I'd like to see him put together a mini-streak over the next year and beat maybe 4 or 5 middle of the road challengers to see what he can do.. Frankly, if Holyfield had fought Oleg Maskaev on the night that he faced Sultan Ibragimov, I am inclined to thinking that he might have been crowned champ, given that Maskaev is much closer to his age and has no where near the level of mobility that Ibragimov had. I know that most people rate Holyfield very low on their all time heavyweight lists, and I happen to be one of them. The more I think about it however, the more I want to rate him higher. His comp list is sick, and so are his abilities for being at such an advanced age, and in such a physically large heavyweight division.
Well... I must say that he won the fight against Valuev, Valuev isn´t good. To be 46 years old and still be up there and fight about championship belts might say more about the division than about Holyfield. But nothing bad about Holyfield, I like him. to bad he was robbed. One more rematch against Valuev would be great. The predator
I've always been a bit suprised by (correct me if i'm wrong) how you consider what he's done the last years as damaging his record. I don't think it's reasonable to hold it against him that he lost to slick boxers in Byrd and Toney, and a peak Ibragimov at 40+ years of age and after numerous ring wars. All of said fighters are poison to an aging boxer whose workrate and reflexes deteriorate. His conditioning indeed is admirable and he puts a lot of young guys like Arreola, Chagaev and Peter to shame. They might not have the body type to look as ripped as Holyfield, but they could sure lose a few pounds. I actually think he might be as good as Foreman was around this age. I wouldn't pick him to beat Moorer (for obvious reasons), but Moorer aside, Foreman hardly steamrolled his 2nd-rate opponents during that age. And because of styles, he has a decent shot at beating a guy like Morrison who beat Foreman. With good management he could've picked up a belt (should've, against Valuev), but now that the belts are in the hands of the Klitschkos or Chagaev, i think that goal is definitively over.
Oh don't get me wrong. I don't hold those wins against him, though it does look rather ugly when I click on boxrec and see all those red marks.. Still, those losses shouldn't be held too much against him, or should at least be taken with a very large grain of salt. As for his chances at becomming a titlist again, I pretty much concur.. His best chance within the last 2-3 years would have probably been Oleg Maskaev, but unfortunately that fight never happened.. The Valuev effort was a great one, and almost seems like a wasted opportunity. Nevetheless, I still have respect for what he's still capable of..
Well, against the top 10: 1. Wladimir Klitschko - L TKO corner throws in towel late 2. Vitali Klitschko - same result as #1 3. Ruslan Chagaev - L UD but he looked rusty against that Drummond fella 4. Alexander Povetkin - L UD Povetkin's boxing skills and handspeed is decent enough to win a bout w/ Holy on points 5. Nikolay Valuev - well you all saw what happened there 6. Eddie Chambers - L UD he has superior hand-speed and is more defensive-minded then the others, something Holy hates; if Holy wanted to win he'd want his opponent to initiate the action first Chambers isn't going to do that 7. Chris Arreola - Holy TKO, this is the one fighter in the top 10 that I'm fairly confident he'd beat he's way too one-dimensional and insists on getting into brawls. I can't remember the last time Holy actually looked bad against a guy who purely relied on slugging it out. Pretty odd considering the guy had a ton of amateur experience. 8. Alexander Dimitrenko - I haven't seen much of him what do you guys think of this matchup? But for now the safe pick Dimitrenko wins on points. 9. David Haye - L UD Haye is far too fast for a senior citizen Holy to keep up w/ but I think Holy's chin is good enough to go 12, either that or Haye just carries him anyway 10. John Ruiz - double KO So IMO Holy would go 2-7-1 against the current the Ring top 10
well i would let him fight on but i would draw the line if he wanted to fight in the buff from now on
Beating a big talentless stiff like valuev doesnt mean your not shot to ****. Ever since Holy was sliced to ribbons & ****in STOPPED by James `former middleweight` Toney, I have classed him as retired because thats the only thing left for him & thats the mildest & fairest I can possibly be on this subject.
I don't think anyone can argue that Holyfield is not shot because he is. For some inexplicable reason however, he has seemingly outlasted the men who had previously beaten him. James Toney dominated him years ago, yet the 45 year old Holyfield did much better against Fres Oquendo than James Toney who now seems to be done. Ruiz beat him, yet the 46 year old Holyfield probably did better against Valuev than Ruiz managed. He went the distance against Ibragimov, took little punishment and had some moments. It's tough to convince him to retire when he is still doing alright against top heavyweights. Here's a highlight I made of his efforts in the Valuev fight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jznz3ZmXsMw The fight was one of the worst I've ever seen but I do feel that Holyfield won it. Valuev might be one of the worst title holders ever but he was and still is rated highly in the heavyweight division.
You are probably right. The man is an awesome physical specimen, especially at his age. He's still a decent fighter, but when you compare him to his rapid-fire, quick-on-the-draw former self, he looks more like a cheap imposter than the Real Deal.