Was Buster Douglas Really Stronger Than Evander Holyfield?

He was stronger than Holyfield. McCall stated Douglas was the hardest hitting boxer he faced and keep in mind, McCall had fought Lewis and numerous rounds with Tyson. Both of whom were stronger than Holyfield, so Douglas would be as well.

Now as far as at the time of their fight goes perhaps not because Douglas was out of shape and not all that caring, but if he would've shown up in shape then his size and strength advantage in the fight would've shown.

 

Since he was out of shape & may have lost muscle, who knows.
He may well have been stronger in short bursts or lifting weights, but without the endurance.
But this was not the later Holyfield, who with the help of PEDs added a good 10 lbs. of most all upper body muscle.

 

Holyfield muscled Tyson backwards in every clinch in both fights. He wasn’t physically stronger than Holyfield. Foreman was the only guy to truly shove Holyfield around and Evander admits that. Holyfield was smart enough to use his speed and angles to beat George.

 

I keep stating this when ppl bring up Holyfield-Tyson. That size helped him immensely at that time which he wouldn't of had in 91-92 when they were originally gonna fight. Early 90s Holyfield would not bully Tyson like he did in the late 90s. Might not have been able to take all of those hellacious shots he was able to either.

 

I doubt if Douglas was stronger than Holyfield. Bigger, yes.

 

Bowe especially in their 1st fight where Holyfield tried to stand his ground, looked not only a lot bigger but stronger as well.

 

Don’t know if there’s any evidence to say that Douglas is definitely stronger than Holyfield. Although he had some weight on Holy I think Evander had a higher percentage of muscle to body fat even when Douglas was at his ideal weight

 

Thats the roided version of Holyfield. I'm talking about pre-roids Holyfield, back when he fought Douglas. Although as said, Douglas wasn't in shape for that particular fight and could've became physically weaker than Holyfield as a result.

Uhh you might want to do some more research there bud. Bowe, Lewis and Mercer also shoved Holyfield around, not just an old Foreman. In fact Holyfield back in the late 80's/early 90's weas physically weaker than nearly everyone he fought because he wasn't a natural heavyweight. It was only after he continued to spend time adjusting to the division AND took steroids that he began to grow into the field naturally. That became apparent in the 2nd Bowe fight so naturally by the time he took on Tyson he was a full blown heavyweight by then, hence why he was strong enough to shove Tyson aside.

There's a reason why Holyfield was known for his speed/aggressiveness back then because it was his way of making up for his lack of strength against naturally bigger guys. Holyfield is on record stating this to boot.

 

You & Techks are precisely right.
Holyfield without modern weight training is at most the size & muscular weight of Joe Louis. Tops.
Holyfield with just a lot of lifting & staying that lean-205-210 lbs., tops.

Holyfield with rigorous weight training AND steroids/HGH?
215-220 lbs., STILL very lean.
And most of the muscle above the waist.

 

Holyfield was very strong for his size steroids or not and Foreman was the only one who physically manhandled him. He was giving up size and strength to Lewis and Bowe but was competitive strengthwise with both. Foreman not at all. This is what Holyfield said in the Best I Faced in Ring

STRONGEST
Foreman: Out of all the people, I would say George Foreman was the strongest. And behind him Lennox Lewis and Riddick Bowe. I could push anybody back, it wasn’t a problem. I couldn’t push George back. (Laughs.) You had to go around him.

Holyfield was definitely stronger than Tyson when they fought which means you might want to watch their actual fights bud before making statements about Tyson being stronger thanEvander. Tyson actually got tied up and backed up in clinches against quite a few opponents. His speed, accuracy and power was his biggest assets not his physical strength.

 

You'd assume Tyson would be strong as an ox given his build.

 

He was very strong compared to an average man.
He was stronger than Evander before PEDs.
After PEDs & the years of weight training Evan Fields was stronger.

Only in his upper body-he still never developed his lower body + legs proportionately.

 

Holy was strong as hell for his weight. Even at 205 lbs he frequently pushed Bowe back. As he said, the only time he felt someone was stronger than him was Foreman and I think the footage bears that out.

So I don't think Douglas would outmuscle him, even if he was in shape.