The one that took on Stewart, Dokes, Douglas and Foreman? How good /vulnerable was he, would you say? Compared to a young Louis or Ali?
He didn't dominate as they often did, many of his fights were hard fought affairs, but he had that extra gear. He wanted to scrap much more than Ali did, and he didn't have the power of Louis. He had that bit in him of a yard dog that don't accept that it's smaller than the other dogs. Maybe was his undoing against Bowe, but made him into a very exciting fighter.
When interviewed Evander Holyfield said as a young boxer he was told to watch the " little guys" that could explain why he used to throw so many combination punches, overall he was also more disciplined than most boxers which attributed to his longevity in the sport. Holyfield was good enough to box but he'd like to go toe to toe more often maybe he felt like he hadn't done enough unless he absolutely hammered or attempted to hammer his opponent?
Yes he was a n exciting fighter years ago. He could keep to a disciplined fight but if he got hurt that went out of the window. A young Louis could have really hurt him to be honest. A young Ali gets a decision but what a fighter.
Top notch heavyweight. One of the best. Few people have as strong a resume as he does. He's weathered so many storms.
While a great fighter in his own right, he wasn't on par with Ali or Louis as a HW. You have to keep him in perspective. I think some tend not to. He's natural cruiser and is in the running for the greatest to lace up gloves in that weight range. He was SO damn good at his natural weight class that he was able to bulk up from weight lifting and "modern nutrition" and give hell to many of the best HW's of the era. But he was no Ali. And he was no Louis. He was the last HW I can think of who truly fought everyone. Did he avoid ANYONE? He's the only one of the big-4 HW's of the 90s who fought all the others, for example.
I saw all of his fights in the early stretch of his heavyweight campaign and remember he was the only man the experts viewed as “ perhaps “ being able to defeat mike Tyson. As much as i respect Olegsandr Usyk, Michael Spinks and other men who ascended to win the HW title, most of them didn’t take the path which Holyfield did by actively challenging ranked contenders and beating them in wars on a regular basis. Evander proved in this early winning streak that he was in perfect physical shape, strong, durable, hard hitting and skilled. I believe the 1988-1991 Holyfield was the best and likely would have given most greats a tough fight and even handed a few of them a loss. I’ve often heard varying accounts of when people feel Holy was prime. Some say all the way up to the Lewis fights. I disagree.
Yeah. And it was before he had on and off health issues, periods of inactivity, constant changes in management and of course too many wars
Yeah, he was certainly a good way past his best against Lewis. I'd consider Bowe 2 his last peak performance.
So many matchups feel like they could go either way with holyfield, so from a h2h angle I can see him rating not as high. But in terms of excitement level, I think he's number 1
