Holyfield vs. Louis.

louis in a gruelling SD.

 

Disagree. They are very similar in some ways.
Louis edge in power is mitigated by evander better chin.
However evander ability to move and fight going backwards makes the difference. Holyfield by close decision for me.

Holyfield is just more proven against bigger badder guys. His resumee is second only to Muhammad ali.
He fought guys that ranged from good to all time great back to back to back for almost 15 years with the only exceptions being czyz and bean.
His opposition from dokes to toney is just insane. There were almost no easy fights in there.

Dokes Stewart Douglas foreman Cooper Holmes Bowe Stewart Bowe Moorer Mercer Bowe czyz Tyson Tyson Moorer bean Lewis Lewis Ruiz Ruiz Ruiz Byrd Rahman toney


Most Heavyweight champs would be completely used up, retired with brain damage before they even got halfway through this list

 

Holyfield in a tough tough fight. Louis is the rematch.

 

Not saying Louis couldn't win. I just think Holyfields ability to move, pivot and box if he lost the exchanges give him a small edge

 

It's funny to me how Holy has reached near mythical status on this forum. He was a great fighter not denying that but his chin was easy to find and Louis being the much harder hitter finds it. Look we can go back and fourth all day but that's not my thing. I got Louis winning and that's really all there is to it. Yourself nor anyone else is gonna change that. Louis by TKO IMO

 

I think Holyfield is an ATG but I agree that he's somewhat overrated. He lost some of his biggest fights, whereas Louis seems much more unbeatable at his best. TBH I haven't really given this matchup too much thought and I swing a bit from favouring one fighter to the other.

It's pretty close but I wonder if Louis wasn't the faster and more accurate puncher. I guess Holy had some weight on him which ought to be in his favour - and then I get the image of Czyz outboxing Holy in parts because Evander insisted on loading up his shots. On the other, other hand, Holy imho fought better guys and he had no quit. He'd probably run through the Bum of the Month club as easily.

I'll take Louis, but acknowledge that there's not a huge difference between them.

 

agree, no easy fights for EH, not even his debut. Holyfield had excellent technique, strength, courage, speed, etc. His power was probably mitigated by fighting so many big, strong, skilled boxers (the lightest man he lost to weighed 214). EH would probably be remembered as a big puncher if he was fighting in the 1930-40s against unskilled big men and weak small men. His competition was excellent and if he had a weakness, it was that he had so much "fight" in him that he could be drawn into a fight when his boxing skills would have allowed him to out box his opponent. It's hard to call that a "weakness," it just made for some great fights.

 

He lost to Bowe fine but Louis never even fought anyone like Bowe. And i cant count the moorer and Bowe 3 losses. He was obviously not healthy for those.

 

When did Holyfield ever back away from exchanges and box? He quite liked a good brawl in there, sometimes to his detriment.

 

When he had to. He mauled and fought the John Ruiz/Andre ward type wrestling fight against tyson when he felt winded or got shook up by a good shot. He spent the majority of the foreman fight sticking and moving because unlike with bowe he knew not to try to take foremans head off.
He fought very smart fights in the Bowe and Lewis rematches as well, not taking too many risks.


Yeah he over did the slugging against Bowe and Cooper but those were guys he underestimated, who would have thought bowe would have the workrate to keep up with evander over 12 rounds as such a big guy?


Even if it devolved into a pure brawl against Louis? Why would Holyfield lose? He has a better chin, louis superior power was tested only against far smaller and tbh lower opposition than evanders.
He could handle tysons firepower(although it was only one or 2 bombs at a time) and many even pick him against peak tyson. Tysons power was demonstrated against bigger stronger guys than Louis and alot of the guys that tyson knocked out could really really box.
So if holyfield can handle tyson, why not louis?

Holyfield can match Louis in almost anything but also happens to be faster, stronger(not naturally stronger but stronger) and has better feet.


I pick louis against many guys, i think he can do well vs bowe, wlad and Holmes
But i pick tyson holyfield and lewis over him


Besides a power advantage what does louis have over evander???
Moorer cooper foreman rahman tyson hit harder than holyfield punch for punch but still got beat.

 

There seems to be a lot of circular logic with Holyfield. People he fought are said to be formidable simply because they gave Holyfield problems. One guy who beat Holyfield twice (and arguably should have gotten the decision in the second fight) was absolutely thrashed by Andrew Golota twice. Another guy was wiped out in one round by David Tua and managed to lose to a version of Foreman who lost to Tommy Morrison and was outboxed by Axel Schultz. Rather than making these guys out to be monsters the more logical conclusion is that Holyfield is not as good as some people think.

 

Holyfield loved to brawl. Suicide against a peak joe Louis


Louis by knockout

 

Bingo Robert,

 

Good replies all round. Good thread.

 

Bottom line for me - Louis is a better boxer than Holyfield anyways.

Tho we differ on the outcome nice post mate.