I am just about to watch some of Holyfields Cruiserweight fights and was wondering how much of a achievement is it to unify the titles. I mean obviously it is great (especially with such few fights under his belt) but I don't recognise names like Carlos De Leon, Ricky Parky and Ossie Ocassio. Was this a good era for the cruiserweights or not? How would you compare Holyfields win here to say David Haye's?
They weren't a bad lot all in all. DeLeon was actually not a bad fighter at all, and next to Holyfield the most dominant cruiserweight at the time. Parkey was not really championship caliber, and I think it showed when Holy iced him fairly quickly. Still, he was a reasonably decent boxer, just nothing special. Ossie Ocassio was pretty tricky. He didn't have much of a punch nor was he really much of an athlete. but he was sneaky and clever. I watched him many years ago pinch a deserved decision over heavyweight Pierre Coetzer, who later fought the likes of Bowe, Bruno and Foreman. (Okay, he lost all three, but a gave a decent performance against Bowe in particular.) DeLeon was the best of the three, with Parkey bringing up the rear. I can't really compare Holyfield's achievements and that of Haye, as I'm not that familar with Haye at the moment. I'm sure someone else will help out here. In any event, as you said, unifying the titles at any weight is an achievement.
Yeah Holyfield is ahead of Haye there in my opinion. DeLeon beat Johnny Nelson as well it might be remembered. Good info for the thread starter there by you FOF. Haye has a top win in Mormeck and a good/decent one in Maccarinelli, but he was stopped by Carl 'the cat' Thompson, and although he has recovered from it very well, it remains on his resume. Holyfield the greatest cruiser of all time in my opinion.
Ta Teeto. Didn't Carl Thompson fight my countryman Sebastian Rothman? I think he did. Landed the mother of all right hands in the 10th, if I recall. I'll check it out on boxrec. Oh, and yes, I agree that Holyfield was different class as a cruiser. EDIT: it was the 9th round when Thompson landed that piledriver.
Thompson sure had some power to his name. It rings a bell, the Rothman stoppage, but can't put a picture to the fight in my head.
Maybe it's on youtube...not sure. Shitty part is that Rothman was winning fairly comfortably until then. He was never the same after that fight. (Rothman that is.)
DeLeon was pretty good, and Qawi is probably among the best cruiser champs ever. Ocasio was a former heavyweight contender who had fought for the title, but was simply not naturally big enough to be successful there. I'd say Holy's was at least as good as any era in cruiser history, and given the Qawi win, it was a bigger feat to have unified in that time than Haye's.
So did I. Nobody ever blasted out Qawi like that, before or even after. That may have been Holy's greatest performance. If you didn't know it already, you knew then that Holy was a special fighter.
yeh it was amazing even the first win over Qawi was good i thought he got it fairly wide (i know not a consensus opinion) showed he was the 'Real Deal' in taht fight i agree on Qawi being a great performance i think Bowe 2 or Tyson 1 might have been slightly better in context
Holyfield's achievements at cruiser were fantastic. He fought a classic wit the far more experienced Dwight Qawi with only twelve or so bouts under his belt, going fifteen and giving all he had in a composed and confident manner that hinted at FAR MORE pro experience. Then he mowed down the other alphabet titlists during the same period Tyson was mowing down heavyweights. It looked good and was on certain levels, comparable. David Haye was poised to do great things at cruiser. Of course, he did do some terrific work, and I really wanted him to stay at cruiser to win more titles and to draw attention to that much-maligned division, but he opted to semi-retire (as it has effectively turned-out) Holyfield is ahead of Haye at cruiser, but quite possibly one could make a case that Haye ranks among the top-five cruisers of all-time. Anybody?
Haye belongs in the top 5 for CW's. Unifying the belts is an impressive feat and Frago, Mormeck, and Enzo are a nice set of wins with Mormeck being a fellow great Cruiser. Holyfield's the only one that clearly belongs ahead of Haye at Cruiser, Gomez could be argued above Haye because of his long title reign as well. Don't really know about anyone else. Haye is arguably top 3. CW's a pretty shallow weight because few if any fighters stay there for the duration of their careers.
You've made some very solid points, and you are right in your closing line about cruiserweight. That is why I wanted to see Haye get in three or four more fights at the weight. I consider his work at cruiser somewhat incomplete...and he may just be top three all-time.
