The Holyfield Of 1990 Fighting In The 1950's

Holyfield was a superb boxer i have no doubt if he used these skills he would beat the boxers mentioned. However like Meldrick Taylor and Terry Norris he had a warrior mentality when hit and would slug it out instead of boxing and using superior boxing skills.
I suspect this would happen against one of the above boxers and would cost him victory which one is the question . Perhaps the Rock ?

 

I would put my money on Evander to beat all the guys stated except perhaps Walcott and Louis.

Evander always had trouble with good cuties ( as do most fighters ) so I reckon Jersey Joe may have had some chance to outpoint Evander. Louis was such a good combination puncher and had excellent hand speed so Evander would have been wise to try and utilise his lateral movement and superior foot speed to try and simply outbox Louis.

Charles was a great fighter but I believe Holyfield’s size advantage and incredible toughness ( as well as his jab and footwork ) would have enabled him to outpoint the Cincinnati Cobra.

Rocky was too small, a bit too slow of hand and foot and too susceptible to cuts to beat Holyfield in my opinion. Evander also had an iron jaw so it’s not like he would be easy for the Rock to put him away.

Cheers All.

 

TBH ithink he does real good .He had so much going for him ,in this era he'd be a ATG with out a doubt. The three toughest guys are Rock ,Charles and Walcott. He'd beat Jersey in a intriguing match then have a Battle with Charles ,which he'd win just .Marciano been Marciano gives Holy a hard ,gruelling war but I've got The Real Deal stopping him around the 13 th .

 

I have no doubt the Holyfield would have been one of the top heavyweights of the era.

In the 90s, Holyfield weighed between 205 (first Bowe fight) and 2018 (second Tyson fight) and averaged a little over 210 for much of it so he'd be large for the 50s. The best version of Holyfield was in his first title reign and that's the one I'm imagining going up against Marciano, Walcott, Charles, Moore, Louis and Patterson.

I think he would beat Louis, Moore and Patterson reasonably easily.

I think Walcott would be very interesting. I still favour Holyfield but I can see Jersey Joe giving him some problems.

I think Marciano and Charles would be his two toughest opponents although I still favour Holy in both... but not by much.

Are we including Liston in the 50s? If so, I think that's one Evander might lose.

 

A good post, more or less how I feel.

I've thought about Marciano / Holyfield quite a bit, and personally I think Marciano would take it for a few reasons.

While Holyfield is without doubt the technically superior boxer and the more complete boxer, he also loved a good brawl. Moreover, he loved a good brawl especially against a smaller guy even when he could pick them apart from range - cue the Czyz fight. Probably because he was the smaller man so often, I think he felt he had to make a statement against anybody close to his own size. In Marciano he'd have a guy that would not only love a close-up brawl but be better at it.

His best bet would be to try pick Rocky apart at range and only slug if absolutely, completely necessary.

 

some classic bouts, Holyfield had underrated boxing skills due to his heart and immense will overshadow them. I think Holyfield would beat Marciano due to his shorter punches and boxing skills while standing in the pocket. I think he would outpoint him and it would be competitive. But who knows fantasy fights are fun but all opinion