I can't find any info on Holy having Hep but I remember him saying that he was told he had it, then he didn't... who knows? Holyfield has had so many health issues since the early/mid 90's, who knows what's true or false?
Devil's advocacy is premium grade fuel for this forum, and as such is most welcome. Moorer always had the advantage of youth on Holyfield, but Evander is an authentic ATG, while Michael really isn't at the heavyweight level, although still very good. MM had no easy time beating Holy, so how can it be excused that he wasn't fully prepared for a rematch?
Agreed, I think Holyfield is one of the worst match-ups for Lewis prime for prime and Lennox will struggle to handle the very fast pace, get worn down and eventually stopped. -Holyfield was 37 and 38 in his fights with Lewis.
That sounds like Ray Mercer's story several yrs back........:deal I don't recall Holy having the Hep....... Holy's loss to Moorer was blamed on a stiff heart and a ripped-up shoulder.... Holy's rubber match loss to Bowe was blamed on the flu with a fever..... Holy's draw with Lewis was blamed on Holy using oversized gloves........ Holy's TKO loss to Toney was blamed on having TWO damaged shoulders..... Holy's 2004 loss to Larry Donald was blamed on an injured lower back in training........ What the hell else is there??????:huh MR.BILL
Holyfield told the AJCs Jeff Schultz that he thinks he contracted hepatitis A by eating bad shrimp in 1995. He says he took the hormone medication briefly in 2004, but that it didnt work and he stopped taking it.
Holyfield didn't just "blame" the first Moorer fight on a "sticky heart", he was TOLD he had a heart condition by a doctor and he was told to retire (which he did, for a year until getting a second and third opinion etc.). Funnily enough, Holyfield will retire if he's told by real medical experts that he is seriously damaged or facing an unusual level of risk of permanent injury. The fact is, Holyfield looked injured against Moorer and was almost certainly suffering an injury (perhaps sustained in the Bowe 2 fight) to his shoulder that was to hinder him in several subsequent fights. This is not surprising. The commentary team were speculating during the fight about Holyfield's injured shoulder, or arm, it was plainly obvious. The heart condition was simply a misdiagnosis, in all likelihood. Not some madcap excuse that Holyfield needed to alibi the defeat. And for the record, Holyfield-Moorer 1 was razor close, and certainly could have gone Holyfield's way. Ali and Holmes got the decisions in similar or lesser performances and retained their titles, and get legacy points for being "consistent". I thought the decision was fair enough, but let's be honest, Moorer was lucky because barely beat a clearly injured Holyfield. Holyfield just looked physically wrecked, but he actually fought better than Moorer did.
As for Holyfield-Moorer 2, Holyfield looked past his best already, but was fighting without any acute recurrence of the injury. And Moorer was probably slipped and in lesser shape than he had been.