Evander Holyfield fighting in the Dempsey era and before?

Presuming Holyfield’s peak occurs during Black Dynamite he is going to be hard-pressed to hang with Dempsey when the time comes.

A size advantage should not hold much sway here. Holyfield didn't use his size in the neat sense of utilizing range, and if there was one thing Sam Langford proved in his mammoth career it was that he could out-box and concuss the big boys.

Evander would probably get to Jeannette after a little chasing, and he’d probably outhustle McVea after a Mercer-esque brawl, but Langford is one of those fighters who are worth their weight in saffron.

Ripped n’ ready at 173lbs, it’s impossible to be confident because Sam is a fighter who blurred the lines; you can pull the weight card but his career says otherwise in multiple languages.

Lennox Lewis would provide a more suitable foil, but Evander would engage (sometimes indulgently) a fighter who possessed a golden jaw, surprising range, tremendous stamina and knock-out power (on the counter to boot).

Wills and Tunney would provide great entertainment. Tough calls.

 

Had he been around 100 years ago, he still would have been without the benefits of modern training, nutrition, amateur career and a trainer like George Benton. He would have been fighting often just weeks apart from very tough fights. And who did he beat at cruiser anyway? A 36 year old Dwight Qawi, Carlos Deleon and Ossie Ocasio? How does this list stack up to Jack Dempsey, Sam Langford and Harry Wills?

 

If Holyfiled could or could not beat Dempsey would be moot imo. Holyfield had the wrong skin color to be in the ring with Dempsey/Tunney in there rein as champ.
Wills was the number 1 contender for 7 years, and he did not get close of getting Dempsey in the ring with this "Fake" tourments for Wills to win/lose.

We may think Holyfiled would be the heavyweight champ in the 1920's, but it ant happening, not with the color bar as strong as ever after Jack Johnson.

 

Well no he wouldn't have those, but we take fighters how they are not what they would be if they had completely different trainers, training and suffered from malnutrition. Because obviously they wouldn't be the same fighters and any comparison is going into a parallel universe. Without Benton Holyfield wouldn't have been as good ofcourse, but having these trainers is part of the evolution of the sport and makes the fighters who they are

To make it fair though we assume he wouldn't have PEDs and hence is quite as big and strong so weighs 195-205

He beat everyone at the weight in his first few years as a pro before moving up and facing all comers at HW, his resume and competition overall is leagues above those men. Who have they beat who can compare to Holyfield, simply put there's no one in Holyfield's league that they've been in with