Whose Resume In The 90 s Do You Rate The Better, Lewis Or Holyfield??

In terms of victories or just difficult opponents?

Lewis didn't face anyone as good as himself, so I'd go with Holyfield if it's just a question of taking tough fights.

 

Holfield had a better summary in the 90's, because Lewis achieved his most significant victories in the 2000s, apart from the victory over Holyfield.
Here is the Holyfield series of fights of the 90s:

Seamus McDonagh WIN
Buster Douglas WIN
George Foreman WIN
Bert Cooper WIN
Larry Holmes WIN
Riddick Bowe LOSS
Alex Stewart WIN
Riddick Bowe WIN
Michael Moorer LOSS
Ray Mercer WIN
Riddick Bowe LOSS
Bobby Czyz (light heavyweight title and cruiserweight title) WIN
Mike Tyson WIN
Mike Tyson WIN
Michael Moorer WIN
Vaughn Bean WIN
Lennox Lewis DRAW
Lennox Lewis LOSS

 

Evander, which is why he rates higher than Lewis all time.

 

Let's break it down year by year for an alternate way of deciding.

1990: Evander wins title beating Douglas. Irrespective of how bad shape Douglas was in, this year trumps Lennox who was still relatively green. HOLYFIELD

1991: Evander beats George Foreman and Bert Cooper. Lennox has a good year beating Mason, Weaver and Biggs but Holy did his work in title fights. HOLYFIELD.

1992: An uninspiring win over Larry Holmes and the Bowe classic for Evander. Lennox shocks Razor Ruddock on top of decent wins against Derek Williams and Mike Dixon. It hinges on how they did in the round robin tournament. Evander lost to Bowe, Lennox beat Ruddock who was thought, wrongly as it turned out, to be the best of that bunch. LEWIS

1993: A fairly tame points win over an old Tony Tucker followed by a sloppy display vs Bruno for Lennox. A tame points win over Stewart followed by that Bowe rematch. Gotta be HOLYFIELD.

1994: Bad year for both, Evander loses the title. Lennox looks average against Phil Jackson before getting bombed by McCall. Insofar as his bad year wasn't quite as bad, the edge goes to HOLYFIELD.

1995: Great scrap with Mercer and another barnburner with Bowe ending in a KO defeat for Evander. Lennox beats Butler, Justin Fortune and Morrison, all quite emphatically. Not sure if Lennox's 95 looks as good with Evander's opposition. All the same, advantage LEWIS.

1996: Lennox barely gets by the same Mercer beaten by Evander in 95. On the same card, Evander looks awful against Czyz but then goes and beats Tyson. Is Ring Fighter of the Year. HOLYFIELD.

1997: Evander looks great in the early showing against Tyson and is impressive finishing Moorer in the rematch. Ring fighter of the Year again. Lewis pretty much gets a bye against McCall, doesn't look good vs Akinwande although that wasn't his fault (all the same, Henry had a strong case for saying he decked Lewis. A bit Hagler-Roldan but a KD by the rules). Then he blows away Golota but advantage still with HOLYFIELD.

1998: Not a vintage year for Holyfield with the uninspiring win over Bean. Lennox looks human against Mavrovic then impresses vs Briggs. LEWIS.

1999: They only fight each other. Lennox comes out on top. LEWIS.

So, for me, Evander is top dog in 6 of the 10 years. It doesn't quite answer the question in terms of resume but might be another way of discerning who was the more dominant figure over the course of the decade. In terms of resume, there's not much in it. Both should be admired for pitting themselves against a solid range of opponents. Not too many good contenders didn't get to face at least one of these two.

 

Holyfield.
Evander's biggest wins at HW came in the 90s, where Lewis had significant wins in the early 00s.

Overall Lewis has the better HW resume, but I'd rate Holyfield's career higher, as he had quite a run at CW too. Just to clarify.

 

Evander Holyfield had the better resume, any way I look at it. Evander's my number 3 man, all time, among Heavyweights.

 

Excellent points Ed. Bravo.

 

Thank you Flash.

 

Evander is superior in every aspect and it’s dead even for H2H. Meaning Evander would probably struggle with guys Lennox could crush and vice versa.

 

You did few mistakes: 1990 is part of the eighties, 2000 of the ninteen-ninties; therefore can be add Grant, Botha and Tua for Lewis, but Ruiz for Oldfield.

Then had Holyfield a second win against Stewart around 1994. Lewis fought Briggs first, after that Mavrovic.
I would also add, that the "win" against Bowe was controversial.

 

Here we go again.lol

 

Lewis was the best of that era. Who was he supposed to fight? Bowe dodged him.