Is it true Holyfield was on roids even as a cruiser?

[url]Dwight Muhammad Qawi - The Second Greatest Ever Cruiserweight • East Side Boxing • News Archives (boxing247.com)[/url]

I dunno. Qawi swore the guy was during both of their fights saying it was the energy revival that made him notice it the most and to be fair I think he's on to something. We've seen this happen to Holyfield throughout multiple points in his career where he's on the verge of defeat, then all of a sudden he becomes stronger, faster and more aggressive. It was particularly noticeable against Foreman and Bowe who had him in real trouble. Its a pattern unique to him and no one else. Frazier and Ali, despite their endless stamina, never got a 'power up' in the middle of nowhere while on the verge of getting a beatdown. Neither did Tyson, Lewis, Bowe, etc none of the other top guys. Why Holyfield though? It heavily implies he really was on something as Qawi and many other boxers have said.

This is potentially an explosive revelation because one could argue if this is indeed the case then Holyfield's entire career could be illegitimate. The whole thing about him having "heart" would now simply be looked at as "the steroids kicked in right about here". Looking at it this way, how many fights would he have won without "heart"? Or are there so many he'd have lost that we can't even guess?

 

Whatever…

 

He was definitely exhausted against Foreman late on.

 

He was a second wind fighter. He’d have come out strong in the 13th if that was a 15 round fight.

 

Are you insinuating steroids gave him a boost in the middle of fights?
If you are, I don't believe roids work that way...

 

Not the way that steroids generally work.

Typically, sportsmen would take them to improve endurance or recovery, thus allowing them to train harder for longer, if not taking them for pure mass and strength.

Without taking something pre-fight it is unlikely that the ability to get up and have a second wind would be down to a specific steroid and not moreso to do with his character and ability to dig deep.

Ali, Danny Williams, Frazier, Foreman, MAB, Morales, Eubank, Ward, Gatti and others have all exhibited this apparent trait that is not exclusive to Holyfield.

That said, Evan Fields clearly roided IMO and his ability to switch it up would be helped by good cycles but not to the extent where it can solely be attributed to that.

 

I hope so. Roids are awesome ! I want to see a minimum weight fighter take so much roids he blows up to a super middleweight in six months

 

Wouldn't that indicate he had a performance enhancer in his corner like Pryor did, rather than steroid use? Not saying either is true

 

i don't think it works out.

certainly not impossible.

 

ya i think so, there's a big difference between just taking some stuff and taking all the stuff made by specialists.

 

that's the other side to what i said, but there's no way to dispute it.

 

Qawi is convinced of it but who knows for sure apart from Holyfield an his coaches. personally I don't think he took them until he had to bulk up to heavyweight . Don't know what the time frame was between his last cruiser fight an his first heavie fight but I would've been very suspicious if he could have put on about a stone of pure muscle in less than a year at least without steroids

 

His career was already in question w the "Evan Fields" fiasco but we never will know who truly is clean either. As I always say, you don't become a "world beater" off roids alone anyways tho ofc they're an unfair advantage.

 

Anyone who thinks a surge in energy during a fight or ebbs and flows of same has never seen Matthew Saad Muhammad, completely missed Leonard-Hearns I and even Hagler-Duran — not to mention a few dozen other fights/fighters I could probably name off the top of my head.

SMFH.