Without the Fan Man would Holyfield have lost to Bowe ?

I believe he would have won as he already deserved a draw in my opinion.

 

Holyfield still gets the win imo.

 

I scored the 2nd fight for Bowe

 

I think that Bowe's energy/focus was spent with the incident, understandable concern for his wife, who fainted in the midst of the ruckus and was carried away by ambulance. If you add in Bowe looking softer/heavier than the first fight, then it's understandable that Evan came back, as by the 7th, I suspect that Evan would have started to fade around rounds 9 or 10, if not for the interruption and respite of the 20 odd minutes break whilst they cleared the ring and carried a very battered Fan Man away.

Bowe actually outlanded Evan this fight if memory serves correct but alas, set up the rubber match so no complaints from me.

 

I had Bowe ahead by two points. I was surprised he didn't get the Champions Benefit of a Doubt for the decision, he more than earned it imo.

 

No one can ever know. They both suffered the same distraction.

 

I don’t know.

Holyfield hurt Bowe in the 5th and won the 6th again, but Bowe was having an excellent round 7 with the jab before Fan Man.

Maybe Bowe was going to really turn things around in his favor, or maybe it was temporary.

That turned out to be the difference on my card. I scored the round 10-10, as Bowe did well before Fan Man and Holyfield after. I ended up having it 115-114 for Holyfield. I thought he stole two late rounds with 2 big finishes at the end of them.

Holyfield looked close to going down at the end of the fight. He was hurt and tired at the end of the 12th round while Bowe was throwing a lot of shots. I think being able to stay on his feet won it for Evander.

I’m not big on using punchstat numbers, but Bowe had a big edge in them for whatever it’s worth.

 

Except that Evan didn't have his wife carted off in an ambulance.

None of us are mind-readers but I would hazard a guess that in Bowe coming in heavier and looking softer, being involved in a mass brawl, seeing/knowing his wife fainted and was removed from the building, it probably has a greater emotional/mental burden than being Evan Fields, likely under the assistance of enhancing agents, getting a breather and a chance to reset.

 

Given what we subsequently saw with Evan having his "health issues", I would hypothesise that Bowe would start to take over and Evan's willingness to trade and "carry the weight" of the larger man would be his downfall. Or maybe, Bowe would be live for two rounds and then Evan would fight back and outwork him.

I don't put too much stock in punch stats as you could pitty pat shoe shine and still get crushed by a hook and uppercut combo but I suppose Bowe landing more punches indicates that it was a close fight and it is down to what you're looking for as to who you scored the fight for.

 

You can make tha argument, but again, you can't know.

As for coming in heavier, that is his problem.

 

This is true - sign of lack of professionalism in my view.

I still think it will have a relative impact on mental readiness post Fan Man but I will happily concede that it's a disadvantage of Riddick's own doing.

 

If it's Bowe outlanding Holyfield,I suspect those could be heavy punches,but there's a possibility a big man could flurry tho,I just didn't see it in such calculated destroyer like Bowe.

 

This fight is interesting, I saw it for Holyfield just but it was more Bowe’s doing then Holyfield improvements, he was fighting down if that makes sense, couldn’t miss him with that jab Holyfield kept stepping out and Bowe would just put it out there and EH would walk into it. I think the right man would’ve always gotten it (Holyfield) but in 15 rounds… I think Bowe might’ve dropped him at some point or stopped him to secure the win.

 

It’s a logical fallacy: Post hoc ergo propter hoc = ‘after therefore because of.’

The answer is we don’t know what would have happened if we change any particular fact about any fight (or anything) in history. We only know what happened.

And what happened was an example of a universal truth in sport: Winners adjust, losers make excuses (or people make excuses for them). Holyfield stayed focused, just as he did later when Mike Tyson bit his ear off.