True but then again the two fights weren't nearly as close as my suggestion. The first fight if scored fairly was 9-3 in favour of Lewis and the second fight was either 8-4 or 7-5 Lewis depending on who you gave the odd round to. Either way that's at least 16-8 in favour of Lewis over the 24 rounds, which to me isn't all that close, that is unless you're Eugenia Williams. lol
By the time they fought... Lewis was prime and Holyfield was definately past prime. I don't want to hear about how close in age they are (about 3 years) because that has nothing to do with it. Holyfield thought he would stop Lewis early in the first fight (round 3 actually) and it didn't look like he had much of a game plan. He did win round 3 impressively but other than that he did little... it seemed that Lewis did just a little bit more. The fight was scored a draw. Holyfield was better prepared in the rematch. A case can be made that he won but it was scored for Lewis. Prime vs. Prime. I'll take Holyfield by close decision. Pre-McCall Lewis vs. prime Holyfield (Foreman fight for example). Holyfield by clear decision or maybe even KO.
I think going the distance in a combined 24 rounds without ever kissing the canvas and winning one third of those rounds was still a pretty damn good effort given how far past it he was.. Although we'll never know, I have always leaned towards the notion that had Evander been 6-7 years younger, it may well have been enough to turn the trick.