A rating of 6. Mostly relied on his conditioning and wearing the opponent down over the course of the fight.
This. :thumbsup Holyfield was weird, he could hit someone like Czyz with everything he had and not move him, he could mercilessly pound on Carlos De Leon and take quite a while to shift him, go to war with Bert Cooper, who Bowe dusted in 3 with minimal fuss, but drop Bowe, knock Mercer down, hurt Tyson and put him away
Holyfield dropped Ray Mercer in round 8. Left hooks to Mercer's head is what set it up... Mercer took a knee.
At CW, he was a hell of a puncher. HW, he was still a heavy puncher, harder then Ali and Holmes at least.
Holyfield had great timing, speed & accuracy in his punches, to make them dangerous to anyone. Here are my rating for his raw power at heavyweight: 1988-92 versions are about 6.5/10. Later he had less speed, but more strength and weight behind his punches. 1993-97 versions are about 7/10.
At heavyweight, I agree 6.5 sounds good with the context that everyone's pointing out about his accuracy and such.
The KD in Holyfield-Mercer was not a bodyshot. Mercer was hurt from a left hook to the head, and took a knee. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA_BWf3Gnbg#t=3m6s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA_BWf3Gnbg#t=4m
ID say maybe a 7. He wasnt a devastating puncher but he was very accurate and a sharp puncher. The shots he kod Douglas with,dropped Bowe and Mercer would have layed out alot of guys for the count. However ive seen him land numerous shots on guys like Cooper,Dokes and didnt drop them. If he timed you right your were going if not he might have to hit you everything and the kitchen sink.
Tyson said that Holyfield's punches didn't hurt him when he was wailing on him at the end of their first fight. I also remember Holyfield nailing Foreman with some unanswered heavy artillery in their fight, and Foreman stayed on his feet. I think Evander was more of a thinking fighter who was great at catching his opponent off balance or countering them to get his knockdowns. In terms of pure punching power, I don't think he's up there with the heavy hitters. But like I said earlier, his accuracy and counter-punching could drop anyone.
Although i agree that Holy wasnt one of the heavy hitters. I remember him hurting Mike he might have not felt his power thru most of the fight but i do remember him being pretty hurt by a holyfield shot(forgot which round). As for Foreman well he had an awesome chin big bombers like Briggs,Morrison,Moore landed a lot of shots on Old George and they didnt even phase him.