Holyfield argues he should be considered the GOAT over Ali

Evan Fields.

 

He's the GOAT when it comes to headbutting.

 

I'm a huge Holyfield fan. He has a strong argument as the greatest of his era, but he's nowhere the greatest of all time

 

I think Holy is quite underrated when it comes to all-time P4P rankings.

But no, he's not higher than Ali.

 

This says it all. But I am going to say more.

His resume is a bit overblown. Foreman and Holmes were over 40, and Tyson and Douglas were in terrible shape, one due to gluttony and the other to drugs.

And yeah, he has a remarkable career and a place in history, but marred by the fact that he was having HGH delivered to his home under the name of "Evan Fields."

 

This is why I despise that 2x,3x,4x stuff. It fundamentally rewards losing and makes John Ruiz the archetype for greatness. The way to maximize the amount of times you win a title is to be .500 at title fights and have lots of close fights where you can justify getting more title shots after you lose.

But its not all Holyfields fault because boxing people were parading around winning the title 3x,4x like it was this sports most prestigious feat. I remember late in Holys career hearing about "is Holy going to become the first fighter to win the title 4x" as if he were a football player counting his "rings". My impression as a kid was that this was boxings most prestigious award and its only when growing up did I realize that "this doesn't make any sense". They also lied and pretended Patterson was the first one to be 2x champ when he wasn't even the first lineal champ to do so never mind otherwise.

The Foreman fight forever precludes him or anyone from his era from comparisons with Ali. Holyfield won but he was terrified of the 40 year old version of the fighter Ali faced in his prime. Part of Foremans GOAT case in my eyes is he made Ali the GOAT. Otherwise it'd be Lennox Lewis for beating Holyfield and Tyson who'd also be elevated above Ali, Foreman and co.

 

Now I know those punches in his last few fights really affected him!

 

I guess Holy has hit that age when one reflects more on their career/life, leading to consequential desire for even more acclaim and recognition than they actually received.

The heady praise currently being afforded to Usyk has obviously been a major trigger for Evander’s age onset “What about me?…it isn’t fair…” lament.

Butt, butt Evander…there’s that small leg up of PEDs that needs to be taken into consideration also.

Rest assured though Evan, no one will ever surpass your head butt/nut punch combo - that was a true thing of beauty. Dokes thought it was DYNAMITE!

And finally, Usyk gave you a nice expensive watch…a gift that was meant to shut you up.

Now zip it or give the watch back druggie boy.

 

4X champion. Beating John Ruiz now makes you a 4 time champ.

Holyfield was great. Fought everyone. Never ducked anyone. Deserves a lot of praise. Top 10 all time.

He isn't the best ever. In terms of talent, its hard for him to hold a candle to Ali. Forget about belts, let's do an eye test. Ali was taller, had much faster footwork, considerably faster hands, a better jab, a slightly better right hand, a worse left hook (but still pretty good hook), better reflexes and at least an equally good chin.

Ali wouldn't have lost to Moorer and he wouldn't have stood there and traded with Bowe so carelessly. Nor do i see Ali losing a single round to a 42 year old Holmes.

Ali beat better competition. Foreman alone is a better win than Bowe or 96 Tyson. Beating Frazier in 74 is better than beating post prison Tyson. And defeating a dangerous Liston is at least as impressive as beating Bowe. Sure, Sonny was a bit past it but he was still dangerous and even a slightly post peak Liston is at least as good as Bowe if not better.

There is no comparison here. Holyfield was great but he didn't do many things exceptionally whereas Ali was arguably the fastest and mpst physically gifted heavyweight ever.

 

I rate Ali as number one heavyweight. Holyfield somewhere between 10 - 15 at heavy but number one at cruiser.
Muhammad was far more dominant,at the top for longer and beat a tougher crop of opponents.

 

Source for this ? Did you mistake Holyfield for Tyson ? According to Robert Goodman, Tyson was the one terrified of Foreman. I never heard anyone claim that Holyfield was afraid or avoided fighting someone.

 

Hope he matured a lil bit after his career ended but nope, he still got that arrogance smh

 

Can't see any real arguments for Holyfield being greater HW than Ali, Louis or even Larry Holmes.

P4P though he is one of the greatest fighters of the last 40 years.

 

I guess he took too many punches......