Holmes vs Holyfield

Well, Lennox did lose to Oliver McCall. McCall was crap. Lennox 'bounced' back with wins over Butler, Fortune and Morrison ! "Bums" really. :-( He barely beat Ray Mercer, who really lost to Jesse Ferguson perhaps twice.

Holyfield looked damaged goods losing to Moorer, who in turn lost to Foreman, who didn't deserve a shot in the slightest. Foreman then needed a gift to get past Schulz.

Tyson came out of jail and fought McNeeley and Mathis Jr., joke fights. He then got a shot at Bruno and Seldon and was then battered by an over-the-hill Holyfield.

And who did Lewis beat to be called a 'champion' during the 1990s ? Until he beat Holyfield in 1999, he was as bogus a champ as the others, a paper champion. He was gifted the WBC title in 1993 because Bowe's manager didn't want him as a first defence. Don King helped Lewis with that. Then he beat old has-been Tucker, struggled with Bruno, and beat Phil Jackson before losing to McCall.
Then he beat Lionel Butler in an 'eliminator'
Somehow they managed to get McCall and him to fight for the vacant WBC in 1997.
Lennox Lewis actually seemed to be one of the biggest benefactors of Don King and Jose Sulaiman's shennanigans. He became a two-time titlist before he'd beaten any recognized champion of any sort.

 

The heavyweight division has been on a steady decline since 1991.

 

I would agree with this. :good

Although .... perhaps it already flat-lined 10 years ago.

 

This was one dull fight !!

 

I don't think it'd have been needed. Very few people outmuscled him, only Cobb and McCall were able to really clearly establish themselves as being the stronger person. Larry was outmuscling Evander on the inside, but he was getting outworked which is why he lost. He simply didn't have the work rate he had in the late 70s and early 80s.

Evander outworked Larry to win the decision fair and square.

 

Whatever man. You see this whenever anyone has an axe to grind with any era. "All these supposedly good fighters, all they beat were guys who weren't good, or each other!"

 

Yeah, and what's amazing is that the whole fight was fought at a slow pace, and still Holmes couldn't keep up. I mean, for a guy getting $7 million for a title shot, you'd think Holmes would have let more punches fly or at least took more risks. It's crazy how much time he spent just laying on the ropes. And his jab was basically non-existent!

 

He didn't have it in him anymore, I don't think. He showed more dog and activity in the McCall fight than he did against Holyfield.

Not to make excuses for him, but I do think he was far from 100% (even comeback form) for the Holyfield fight. I know for a fact that he had a detached retina for the fight and he was surprised he passed the physical for the fight with flying colors and no mention of his eye. He said that it "showed a lot about the testing done in Nevada." I suspect there was more wrong though due to the fact he threw up afterwards.

Regardless, I agree that compared to other title efforts of his, the Holyfield one is the poorest, next to the Tyson fight. Holmes managed to neutralize Evander's offence and give him a lot to think about, but outside of some crips right hands and sharp jabs, Holmes's offence wasn't there. I scored it 8-3 with 1 even in Evander's favor.

 

Depends if Holyfield is able to sneak in some steroids.

 

Nah, I don't have any axe to grind with that era.
I'm just explaining why I think many people are mistaken to elevate that era into some 'golden age' or period of immense quality.
I'd do the same with the 1970s to some extent, especially when taking the decade as a whole.

This continual glorification comes at the expense of numerous other eras and decades and all the fighters who fought in them, so I don't feel like it's unfair to point out the weaknesses and imperfections of the 1990s HW scene.

 

prime holmes whips holy and his head but.

 

Out of Holyfield's fights with the two veterans in 1991 and '92,the one with Foreman was a lot better to watch.

 

I thought Holmes looked even worse against McCall. Totally untrained and decrepit.
I think Holyfield figured out Holmes's gameplan after the first 4 rounds and that was that.
Holyfield wasn't the cleverest HW champ ever but he was a fair bit smarter than Mercer, and a lot smarter than McCall.

 

yeah because he was the only one doing it right, tyson would never do a thing like that. moron

 

I don't believe that was a realistic option. At that point, his legs were not really there and it was all about conserving energy in extended efforts like this. Spurts of movement and laying against the ropes to counterpunch was all he had in him by then.