top 10 is something like this. Louis Ali Holmes Lewis Foreman W Klitschko Marciano Holyfield Tyson Frazier Dempsey Liston Critera is a combination of title defenses, longivity, competition, win-loss record, and H2h in no particular order.
I don't even like Klitschko but he's done enough to earn a place on the list, at least in my opinion.
Holmes would lose to Lennox, I think possibly by KO. Marciano is somewhere between 9-12, having Frazier and Tyson below him is madness. Klitchsko above Frazier but below Tyson. WHen I have more time i'l post mine.
A H2h list would not be the same. I also think Holmes might lose to Lewis (not sure to be honest) but l also think Louis would lose to Lewis, but Louis had a better career. Marciano l think would lose to a lot of fighters in the top 15 but you can't simply ignore his accomplishments. But certainly you should post your list. H2h Ali Lewis Holmes Foreman Liston Tyson Wlad Or something close to it would be my h2h list.
