Give Holyfield Credit

He looked like a solid heavyweight still, but compared to what he used to be, it's sad watching him. He's heavy on his feet, his reflexes have slowed a great deal, he doesn't have the skill he once had, he can't take the shot he once could, and he has trouble pulling the trigger.

Still an ATG though - please Holyfield...one final farewell fight and call it career.

 

Giving him credit is like giving him encouragement to keep killing himself. Im sorry but I cant.

If it was his going away fight, that would be cool. But when he says hes gonna get back in line... ahhhhhatsch

 

my sentiments exactly - bring on a rematch with James Toney! And then call it a day :good

 

See this is my point. Your mixing up your perfectly fine logic (fought a good fight, let him have one more), with his logic (get back in line, become the undisputed heavyweight champ again).

 

Holyfield still is the only heavywieght fighter today that can attract PPV fights consistently, he is the last of dying breed of great Heavywieghts.

 

I think Holyfield could get another title shot with a win over Toney, then Rahman (2 rematches that are very winable) then maybe Liakovich or Briggs. He can beat all of them on conditioning alone. Then get one more shot at the title.

 

By that time he will be 50 and wont remember his name.

But go Holyfield!

 

I think alot of you guys are underrating James Toney.

Toney is deteriorating, but if he got himself in proper shape, he could still deal with most Heavyweight who dont tower over him.
......Sultan is one who I believe Toney even in this stage of his career would embarrass!

I'm a huge Holyfield fan, but no, the Toney fight has been done, and Toney still has alot more than what Holyfield has nowdays.

 

You know, Holyfield missed on a golden opportunity to become champion again back when Liakovich or Briggs were champions, and even a fighter like Maskaev Holyfield may still be able to contend with.
For the most part these are fighters that are going to be right in front of Evander........

.....the matchmaking on Holyfield's part has been horendous over the past 3 or 4 years......for Gods sake, their matching an old man with heavy feet with Byrd, Toney, Donald, and Oquendo......all defensive slicksters.
Even Sultan showed he was slick against Briggs......

.....the type of fighter that an aging fighter should not be matched with are slicksters, which is exactly who they've been matching Holyfield with.

It would be a struggle for Evander to beat any of the top heavyweights now, but at least one that stands right in front to fight, Evander at least has a chance.

Terrible matchmaking, just terrible!

 

At least they didn't do any harm to Evander (apart from Toney).

Come on, Evander is done and if he wants to fight top contenders he will keep losing anyway. It has nothing to do with matchmaking. I think it is better for him to lose against Byrd, Donald and Ibragimov than against Maskaev or McCline (although I give him some chance against Maskaev).

 

Let me clarify......my point is that after the Byrd fight, they continued to match Holyfield with slicksters.....the type of fighter that would make an old Holyfield look like he was stuck in mud.

After the Ruiz trilogy, everyone was pointing that Holyfield was done and shot......
......then he fought a fighter who stood right in front of Holyfield for him to fight....Holyfield looked awful good against Rahman in a fight most experts were picking him to lose.

Then check this out...after Holyfleld looks good vs Rahman, 6 months later he looks dreadful vs the slick Chris Byrd.

Right after Byrd came losses to other slicksters, Toney and Donald!

Heres a fighter who cant chase anymore, and they continue to match him with slicksters, despite the fact that Holyfield had looked great against a dangerous puncher in Hasim Rahman.

You look at the record, and everyone of Holyfields losses after the Ruiz trilogy, came vs slick style fighters.....again, why the hell did they match Holyfield against these slick fighters when he was showing every sign that he could'nt deal with a fighter moving away from him?????

Yeah, now its too late, Holyfield is 45, but then Holyfield could have still been dangerous against fighters like Rahman who were going to be there to be hit!

I've said this before in other threads, Roberto Duran was still competitive into his forties against fighters who were willing to stand in front of him, but against those that had the ability to circle and use their feet to move away from him, Duran looked like an amatuer, he just could'nt use his old legs to chase!

 

And the problem at the moment is that we have two belt-holders that can do the stick 'n' move (Sultan and Chagaev), Maskaev/Peter/Vitali are tying up the WBC belt at the moment and are bigger hitters than I'd be comfortable sticking a 45+ Holy in there with, and Wladimir is just wrong on all levels for Holyfield as he can stick 'n' move while also hit like a truck.

He'll probably just try to keep busy, fight more toe-to-toe guys and hope that someone like that guys lucky in a title fight.

But really...I think we know what we'd rather he did.

 

I actually thought Holyfield won the fight. He pressed the action all fight. Iggy never came forward... and Holyfield hit him with right hand leads all night.

 

he could barely move against a guy who was barely trying to hit him. I won't give him any credit...he used his headbutt early, he's been a cheater and he didn't deserve this title shot.