Therefore, the peak year does not have to be a calendar year, but a period of one year of Holyfield's career, which lasted 26-27 years. Are those the wins over Douglas and Foreman? Are those the wins over Cooper and Holmes? Is that Bowe II? Or are those the 3 wins over Tyson and Moorer in the period from 9.IX 1996 to 8.IX 1997? Or do you have a fifth theory about Holyfield's peak? There will also be a vote Personally, I think Bowe 2 is Holyfield's peak in H2H terms. Holyfield has gained 12 pounds since the first fight and is wiser for the experience of being defeated. 215 pound Holyfield who knocked out Tyson (now wiser and with experience of what it means to be knocked out) or 217 pound Holyfield (Bowe II)? Tyson 1 Holyfield is a wiser boxer, but Bowe 2 is Holyfield's absolute physical peak. 31 years and 18 days. After that, Holyfield became an increasingly wiser boxer, so Lewis was confronted by a much wiser Holyfield, but in physical decline.
Quawi II and De Leon at CW Douglas and Bowe II at HW His HW prime was like from 1989 to 1993 but peak performances were Bowe II and Douglas IMO Show you how great were 42 y.o. versions of Foreman and especially Holmes who were more (Holmes) or less but still (Foreman) competitive against bona fide ATG fighter at his peak
2.X 1990. Douglas 6.XI 1993. Bowe II Those two fights are separated by almost three full calendar years, and cannot be counted in Holyfield's peak. Holyfield's prime lasts much longer; at least from the win over Douglas (Dookes?) to the fight with Lewis (the end of Holyfield's prime).
Hell no. Holyfield was WAY past him prime against Lewis. He looked absolutely awful against Vaughn Beane in 1998. As for peak performances being separated by 3 years. Well, nothing wrong here. Lennox Lewis' always says his peak performance was Rahman II which was 4 years apart from his another top performance against Golota. Peak performances shouldn't exactly be consecutive, but they should be during fighters prime
Evander was at his very best by the time he was beating Dwight Qawi (second bout) and Carlos De Leon at Cruiser.
I honestly think the first Bowe fight might have been the best Holyfield we've seen. Was an absolute warrior that night, but Bowe had it all on his best day.
His prime was when he dismantled Qawi in 4 rounds up until the 2nd fight with Bowe. So between 1987-1993.
Moorer II. That is Holyfields final form. As a HW anyway. He had consistant power that he never really showed again at the weight class. He was just "clicking". Moorer showed up and came back from the first few KDs game but it didn't matter that was his day.
He was probably at his peak at 190 and picking a peak period for him at HW is a little difficult as he could be pretty up-and-down. I guess early 90s? He made good adjustments to the age/wear-and-tear. He put up over 10 pounds from the 1st and 2nd Bowe fights, and unlike Bowe, it wasn’t from eating too many burgers and ice cream. Emanuel Steward talked about the game plan and how much of it had to due to proper footwork. Bowe was tall and rangy with a solid jab and overhand right, but was most effective on the inside. This was a tall order for Holyfield to deal with, and using the right footwork to get in the right position. I think it was very taxing for Evander, and he was exhausted in the 12th. He slowed down by the time he fought Tyson, but got physically bigger/stronger and fought with more control than the usual brawl happy Holyfield.
