Something I'm noticing about Holyfield's title defenses compared to Bowe and Lewis'

Context.

Foreman- over 40
Holmes- over 40
Tyson- post prison, drug addicted
Douglas- beached whale
Rahman- One hit wonder against LL
Bowe- who did he beat besides Holy? Herbie Hide next on the list
Moorer- Who did he beat besides Holy? Maybe Jirov is next best.

And he was on HGH.

Not a bad list if you ignore the HGH, but not great in context.

 

Yes, Tyson at 15 was almost identical to himself at 20 or 30. He was a genetic freak. And he didn't go bald. But I still think he started taking performance-enhancing drugs after getting out of prison. If so, I have no problem with that, just like I have no problem with Holyfield taking them. That's called professional training. Holyfield certainly trained much more professionally than Tyson, but that's his choice, and I have no problem with that either.

 

Lennox Lewis most definitely did and Floyd went from 130-154 without losing any speed (but he did lose his hair). And prime Tyson was 218-222lbs. He was close to 240 vs Lewis and he was still very muscular.

Face it dude. They all juiced. Singling one fighter (who never popped dirty) out but not others (some who did) is disingenuous and hypocritical.

 

Imagine unironically arguing Mike Tyson is natural lmao.

 

They’re all juiced to the gills.
Armstrong wasn’t singled out due to him being juiced, everyone knows every tour winner is juiced, he was just an ******* who ended up pissing off almost everybody in cycling.
And Holy is just where he should be, In between Lewis and Bowe

 

Whole lot of nothing thread, still mesmerized by that Usyk best win comment LOOOOOOOOOOL

 

Moorer would be Vitali’s best win of his career funnily enough.

I also find it strange you criticise Holyfield's resume even though he was routinely fighting the best Heavyweights and fought Lewis, Bowe, Moorer, Tyson, would be the best Heavyweights of that era outside of Holyfield himself.

But yet you make excuses for Vitali not fighting Byrd who was a higher ranked contender than anyone Vitali beat before his semi retirement ?

So is it one rule for one and not the other depending on who you have an agenda against ?

And even more hilarious is that Vitali fought against an older version of Bean who you criticise Holyfield for fighting. Atleast Bean was a substitute opponent for Holyfield, unlike for Vitali who decided ancient versions of Donald, Bean, were better fights than Byrd.

 

Bert Cooper was a substitute for Francesco Damiani, who was a replacement for Mike Tyson.
Tyson pulled out from scheduled November 8 fight about three weeks before that date. So a fight was scheduled for 23 November with Damiani.
Damiani pulled out 5 or 6 days before that date. So Bert Cooper stepped in.
Bert Cooper wasn't bad for a second replacement, at late notice, and he came to fight. He was actually coming off a couple of good wins over prospects who he stopped.

 

Yes alot of context missed in this thread.

Like how both Bean, Cooper, were substitute opponents.

Or the fact that outside of those 2 opponents every title defence Holyfield had was against a top 10 ranked Heavyweight.

Including Moorer, Lewis, Bowe, who would be top 5 of that era and who were top 4 ranked Heavyweights when Holyfield faced them.

 

Holyfield's fight with Akinwande was cancelled at the last minute. Again, not Holyfield's fault, not Holyfield's injury/illness.
I've never before heard anyone say missing out Akinwande affects his legacy though.

 

Mike Tyson failed miserably to meet expectations to defend against Holyfield which was agreed and signed for June 1990, by getting himself knocked out by Douglas. Then pulled out from challenging Holyfield in November 1991, a signed fight, 3 weeks before the date. He got fat then and went to prison for raping a teenager. He finally managed to get in the ring with Holyfield in 1996, when Holyfield, regarded as damaged goods by then, was brought in as a WBA title challenger after Tyson gave up the WBC belt rather than face Lennox Lewis. Of course Holyfield beat Tyson quite severely. A 3 May 1997 rematch was postponed again, by Tyson again, before happening in late June. Tyson produced one the biggest FAILS in boxing history that night, details we don't need to go into.
Holyfield 2-0.
And it's certainly not Holyfield's fault they didn't fight in their primes. He was ready.

 

Also just add to some more context to this thread which is missing.

When Holyfield was scheduled to fight Akiwande he was Holyfield's mandatory and then when Akiwanda pulled out. Bean was also the IBF number 1 mandatory challenger.

It's no different than when Usyk had Dubois as a mandatory in their 1st fight who probably wasn't deserving of his shot at that time either.

 

Mike Tyson was mandatory challenger in 1991, but pulled out.
Riddick Bowe was mandatory challenger in 1992. Holyfield fought him.
Michael Moorer was mandatory challenger in 1994. Holyfield fought him.
Henry Akinwande was mandatory challenger in 1998, fight was cancelled on eve of fight, due to Akinwande's illness.
Vaughn Bean was mandatory in 1998, Holyfield fought him.
John Ruiz was #1 and Holyfield #2 in WBA when they fought for vacant belt in 2000. After Holyfield won, the WBA ordered rematch, so Ruiz was mandatory.

As far as I remember Holyfield never gave up or sold a world title instead of facing mandatories (as Tyson and Lewis and Bowe did in same era).