What do you think would he have stayed undefeated :huh would he have been as much of a celeb :huh would he have made as much money :huh would he have lost as much money :huh would he still be boxing today :huh
None of the above....he would have ran out of opposition quickly....out of boredom he probably would have had more illegitimate children and lost the money he earned.
He would never have made as much money or have had the legendary fights with Bowe and Tyson, but I do think he would have forged a better legacy - he would have been an untouchable at cruiser like Robinson at 147 or Duran at 135. He would now be rated as a greater fighter.
Even when campaigning at cruiser, Holyfield always wanted to move up the heavyweight and specifically fight Tyson. He was quite open about his intentions even back in '86 about that, as Tyson was working up to his title shot against Berbick. It's always where he viewed the big money and big profile fights to be made, and indeed that's the way it's gone for so many cruiserweight champs over the years. Even the ones that didn't do so well at heavyweight often made better money losing than winning at cruiser.
IMO would he have stayed undefeated = Probably would he have been as much of a celeb = No would he have made as much money = No would he have lost as much money = He wouldn't have as much money to lose ! would he still be boxing today = No
I don't think this scenario ever would have happened. His ascent to HW was inevitable. In the unlikely scenario that he did remain at Cruiserweight however, I think he would have reigned unchallenged for a long period of time with little or no worthy opponents. At some point, we may have seen him fight the likes of guys like Hill, Jones, McCallum, and Toney ( earlier ).
The cruiserweight division was a boxing graveyard in those days. The possibility of Evander remaining a cruiserweight was so unlikely that it overshadows the question. Just look at the group of fighters that scrambled for his belts when he moved up. Among them, Holyfield had already beaten Qawi and DeLeon. The rest of the guys aren't even worth mentioning. There was just nobody for Evander to fight. Just look at the guy McCrory beat for the IBF belt. How did this dude even get a title shot in the first place? Could you have pictured Evander Holyfield vs. Magne Havnaa?
