The Bowe/Holyfield/Lewis/Tyson Era: When Did It Start, When Did It Finish?

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Tyson and Holyfield knew each other from the amateurs. Bowe and Lewis from Seoul in 88. Tyson was ringside for Holyfield v Deleon cruiser championship

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-04-10-sp-1629-story.html?_amp=true

And after Douglas had won and lost title were due to meet in 91 but got cancelled with Tyson going into prison

https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/19/...-off-tyson-suffers-an-injury-to-rib-cage.html

The first Bowe v Holyfield fight would be the true start of the era including all listed but then Tyson cleaning up from 86 could be the true starting point!

 

Well, yeah, it's subjective but if you take Holyfield as the first fighter of that new era then his title win over Buster Douglas kick started it and Lewis reunifying the title against Holyfield 9 years later brought it to an end. There was no dominant fighter whereas the 80s had two (Holmes then Tyson) and the early 2000s had Lewis. I don't consider the era carried on because Lewis-Tyson happened - Tyson was 5 years past his last title effort. Maybe that's the benefit of hindsight as it was considered a competitive fight but in reality it was a horrible mismatch. I also feel Holyfield-Lewis was a fitting end to the era as they were the two greatest of the period (Bowe blew his shot to be considered).

 

Holyfield turned professional first out of all of them, in 1984, and won the cruiserweight title from Qawi back in July 1986.
He was on the radar as a rising heavyweight contender at least a year before he officially made the step up.
Him and Tyson were direct contemporaries.
Lewis and Bowe came along a few years later.

 

Tyson era- 1986-89

Holyfield era: 1990-92

Bowe: 1992-93

No one's era from 94-96

Holyfield's era 1996-97

Lewis's era 1998-2003