Was Holyfield the last dominant respected American HW?

Prior to Fury 1, Wilder was clearly dominant over his (mostly mediocre) opposition. He was equally as clearly not dominant over the HW division, having never won the lineal or Ring title.

I don't think Holyfield meets the threshold for dominant over the HW division either. The last American who clearly did, was Mike Tyson.

 

I don't think Wilder would be considered dominant because he was never considered the best Heavyweight at any point in his career.

Plus he only beat 2 opponents ranked in the top 10. So his resume falls a long way short of any notable Heavyweight champion who was considered dominant.

To me I'd consider Wilder a consistent belt holder.

Not a dominant Heavyweight champion of the world atleast IMO.

 

Have to agree with this.

While I feel Wilder was always kind of overblown, he did have real attributes that made him a force even at the highest levels.

 

Just like Corrie Sanders.

 

Too bad he lost most of his fights at the highest level. His record against Top 10 competition is 3-4-1. He never dominated over the division. Holyfield wasn't dominatem but he is still the last great American HW. The last dominant American HW was Tyson.

 

Exactly. As I said, pre Fury he was dominant over his opposition, not over the HW division.

 

Tyson was the last dominant American heavyweight. But I don't think he garnered the kind of respect that Holyfield did.

Wilder had a following (fans) that carries its own kind of respect, but he was not a universally respected heavyweight.

 

fair

 

No disrespect to Wilder, but I don't see him as part of the succession of great black American heavyweights, that started with Joe Louis and ended with Evander Holyfield.

More a rear guard action.

 

Holyfield is much more respected than the dominant American HW champion. His number of title defenses is not impressive. But other things are impressive:
- is the only one to beat Riddick Bowe
- defeated 7 (seven) lineal HW champions: Douglas, Bowe, Foreman, Holmes, Moorer, Tyson and Rahman
- He is a four-time HW champion.

 

This is argued dominance.

 

How can you argue this? Nobody except Ali cleaned out the division as quick as Tyson did.

 

If this thread is about the last dominant American heavyweight then it’s gotta be wilder. What other American heavyweight was as good as him at the time when he was on top?

if it’s about the last American heavyweight champ who had a dominant reign over every one else an not just fellow Americans that’s a different matter

 

In what way ? Tyson cleaned out the division from Holmes's previous era and unified all the belts.

Even Holmes didn't manage to unify the belts in his 7 year reign Tyson did it in 4 years.

Tyson was regularly dominating top 10 ranked Heavyweights.

Tyson destroyed the previous dominant Heavyweight champion in Holmes.

Tyson destroyed the fighter who dethroned Holmes of his long reign in Spinks.

Tyson in 10 world title fights probably only lost about 8 combined rounds in total.

It's a dominant reign by any metric.