Evander Holyfield vs Tommy Loughran

And there's plenty to currently choose from: Lomski, Walker, Braddock, Sharkey I, Carnera, Strickland (in live natural sound, courtesy of British Pathe') and Jimmy Delaney II (on the Tunney-Dempsey I undercard), spanning a period of nearly a decade.

 

I would expect a prime Holyfield - '87 - '91 vintage - to stop Loughran, some time after the 6th round.

 

Sharkey was not the Golota of his tiem, he is classes above Golota. But yeah, Holyfield was better by quite a bit offensivly than Sharkey, worse defensivly though. Sharkey was the better technician (at his best) and when was he unconditioned for his fights? I can´t recall a fight in which he gassed.

I think Walker was more relentless than Holy - of course he lacked the size but he was faster than Holy - and couldn´t catch up with him. Greb would also be more relentless and faster than Holy - and smaller. And I think Delaney would be at least on par with Holy in terms of counterpunching. Loughran doesn´t need to keep him of, he just needs to stay away and while I think Holy beats him - most likely on points, a late stoppage isn´t out of discussion though - I don´t think he blows him out early. Loughran was stopped 3 times in 117 fights and Holy isn´t someone to go out and blow out fighters. Moorer was far inferior to Loughran, yet Holy didn´t blow him out. Sorry, I think you are reaching a bit too far here.

 

Golota lost everytime he stepped up in class. Sharkey would short circuit and start crying or whatever(weirdo) but he's a better fighter and technician than Golota far as i can see.

 

1. They both have mental instability, Sharkey even has worse prime losses than Golota. Golota is very underrated on this forum. He put 2 master classes on against Bowe, being a tad unlucky to be DQ'ed in fight 1 and has a good case for beating Byrd/Ruiz past his prime. No shame in losing to Lewis and Tyson either

2. That's partly by choosing to be so aggressive and pressure, although Holy's defense. Holy has better footwork, movement, jab, right, left hook and his upper body movement looks better than Sharkey's

3. He wasn't unconditioned, however his stamina isn't close to Holyfield's who had arguably the best stamina of any HW

4. You do know in his prime Holy threw around 90punches a round, all heavy punches with his feet planted? He fought like a WW. Loughran could take the punches from Greb/Walker because he was the same size as them. The heavier punches from Holyfield coming with the same speed and workrate will have a much greater effect on him. Loughran just hasn't faced anything like Holyfield in his career and he's been knocked out before so against this overwhelming force, it'd be too much for him. Plus stylistically I see Holyfield exploiting him inside

5. I think Holy is underrated as a puncher because he fought so many elites and bigger men, he stopped Tyson, blew out Qawi, destroyed Douglas with 1 punch and his run to the title saw him on a KO run against some very good contenders. BTW he did stop Moorer, well the doctor did, if you watch that fight you think no way Moorer would get up from that last KD, big heart

BTW I think Louis and Schmelling would have blown out Loughran if they faced him too.

His opposition wasn't as good as Golota's

Well I don't think he lost to Ruiz and Byrd and he was unfortunately not to pick up 2 great wins over Bowe just as Sharkey was unlucky against Dempsey, ironically on different ends of the spectrum

 

Come on, dig a bit deeper into Sharkey ... he beat far more ranked contenders, was far more consistent at the Top - I think 9 years ranked Top5/10 - than Golota. Sharkey is leagues above Golota, in like every way. The only thing they have in common that they blew fights, well, not enough of a comparison.

I don´t think that Holy has better footwork, movement and upperbody movement than Sharkey. He had the better punches that´s for sure.

Holy was well conditioned but he isn´t near a Jeffries, McVea, Jeanette or even Marciano.

That wasn´t your point. Your point was that Loughran never would have faced someone as relentless as Holyfield. I gave you two fighters that were more relentless than Holyfield that Loughran faced and beat.
Of course Holy would have a better chance of knocking Tommy out. No doubt. But Tommy was able to stay away from both and both were faster than Holy thus making it highly probably that he would be able to stay away from Holy for most of the time too. Especially early.

Yeah, Holy could punch. That wasn´t the point though. The point was that Holy isn´t the kind of fighter who would go out there and blow a fighter out in the first three rounds. And he didn´t do that to Moorer - who is known for a bad chin - either.

Louis very likely. Schmeling not so much, he isn´t the kind of fighter for that. He din´t blow out Walker either. And it´s Schmeling with one "l" not two.


You are not getting my point. Holy may stop Loughran but not in the first three rounds. He is not that kind of fighter and Loughran isn´t easy to catch.

 

Hoyfield at his best is a massive step up from anyone Loughran beat at heavyweight.
Loughran's best heavyweight wins are over a still quite green Baer (who was a sucker for a left jab) and an over-the-hill Sharkey, neither compares to a prime Holyfield.
More significantly, Loughran lost to lesser fighters - Ernie Schaaf, was KO'd by Hamas and by Sharkey.

Maybe Loughran could get a close decision against an aging or old Holyfield, like the one who lost to Moorer, or stumbled into Lewis for 12 rounds, or went 1-1-1 with Ruiz.
But a prime Holyfield would stop him.

 

1. I know he beat more ranked contenders but if Golota was operating along the lower levels he'd have beat low ranked contenders too. But aside from that no they aren't identical

2. Well Holy is cosntantly moving in and out, his stamina allows for that, he's controlling everything with his feet. Sharkey's upper body movement looks a bit stiff and straight up for my liking

3. I think he's better than all the ones I've seen, ie Marciano. I'm not sure why you think Jeffries, McVea, Jeanette have the stamina of Holyfield. They fought more rounds, but that doesn't mean they have more stamina. It's like saying someone who runs a marathon in 3hours has more stamina than Bekele because Bekele only runs 10k

4. Well I meant at HW and he hasn't and I don't think Loughran did necessarily stay away from both Greb/Walker

5. Maybe Loughran would be known for 'a bad chin' if he faced Foreman and Tua 2 of the biggest hitters of all time.

6. Schmeling stopped many that weren't previously stopped, not just because of his power but because of his accuracy, timing, skill. So I think yes he can stop Loughran

7. He may not stop Loughran in the first few rounds, I think he probably would, but it may take longer, agreed, I do see a stopage though

 

Well, yeah Holy has good footwork. Not quite as good as an "on"-Sharkey but that could be debated. Doesn´t mean it´s worse. Worked well for him, when he actually bothered.

Well, going by what I´ve seen of them and by what I´ve read, I must come to that conclusion. You are free to disagree. I also think Marciano had better stamina. But yeah, Holy is definitly up there with the best stamina-wise and amongst the fighters from the last 20-30 years the top dog for sure.

You should have said that then. That would be true. He did when he wanted to - or that´s my impression - he had the footwork and footspeed to do that. He would do the same just much more often against Holy. That fight could turn out to be quite boring.

Well, Loughran beat his Foreman - Baer - and even past prime managed to not getting KOed by his era´s Tua - Godoy.

Yes, he did but he didn´t blow them out. and that was what you wrote. He stopped them after methodical beatings.

I can see a stoppage, I see a points result more likely though.

I think we can let it there. :thumbsup

 

Good Post :good I see Holyfield getting to him late for the tko...

 

On "Dancing with the Stars," my parents tell me he was lead footed, and that SRL was no great shakes either. Weird. One would think experience with conditioning practices like skipping rope would provide an ideal background for an "amateur" dancing competition, but boxers don't excel at DWTS as might be expected.

Not only that, but he took an official 12 round UD in their middle bout to open 1935 in Buenos Aires, and it's been argued Arturo's only win in their series was a hometown decision in Chile. Tommy may well have deserved to sweep all three matches over Godoy.