Holyfields toughest opponent in his career, was also the shortest.

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"His stature, 5'7-5'8, didn't match up to how he fought!"

 

Some interesting observations.

Even in an era of super heavyweights, he still saw Qawi as his toughest opponent, and an older foreman as the hardest puncher that he ever faced!

 

Yet Qawi did nothing at heavyweight while Evan was elite for a decade and a half.

Go figure.

 

So he let the 6'5 Bowe beat him soundly two times out of sheer courtesy while he on the other hand beat Qawi two times? Qawi his toughest opponent, my ass. These "the best/toughest I fought" are almost always BS. For some reason it's almost never the guys that actually beat them.

Ask Spinks who his toughest opponent of Qawi and Tyson was. Hint, he beat one of them and lasted all of 93 seconds with the other.

 

Foreman was about 260 lbs, so he should qualify as SHW at least in terms of weight.

 

Qawi is one of my all time favorites. Amazing fighter considering the late start he had and lack of amateur background. Qawi vs. Holyfield 1 is in my top five favorite fights.

I have seen a lot of post about Marciano lately. One hypothetical fight that would be amazing would Qawi vs Marciano. What an absolute war that would be. Marciano was a few inches taller but Qawi actually had longer arms.

 

I would also like to see Qawi vs Jack Dillon!

 

Riddick Bowe wasnt that short

 

Holyfield is awesome

 

Qawi was slower with more weight on him, no way can a guy that height fight a long armed heavyweight, it`s suicide.

 

This.

 

Holy field ended up in hospital after the Qawi fight.
That's a fair statement.

 

He did say Bowe gave him the most problems at heavyweight beforehand.

And the reasons given for calling the Qawi fight his toughest fight are all very reasonable (his first 15 rounder, his relative inexperience, the quality and style of Qawi etc). Bowe gave him a war and heaps of trouble but Holyfield was a seasoned pro by then so maybe it wasn't the shock to the system that Qawi was.

I find it believable enough anyway.

 

I was going to say, Holyfield provides a context for Qawi, after referencing Bowe as his toughest in the Heavyweights. Qawi (I) was Holyfield's twelfth pro fight, as well.

It's not the first time I have heard Holyfield talk about the challenges that Qawi presented, in the context of when the fight took place.

 

If I'm getting this right: One piece of evidence that 5'10, 185-190 lbs Marciano would excel in today's scene is that 6'7, 220-225 lbs Wilder is doing well. The second is that 190 lbs Holy had a tough going with Qawi in his 12th pro fight.

Is that correctly understood on my part?