Had it close but rather clear for Evander. Guys who think Barrera clearly got the better of Morales might think Qawi edged it though. It was that kind of fight where Evander landed a lot more, but Qawi was landing blows that were visibly moving Holyfield a lot more, just as Morales landed more than Barrera, but Barrera's shots seemed to have more effect. That said, the winner in Holyfield-Qawi was a lot clearer than the winner in the Barrera-Morales trilogy.
There was no clear winner in the first Morales/Barrera fight, but I think in round 9 particularly, it just sums up the difference in opinion. Some people score the flurries, half of which land for Erik. None of the shots visibly wobble Marco or really get his attention. Marco, lands a series of three punch combination's at three separate points in the round that all buzz Morales. I give Marco the round, some would give Erik the round on activity.
Holyfield worked amazingly hard throughout the entire 15 rounds, and did enough to earn the win, moving side to side and continually peppering Ike with both hands. Qawi was efficient, and I was rooting for him at the time. His shots had more force behind them because he was flatfooted, but he was simply outworked. It was a great competitive 15 round affair, and I kept waiting for Evander to wilt. He got tired, but never slowed down enough for Qawi to catch up. Holyfield's conditioning and hustle were amazing in this one. His gloves were buzzing Ike's head like a swarm of mosquitoes, constantly in his face. Holy deserved the nod.
Doesn't Qawi think he won this fight? I remember seeing something about Dwight saying he sent Holyfield to the hospital from dehydration and he thought he won the fight. I wasn't around for this era, but I would have been rooting my ass off for Qawi. I never really ever liked Holyfield, he just looks like the guy you want to lose to the underdog*. * Unless he's fighting something similar to Valuev.
Holyfield did have to go to the hospital afterward for dehydration, and Qawi did insist in the post-fight interview that he thought he won the fight. He said most of Holy's punches were just pity pats and that he picked off most of them. Qawi did well early and had Holy in a lot of trouble, but Holy outworked him clearly down the stretch and most people generally agreed that he deserved the decision. Most people felt Qawi was lucky to lose only by a SD.
