Prime Holyfield vs Prime Muhammad Ali

Who was it who recently told me that Holyfield had *not* used PEDs by the time he fought the first time?

Regardless, I have never heard anyone claim that Holyfield always used PEDs.
You believe that he did even when a CW-even when the limit for CW was 190 lbs. then?
This seems very unlikely.

There is no specific evidence nor suggestive information that he used before he started to bulk up.
Even when he fought Bowe for the first time he was only 205. Now it is possible that he did by then-but without a shred of evidence, without being bulky, no sudden implausible muscle gain, no heart problems, no association with 8 time Myr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman (who competed at up to ~ 300 very lean lbs. at under 6'...)

There is no cause to suggest he always used.

But if you specify that you are using the unfairly & illegally enhanced Holyfield at his best vs. Ali...
Sure we can compare him to Ali.
With the caveat that there is no cause to believe he would have a very goo shot to win without artificial, body-transforming enhancements.

 

Great fight. Holyfield is one of the ATGs I always pictured to have troubled Ali. Someone described before that Holyfield had similarities with Ken Norton, and I tend to agree. Neither guy is gonna knock the other guy out, imo it ends in a close SD for Ali

 

Zombie thread I know ... I'll just say again that Ali is the GOAT on my list and Holyfield is not in my top 10, although to be fair he's knocking at the door, which should be an indication of how I think this would go. Post-exile Ali might be a little interesting; really prime Ali would get very ugly for Evander.

 

Holyfield wins

 

This