As far as Holyfield is concerned, i would say his prime years have to be 1988-1993. He didn't have one punch ko power, he was not intimidating at first glance but he had the heart and spirit of a warrior, he would never back down, he would always be at you, would be capable of thinking on his feet and changing his approach during the fight, he had very good handspeed and a granite chin. His never give up attitude certainly would intimidate any fighter in history. Lewis's prime has to be from 1995-2003 when he was with Steward where he became a more complete fighter. He sacrificed some of his hand and foot speed for learning to fight big under Steward. There are justified question marks on his chin but Holyfield does not have the power to hurt him. When looking at the actual fights that these 2 guys had. I personally felt Holyfield had under trained for the first fight, he was breathing heavy by round 4 in the first fight. He made tremendous improvements, adjustments in the second fight where he used his jab more and threw a lot more punches. Considering this was a past prime Evander against the best version of Lewis, i think it was a commendable performance. Lewis on the other hand should really have done a lot more in both these encounters, his performance in the second fight was even more lethargic and poor, he didn't even try to knock out a guy past his prime even though he had knock out power, had every punch in the book. Prime for Prime is very interesting. Lewis is not going to Ko Evander, his best bet is a decision. Evander is not going to ko Lewis, his best bet is also a decision and i suspect a fight similar to Riddick Bowe.
Lewis too big for him, but its always competitive. Holyfield for me is one of the greatest heavys ever
Prime motivated Lewis was a brute. In a fight which would have its moments Lewis outboxes Evander using his physical advantages. Lewis on points.
Um anybody who says Lewis doesn't know a damn thing about boxing. Lewis barely beat a washed up Holyfield in their second bout. Clearly he won the first but I think that had a lot to do with Holyfield being so into himself after the Tyson fightst that he though he would get a early round KO. In any case he was still past his prime before he stopped Tyson. Bowe ruined Holyfield and Lewis fought a Evander when he was only a shell of his former self. Prime Holyfiled would probably stopped Lewis late or win a clearly cut decision.
Actually it isn't a opinion. If Lewis could barely beat a old broken down Holyfield why would he be able to beat a prime one? It is like let me give you this example. Anthony Joshua beats Wlad by split decision. Lands tons of flush punches and Wlad just eats them. When ever Wlad lands a punch it hurts Joshua badly. Why would you assume that a prime Wlad wouldn't actually win?
Just because somebody has a different opinion to you Dave doesn't mean they know nothing about boxing. The last member who said this to other members was Black Hercules.
You'll probably find just as many people on here saying Lewis would win as would holyfield. Every ones got a opinion and if we all thought the same the forum and the world in particular would be a pretty boring place. That's the thing with fight s such as this, no one knows for sure. That's why it's good to see other people's opinions.
I heard Lewis commented that when he last met Holyfield, Evander was still complaining albeit in a light mannered way, that Lewis's shorts were far too high and he couldn't really attack his body with punches. I wonder it there's any merit to this?
yes it was disgraceful the way lewis put his trunks up to chest, can't believe the referee allowed him to do that
Why was Lewis not motivated for his 2 initial encounters with the past prime Holyfield? Because LL struggled both times with a past prime EH.