Where does Evander Holyfield rank among all time great Heavyweights?

Outside the top 10, inside the top 15.

Holyfield on fair score cards is 1-4 vs Bowe and Lewis. He's 1-1 vs Moorer, 1-1-1 vs Ruiz, had a real scare when he was down vs Cooper, and did not finish older heavyweights in Holmes and Foreman. Holmes cut him.

While he did KO Tyson, it wasn't Tyson from the 1980's. And he has the specter of PED's over his head.

Not in my top ten, but good enough for my top 15. I think I have him around 13th which means in 20 years he might not even rate there. He fought too long which somewhat diminishes his legacy. But he also has a good collection of wins.

Best wins are:

1 ) Bowe, A razor thin and disputed win due to the fan man incident
2 ) Mercer. A very good performance and he floored Mercer
3 ) Tyson ( 1997 )
4 ) Moorer - avenged loss
5 ) Holmes ( Age 42 )

 

Wow, top 6-8? Message boards are for opinions, but IMO he lost too much to be rated that high.

 

you know for a fact that they fought MUCH worse.

 

Think I had him at no.13 last time I checked although to be fair a good lot of it for me he eye test and how they performed on their finest night - so I have Holy at 13 and Riddick Bowe at 12 if I remember right - great fighter but not a solid enough reign if you get what I mean to solidify anything any higher - for me the best Holy ever was was against Bowe in the first fight and also that was Bowe at his best so Bowe has to be ahead of him based him beating Holy when they were both at their best - people always go on about how awesome the Tyson win was but to be fair I could probably name a few fighters in the world at the time who probably had a 50/50 chance with that Tyson - he wasn't really the same Tyson anymore as much as we wanted to beleive it he was nothing like the same fighter he was in his prime - prime Tyson beats Holy

 

huis argument isnt about age but quality, I believe. Why you turning it into age?

 

Holyfield was absoluetly fearless. He fought anybody.

 

comfortably inside the Top 10

 

the

this, he had top three ATG attitude

 

top 10 for sure....maybe top 5

 

I usually have him ranked somewhere between 8-10. But I can see arguments which might place him as high as #5.. Thing about Holy is that he had some very drastic highs and lows. Most of his defeats came past prime and some when he was positively ancient or when he had health issues. He has some less than flattering performances but also partook in some of the most exciting memorable fights of all time.. During his tenure he was a four time heavyweight champion and has claim to have beaten Mike Tyson, R. Bowe, James Douglas, Michael Moorer, Mike Dokes, John Ruiz, Hasim Rahman, Ray Mercer, and resurgent versions of Foreman and Holmes who proved they were still very good in old age, when contrasted to most aging champions who tried to launch comebacks. While his first meeting with Lewis definitely should have gone to Lennox, the second fight was legitimately close and could have gone either way, which would have given him yet another huge win over a great champion.. I can certainly appreciate the criticisms that his first title reign was somewhat less than impressive, and he did manage to compile a fair number of defeats. Again, however there were reasons for these losses and not ones that should reflect badly on his prime abilities... I've often found Evander " The Real Deal " Holyfield as being one of the hardest heavyweights to rate, but I can accept a lot of differing opinions on where his standing should be. I will say this however.. A prime and fully prepared Holy would give ANY champion in history a good fight, and would very likely beat the vast majority save for a select few.

 

So if its not about age, then I have no issue with you.

 

I have him in my top ten, the man was a relentless beast at his best. The thing I liked about him was he had that Ali quality of surprising you, he did things he shouldn't have been able to, he didn't have that dominant reign but those qualities make up for it in some way. Fighters that surprise you like that are rare, he almost had me believing that he could unify titles near 50. Its a shame he never got to fight Tyson in 91 as if they had a series those fights would have been a lot better than the ones that actually took place.

 

Evander is like many of the top guys, it depends on who he is fighting ..

Evander as an old fighter was one of the few to fight Lennox Lewis and have the speed, chin and skills to be competitive .. he had the chin to war w Tyson and a prime Bowe .. that being said there were many points in his bout w a 42 year old Larry Holmes that Evander looked easily beatable .. I'd have loved to see him against a Joe Louis or a Joe Frazier .. he's solid, mid range top ten in my book for sure ..

 

Number 11.

He did everything well, but nothing great.

He could be out punched by punchers and outboxed by boxers.

He was fairly incosistent and often fought with his heart on his sleeve.

That being said he had all the tools in his arsenal and on his day could beat anyone.