This has to be one of the most overrated wins i've ever seen. Holyfield seemed to trouble Bowe when he decided to use the jab early, but for most of the fight he choose to burrow head first into Bowes chest and throw left hook after left hook. One of the worst tactical fights i've ever seen in a championship fight, i'm amazed people rate bowe so highy off this win, Evander fought a terrible, terible fight, showing virtually no ring intelligence that night.
Holyfield has never been the most intelligent and has always had fight in him. He has always had trouble trying to control that urge, even if the guys are MUCH bigger than him. Fact is Bowe did win and against a great fighter. I don't think its overrated. It showed what Bowe could be at his best.
It was a good win for Bowe, and it (ironically) gave Holyfield the respect he never really got as champion. Holyfield came in lighter than normal at 205 lbs. and the plan was to outspeed Bowe.
Holyfield couldn't turn his back on a brawl which made some of his fights a lot harder than they needed to be,but it's also what made him so compelling to watch. Guy's like Tyson,Lewis and even to an extent Bowe had question marks over their hearts and courage for some time but we all knew what stern stuff Evander was made of from early on in his career. When Evander chose to brawl against the more experienced,battle hardened Dwight Qawi we found out what toughness and heart he had,but also that his great pride wouldn't let him back down from anyone (or retire when he should've). Call it a fault in his make up as a fighter but I for one admire Holyfield for it.
I haven't seen Holyfield/Bowe II since it aired live, but I was perfectly able to tune out the Fan Man incident, and saw Holyfield's display as a very intelligent and resourceful performance in regaining the title. What's important from my perspective, is that Bowe came off the deck in the rubber match, and prevailed. It was also gratifying after the match to observe the respect shown by Bowe to Holyfield, a refreshing change from all the latter day self-aggrandizing parroting of Ali, and trash talking. Bowe acknowledged openly that by the example of his public conduct, Holyfield elevated Bowe. To get noticed, be different.
I'm not saying Holyfield was a moron but he had to continually fight the urge to have a ruck. Bowe II shows examples of this. I am sure Holy was ill or something in the third fight. He just had nothing and that was against a whale known as Bowe.
Yeah, Holyfield has always identified with his warrior label a bit too personally. Unfortunately, he may turn into a moron with all the brain cells he's been losing. Something about Holy's career which has always been troubling to me is how Moorer and Bowe were able to come off the deck to defeat him. Evander should have been a far better finisher than he was.
Bowe would always give Holyfield trouble regardless of tactics employed. When Holyfield boxed/moved more from the outside during the rematch, an overweight Bowe was still very much right in the fight. He was hardly anywhere near outclassed over the 12 rounds. Holyfield did fight a dumb fight the first time. He underestimated Bowe and thought he could get him out of there. Bowe was well known as a person who liked to open the fridge too much, rather like Douglas. Although saying that, he was in-shape for the first fight.
