If the real deal turns to heavy at the start of the millennium, how's he do? Maybe a few starter fights against the likes of hide, Jeremy Williams , Sheldon etc. So we then have a undefeated, hungry real deal, the same version that kod Douglas. How's this holy do against Ruiz? Byrd? Lewis? Wlad? Roy Jones? Yes he's met most of these as a old guy but how s the 1990 version do?
He beats them all IMO, he wasn't exactly manhandled by Foreman when he fought at a lighter weight so he has nothing to worry about in the strength department . The lighter Holyfield was much faster and had a better work rate. Wlad would be the biggest danger but I feel Holyfield stops him.
I don`t think Wlad was good enough before he got knocked out and improved, Jones speed would bother him but Lewis would be much more difficult than Jones because of his reach and power.
Wlad was nowhere near as good as Lewis at this point he improved later in the decade, Holy would KO Wlad with the same shots that knocked him out against lesser fighters than Holy.
Wlad was very dangerous then and much more aggressive, Lewis showed he wasn't capable of knocking Holyfield out in two bouts.
If Lewis came out against Wlad at this stage the way he came out against Golota he would KO him because he hit harder than Corrie Sanders, Vander was able to survive against Lewis because he learned defense against Bowe, Holy even said he realized how to beat Tyson after fighting Bowe before then he was too open to fight a puncher like Lewis.
Holyfield survived against Lewis mainly due to his chin rather than his defence which honestly didn't really appear any different than in his previous fights. Lewis still hit Holyfield with some powerful punches over the course of the 2 bouts, including some big uppercuts but I didn't think Holyfield looked in any serious trouble at any stage.
From the Stewart fight to the second Bowe fight he was caught with a lot of shots, but he would have had more success against Lewis if he fought the way he fought against Stewart in their second meeting compared to their first bout.
Lewis used his reach to stay away from punches meaning 1990 Holy would have to come from behind to beat Lewis.
I see him stopping wlad, but it's not a quick ko. Young Holyfield would work away at him, he'll stop him around the eleventh. Lewis would be the back end of his career then, still dangerous but vander has youth on his side. It's still a hard battle but holy wins a decision. He easily handles Ruiz and stops him around the tenth. Jones does a good job of out boxing holy for a few rounds but gets stopped in the 8 th, in a fight similar to Moorer rematch. Byrd could provide holy with the hardest fight of them all. He'll be so damn hard to figure out, but Holys pressure and work rate pull s him through to win the decision.
Evander was what, 36? when he fought Lewis. By then he didn't have the same speed, drive or energy that the 28 year old Holyfield had in 1990 . It's possible that, that energetic Holyfield would have been the one to jump into a early lead and that Lewis would have been the one to come from behind which would have forced him to open up a lot more and take more risks, something he didn't really have to do in the 1998 bouts.
I don`t think Jones would be as aggressive as Moorer was in the rematch, I see Jones fighting more like MM did in the first fight with there being little action, the only thing that worked for Moorer in that awful bout was his jab, in comparing Jones to Moorer do you feel MM`s southpaw jab would have bothered Jones if they would have met at heavyweight, I`m not 100% convinced of Jones at heavyweight.
I've wondered about a Moorer V Jones match up. Of most of the heavy s from the past 30 years I see these two been in a competitive match. The jab of Moorer definitely bothers Jones though and of course mm was a decent puncher at heavyweight. Moorer would win but Jones makes him struggle at times.
