Holyfield-Ruiz Trilogy - your scores?

Almost worth getting your head punched in for.

 

So you think he was past his prime for the first Bowe fight?

When Bowe and Holyfield both were at their best, Holyfield lost.

 

Didn't say past his prime. I said past his PEAK. As I stated before, his prime stretched from 1989-1993. His PEAK was probably around 1990-two years before the first Bowe fight. He was 28 years old, in the best shape of his career, and hungrier than he ever would be. A lot can change about a fighter in a two year period, especially when only fighting on average once per year against fighters who don't bring the best out in him, plus has already reached the top of the mountain. in the 13 month period between beating Douglas in October of 1990 to fighting Burt Cooper in November of 1991, Holyfield fought but once against a 42 year old Foreman. From November of 1991 to the Bowe fight of November of 1992, his only fight was a snooze fest against a 42 year old Holmes-another fight that did not force him to rise to the occasion. By the time he fought Bowe in late 92' he was 30 years old, and had not been tested in years, yet he still gave bowe hell through 3 fights including a victory, and a knockdown in their third fight, while recovering from health issues. Bowe never truly defeated a PEAK Holyfield, but rather just a NEAR PRIME rendition. This is to say nothing about the Holyfield who fought Lewis in the late 90's and went 24 rounds with him.

CONCLUSION:
My opinions are not based on biased notions formed through youtube viewings and boxrec searches, but rather a lifetime of watching Evander Holyfield from the time he was in the olymics to the time he lost to Sultan Ibragimov. I'm fairly certain that I have a grasp on when his best days were, and believe me they're long gone...

 

I think Holyfield might well have been slipping by the first Bowe fight.

I mean, the whole boxing world knew he was starting to peak as far back as 1987.
But because he moved up to heavyweight people think he gets two "primes" ?!

That doesn't make sense.
Obviously Holyfield was at his peak when he decided to move up, and after a few fights at heavyweight to adjust he was at his "heavyweight peak", it has to be a continuation of his cruiserweight prime, around '90 sounds right.

Basically what's wrong with saying he was in his prime '88 to '91 ? Or '87 to '92 ?
'87 to '93 ?
Much more than that would be really starting to stretch it, "primes" dont exceed 4 or 5 years, in most cases.

 

Agreed,

I've always thought that his HEAVYWEIGHT prime stretched from 1989-1993. His actual PEAK, to me was 1990 as I've already stated. His decline came upon winning the title, when he was taking on the opponents who had strickly name value and didn't paricularly force him ro rise to the occasion. It would have been interesting if instead of Foreman, Cooper and Holmes, he had actually gotten the chance to fight Tyson and perhaps Ruddock, Witherspoon and some others. The only recent wins he had prior to facing Bowe were really an old Holmes and Bert Cooper. These are not great fights to have in the two years prior to facing a genuine hungry contender.

 

I actually watched Holyfield-Holmes again yesterday.

If I wasn't prejudiced/conditioned into believing/knowing that this 1992 Holyfield was "still young" or "in his prime" at that point, I'd probably assume he was an "aging" fighter.
He definitely didn't look the same as he had 2 or 3 years earlier. His workrate was so-so.
Of course some of it can be put down to Holmes's awkwardness but some of it was certainly Holyfield lacking something.

Still, he looked better against Bowe, but I'm not sure the Holyfield of the Bowe fight was quite on a par with his previous form.

In one interview Holyfield said himself that his hunger for the game ebbed a bit when Tyson went to jail. He felt he had nothing to aim for.

Personally, I think a fighter just loses something when he turns up for a fight looking ten years older than he is by sporting a bald spot.

 

I always thought Holyfield was never the same after Moorer 1. Honestly I felt he was still past his prime going into Tyson just not shot like everything thought he was.

 

Dunno about scores. Plenty of snores though.

 

Holy of Ruiz was already in the downslope

 

Evander deserved the nod in the Rubber Match. It should have been another excellent post prime win from him to go with Rahman.

 

I had it 1-1-1, Holyfield was that far gone and Ruiz was under rated for what he does.

 

Imo Holyfield looked awful in the first Ruiz fight. He was slow, lethargic, and his equilibrium was completely out of quilt. Its almost like he did'nt train for the fight.

Thought Holyfield won competitive but clear in the 2nd fight, and I thought Holyfield won going away clearly in the 3rd fight.

The judges got it wrong every fight imo.

What has to be said is that in each of the fights Ruiz' holding was well past the point of excessive, it was ridiculous.
Ruiz was initiating clinches during every punching engagement, many times without even punches being thrown.