Holyfield - Potential

sorry, that post was poorly written. lewis retired at the right time, louis did not.

i agree with you. one can't have it both ways. be consistent (which i am). if holy did win the title, i wouldn't take it into serious consideration into ring accomplishments (it does say something about his will but we already know that). likewise, i don't take the foreman comeback too seriously when measuring him against other greats. when people talk foreman vs ali in terms of ranking, foreman ko'ing moorer has no significance to me.

it does NOT help legacy to foolishly fight over the hill but...

it doesn't hurt the legacy either (because it isn't considered too much). why? you're already aware since you accept you're the minority.


ok, i don't want to waste your time with something we already agree on but say in different angles.

so the entire purpose of my confusing discussion was that you consider someone's fights even when over the hill - i don't. but i'm curious - as you rightly said, things should be taken into context. so when you consider that toney beat a 40 year old holy - how MUCH does that mean to you? i say very little. so perhaps we just weren't clear. if you do consider late fights -then given the context e.g. old louis was forced by irs to fight marciano - you don't give it much weight (as opposed to what i seemd to indicate of 0 weight). in that case, i'd agree too. keep things in context.

 

A question regarding human potential assumes that which a person didn't do. If one were to look up the definition of potential in this area, regarding this forum, it would point to something that may be accomplished at some future time in the boxing ring.

As we are looking at Holyfield, a fighter whose career is (pretty much) over, any potential he may have had is now exhausted. Consider him however you must, regarding whatever it was he did, but potential is a dead issue regarding Evander.

Talk about Holyfield now regarding what he did or didn't do.... He's competitive boxing career is over, so potential is no longer a consideration.