Holyfield or tyson?

Like Buster Douglas? Thomas? Holyfield blew them both out, Holy was better against Tillis, the only other common opponent is Holmes/Stewart and Tyson has the better wins there but that's part down to him being the bigger puncher. You could argue Tyson would perform better against Moorer/Bowe and he may well do but Evander avenged those 2 losses when he may not have been at his best. Tyson didn't avenge his losses

It's arguably clearer Holyfield proved his superiority over Tyson more so than Ali over Foreman. Not only did he beat Tyson twice while being 4 years older, where as Ali avoided the Foreman rematch, he also beat Douglas who beat Mike and beat Thomas more emphatically. He also performed better against Lennox.

Holy's Douglas and Thomas wins seem a little underrated now, going into the fights both were considered big challenges. Dokes was a good win over an ex-champ too

 

I'm convinced a 91 Holyfield beats '88 Tyson, an '88 Holyfield maybe I'm not as sure, Holyfield wanted it in '88 onwards though and always looked to dissect Tyson's style, something he did when they met as much as LH31 wants to say he didn't, he did he'd been obsessed with fighting Tyson since they were amatuers and mentally new how he'd do it.

As for the implied case that Holyfield had more left than Tyson. I don't think so, look at Holyfield's workrate in 88-92 where he is throwing 100punches round on round throughout his fights, then compare that to the '96 Holyfield who is gassed midway through the fight not throwing nearly as much leather. Holyfield was 34, Tyson was 30. Tyson's output compared to his prime had dropped less than Holyfield's had.

As for who was the better champion - lineal wise Holyfield actually made more defenses, are you saying Tyson looked better, well I suppose thats your opinion, fine. Tyson largely cleaned his division out, Holyfield/Witherspoon aside. Holyfield never really managed this, nearly but not quite with Lewis around 92 onwards, but he did inherit undisputed status, won back the title, avenged all his defeats and into his 37th year he had beat every man that he had stepped into the ring with

But as there isn't that much in the championship reigns for me it has to boil down to resume and H2H. Lets also remember Holyfield I think has the record with wins over 7 lineal champions - Douglas, Bowe, Moorer, Holmes, Foreman, Tyson, Rahman and came close in his 37th year to beating Lennox. He also has wins over titlists like Ruiz, Thomas, Dokes, Botha, Mercer so 12 champions in total. He should have an unofficial WBA title in his 44th year 22years after his first title - he certainly owns Tyson in longevity

 

Evander Holyfield hands down.

 

Not really. Did you watch Holyfield as a heavyweight early on when he won the title and shortly before it? He was getting dropped by journeyman Bert Cooper, Alex Stewart gave him hell, we went to war with Dokes and he certainly didnt perform to the same standard that Tyson did against Larry Holmes. Tyson was completely dominating everyone. Even the boring fights against guys like Smith and Tucker were one sided. Holyfield on the other hand looked beateable.

Seems people only remember Holyfield after the second Bowe fight and Tyson after he came out of jail. The general mindset regarding the two fighters was a lot different. I remember watching Holyfield fight Holmes live thinking Tyson was going to kill him. Look Holyfield would have to had dug down a lot deeper to defeat Tyson in the early 90's. The fight would have been closer to his fight with Riddick Bowe. He would have been a game challenger, but Tyson would have offered a lot better fight, Im sure of it.

 

I believe Holyfield wanted to face Tyson, dont put words in my mouth. Tyson wanted to fight Holyfield too. I just think Holyfield maintained his status as a savvy fighter because he stayed active. Tyson on the other hand was reduced a lot in prison. As far as he faded leading up to jail, he was still an active fighter who still had his timing and fitness in tact. When he came out of prison you could see his balance and most noticeably his timing never returned. Thats why I say most of his punches missed and missed. He was also not training with people who could correct his mistakes so he was making a lot of amatuer mistakes that were never corrected and that became his fighting style.
It wasnt until Tommy Brooks took over his training that Tyson really got back to basics and started to correct his footwork and technique, and you started to see improvements in his performances, but his lack of consistency as a fighter never allowed him to improve overall. Tommy Brooks even said it himself and will say today, that Tyson was better than Holyfield, he had more talent in his little finger than most of the heavyweights he ever worked with, but he didnt want to fight he didnt have the interest, and if your mentally not interested you cant go through the type of fight that Holyfield was going to present to Tyson and win. Thats why Tyson never showed he could go rounds with anyone after prison. Even after a few rounds with Francois Botha, he was looking for a way out.