Holyfield vs. Tunney

I really don't see Tunney having any hope here, he'll likely take a beating at the hands of the bigger, more modern, and likely the strongest fighter he'd ever faced.
I think most great early film fighters lose it to great later film fighters.

 

Tunney was not a better technical boxer than Holyfield. 175lb 4-0 Holyfield would beat the best Tunney hands down. Besides, Tunney would duck him anyway.

 

Really hard to predict at either weight. I’d favour Tunney narrowly at Heavyweight, but Cruiser would be really a gamble either way.

 

In a word, endurance. Holyfield faded at Heavy in a way he never did at Cruiser.

But are we talking pre-1993 Heavyweight Holyfield, or post? That looks to me where he began to juice based on the wild size difference.

 

I’d probably favor Evander but I can see Tunney being an elusive pain in the @ss for a lot of people

 

Similar to Toney - Charles, Moore, Tunney and Conn are all 175lbers who’d just be too classy for Evander.

 

Respectfully this is an insane take.

 

If it were amateur Holyfield vs. pro Tunney for the gold medal in the Olympics, I don't think Holyfield would lose. I respect your respect, and disagree completely. This is a guy who was scared to fight his black contemporaries, so to think he could even hold a candle to Holyfield strikes me as revionism and maybe a little more detached from reality than my take. That's why we post, though.

 

Tunney is an excellent technical boxer. Holyfield too, but looking at how Tunney does it he'd certainly have a decent chance to beat Holy. I haven't ever analysed their matchup but to write Tunney off is nuts.

 

Holyfield faded in a couple of fights against men who weighed 215/235lbs.
Tunney went into the 15th rd 4 times .the heaviest of those opponents was183lbs Martin Burke.
Apart from the plodding Heeney201lbs, Tunney never faced a 200lbs man,and only 5 times were they190lbs or over.
Holyfield was a naturally smaller man taking on bigger men.

 

Like a lot of HWs, perceptions of Holyfield are often skewed by the era that he fought in.

Some HWs are viewed as "monsters" b/c they were 210-220 lbs in an era largely populated by opponents that were only 180-190lbs.

Conversely, Holy is often viewed as "not big punching' b/c his punches bounced off opponents who outweighed him by anywhere from 15-50 lbs. Put him in an 180-190 lb era & those same punches likely wreck most opponents put in front of him.

 

OOOffff these views will be unpopular around here.

 

He wasn’t scared to fight any Black of the day, it was simply a routine position in society at the time. But that aside, whatever Tunney thought of Black opposition, it has no bearing on talent, skill & overall ability. It is decided in the ring, & neither man drastically outclasses the other here.