When should Evander Holyfield have retired?

But... ...it is.

 

After the Moorer rematch

 

No, it ain't. Just like Montell Griffin's win over Roy Jones isn't a proper win.

 

But... ...it is.

 

No, it ain't. When your opponent is disqualified, you do not get to claim you beat him, he was simply disqualified.

 

Although he was already way past prime, the perfect time to go would’ve been after the Moorer rematch for me. His stock was at its highest after the Tyson fights and then revenging the controversial Moorer loss to become unified was perfect. If Holyfield had hung them up then, his stock today would be far higher.

 

Like any result in boxing, one can dispute the quality of the win (or the loss). But a disqualification-induced win is still a win, nonetheless.

 

And therefore lost. Meaning, you ... won.

You're in a minority of one on this one. Even by your own standards, you're having a shocker.

 

Or after the first Tyson fight.

 

I'll stick with after the rematch, and here's why -

Even after beating Tyson in very impressive fashion Tyson was still somehow favored in the rematch with Holyfield being around 2-1 against. I mean he'd beaten Tyson in convincing fashion but the boxing world still couldn't grasp it and a great many believed Tyson would bounce back. If the fight never happened there'd still be loads of people out there thinking Tyson would have rebounded. We know better because of this rematch where Holyfield made him quit via disqualification.

Another immense factor was that Holyfield earned $35mil for the rematch which is just too much not to grab.

 

True well you could also say Holyfield could of retired after the Lewis fights. Clearly Holyfield lost the first one but made tons of money. Holyfield did better in their second bout and made tons of money. Holyfield had nothing to prove after that and should of retired.

 

Oh for sure. There's various points where retirement fit well. He did however need to ram home his dominance over Tyson IMO.

 

Of course it's an 'actual' win - if you can whup up on your opponent until he loses it and gets DQ'd, it is an actual, proper win. Boxing is 90% mental according to most fighters.

I agree that Evander probably should've retired after the 2nd Tyson fight.

 

Before Belfort