My heart says Hopkins by a mile, my head says Holyfield by a whisker. I think Hopkins was a better fighter in his prime, though Holyfield could have been as dominant and proven at cruiser as Hop was at mw if Evander had stayed there for longer. Holyfield would not have made as much money or became as famous if he stayed at cruiser, but he could probably have retired undefeated and been known as an elite ATG in terms of ability, he was a monster there. To beat Qawi in his 13th (something like that?) pro fight was exceptional. All in all though, Holyfield has the edge on resume, so he gets my vote as the greater of the two, but I prefer Hopkins as a fighter.
Just a curious question. How impressive was Holyfield's win over Tyson in their first fight? What were the odds going into this fight? What was the perception in the boxing world leading up to this fight on who would win and how?
Favourite fighters for me and I can't really make it out... 4 time HWT Champion and former undisputed CW Champion and longest reigning undisputed MW Champion? I guess that Holyfield's opposition makes him a legend and Hopkins is more of a legend due to his career in a whole. Definitely they rank high up there as ATGs.
Make a thread about it. You'll get interesting responses if you don't know much about what people thought about the fight right before it happened. On topic: My pick is Holyfield, by a nose.
I believe odds were 22-1 when the fight was announced and then it was knocked down to 6-1 at the night of the fight for Tyson
Regardless of how good you are, if you face EVERYONE you are gonna suffer some losses. Holyfield has faced Tyson, Lewis, Bowe, Moorer, Foreman, Mercer when he was still legit, and Holmes. We're talking about a who's who list of HOFers and Holyfield has fought and beaten all but one and that fight (the Lewis rematch) wasn't a rout by any means. Evander ranks higher even with his last 9 years being considered. In addition, say what you want about Valuev but the judges' incompetence is what kept Holyfield from being a champion even now.
Holyfield who fought everybody, When Hopkins got Jones to agree to fight him live on the air Hopkins got cold feet and found another fight, Holyfield fought everybody and should be the WBA HW champ right ****ing now should be a 5 time HW champion.
if you dont know the answer to this you shouldnt be voting it was clear that Holyfield was past his better days considered a dead man walking when he went into this fight was something like a 20-1 underdog in that fight. The boxing world thought Tyson would dispatch of Holyfield quick and move on to unify with Moorer but it didnt exactly work out that way Evander beat the **** out of Mike damn near every single round.
I have to go with Holy on this man. He beat very good version of Tyson and that was the decided for me.
It's hard to argue against a guy who is the Undisputed and Legitimate Middleweight Champion of the world @ age 40 - then goes on to be the #1 LHW in the world...