I agree that Tyson was better than Bowe, but not the post prison Tyson that Holyfield faced, the loss of his timing and some speed greatly reduced his effectiveness. Generally, Bowe is not greater than Lewis or Tyson as he was very inconsistent. However, I would take the Bowe that Holyfield fought in 1992 to beat any version of Lewis (despite that fat man's dispicable cowardice in refusing to fight Lewis) and I'd also take 1992 Bowe to beat post prison Tyson.
Holyfield was knocked down and wabbled his fair share of times to. Louis was only stopped twice in some 72 fights, and one of those came against an all time great puncher whom he faced at age 37. I'll agree that Holyfield took more shots from bigger punchers overall, but Louis did not have a paper chin.
they already did meet at a fight promotion back in the early 80s that my father nick wells and i and my grandma were attending .i ve got pictures with the crazy haired black man.you can tell by the look on my face in the picture that i didnt appreciate the runaround he was giving my old man.
Okay, so maybe the words " no problem " are getting a bit carried away, but I honestly think that Holyfield could take Louis's attacks and manage to win the fight. Evander did not suffer his first knockout loss until age 34, coming off a layoff and facing a very large hard hitting fighter. Up to that point, he had survived the power of a lot of hard hitting opponents who were 215+ such as Foreman, Dokes, Stewart, Bowe, Cooper, Moorer, Mercer, and a few others. While these guys may not have been the techinicians that Louis was, they could certainly bang, and Evander's chin, heart and conditioning was never in question. What's more, he could go 15 rounds, a factor that is often lacking when comparing contemporary fighters to those of the old school.
Is your old man the same Nick Wells who was the hard hitting golden gloves champion? Who twice knocked out Larry Holmes?
I think when Chris ran that analysis of punchers faced, Louis was number two after only Ali, in fact.
As i've said, I don't see this as an unreasonable point of view. But what Hollyfield will be dealing with is perhaps the best combination puncher that there ever was and almost certainly the best at heavy. Second - Hollyfield, a rythym breaking fighter, is going to find himself within Louis' best range plenty. Good points (espeically Holly managing 15 rounds - no problem) but the bottom line is that Hollyfield hasn't fought a puncher anything like as devastating as Louis, aside from Tyson (his best performance?) - and Tyson, although far from shot, was not the force of nature he had been.
This is exactly right. :yep I had a long, hard think over this one and it's one of those matchup's were a definitive cast-iron result is difficult for me to come up with. If the push came to shove I'd probably go with Louis, by late stoppage or a narrow points victory ... I think it's fair to say that although Louis fought (and defeated) his fair share of very good opponents, Holyfield - as inconsistent as he could be - would perhaps (at his very best) be classier than near enough everybody Louis faced from his own era. So then I'll go with my initial feeling that Louis stops Holyfield in the later stages of a captivating fight (somewhere near the 13th round). Any other outcome wouldn't entirely surprise me, though. :good
I agree witht this. But I also feel that the reverse is true. Louis is better, that is to say "harder to beat" than anyone Evander faced.
To those who picked Holyfield (You should all hang your heads in shame incidentaly) I ask the following question. What could Holyfield do that Louis could not do better apart from farther illegitimate children? I would personaly say nothing.