Where Does Holyfield Rank In ATG Lists Now?

I'd have him down in my Top 15 heavyweight all time list. If we combine that with his dominance at cruiser then he could even sneak into the Top 10.

He's a shoo in for numero uno at cruiser.

 

Top 10.

 

Lower top ten as he always was. You can argue the exact place depending on what you value and why. Honestly my firm top 10 only goes as far as Foreman at 6. 7,8,9,10 are kinda open for argument.

 

It's quite a task firming down positions in a list like that,is n't it? My top 3 heavies are pretty solid - 1/Ali 2/Louis 3/Holmes but 4-10 are interchangeable even though the cast pretty much remains the same.

 

Definitely a warrior,Fergy.

 

Top 10, I think. His prime run wasn't that great, though, so a lot hinges on the wins against Tyson. Tricky with these lists, Tyson had a much better prime run, 86-91, but he's 0-2 against Holy, so who to place over the other?

And how to place Holy compared to Frazier and Foreman? Marciano, Lewis, Johnson, Holmes, Ali and Louis are above imo. Probably Wlad too with his great run 2005-2015. So he could be outside the top 10, but probably somewhere in the lower top 10.

He's a bit tricky because his prime wins against washed Thomas, past his best Dokes, Stewart, a Douglas looking like he'd much rather be back at Burger King, ancient Foreman and Holmes, a razor close over Bowe coupled with a much clearer loss, really isn't that much in the grand scheme of things.

Without the resurgence 96-98 he' probably behind the likes of Liston, Charles, Jeffries, Dempsey and Vitaly and maybe even Patterson, but I still think it's enough to bump in him into my top 10.

 

#1 or 2 at CW.

#14 at HW.

Around #40 p4p.

 

14 at HW? Who do you have above him?

 

Actually, #15, apologies:

Louis
Ali

Holmes
Lewis
Marciano

Johnson
Wlad

Jeffries
Liston
Tyson
Foreman
Frazier

Wills
Dempsey
Holyfield

I make less allowance (though still some) than most for eras being stronger or weaker than others. I'm not convinced Holyfield was ever the best HW on the planet and he certainly didn't prove it with any longevity. On fair scorecards he was 1-4 vs the best 2 x HWs he fought (Tyson barely resembled his peak self, imo), though admittedly, he was 36 and 37 for the Lewis fights. He was also 1-1 vs Moorer and iirc, was the only ring top 10 rated HW Moorer ever beat.

I think some (not saying you do) conflate how entertaining and how brilliant from a p4p perspective Evander was, with how dominant he was at HW, consequently I think some overrate him at HW whilst underrating him p4p. His HW record is something like 26-10-2, and one of those draws should be a loss, though tbf, most losses were aged 36 or above.

The above notwithstanding, if you asked me to rate HWs all time based solely on the names on their win resume, with factoring in context of these wins or their losses, he'd rank way higher than 14. Therefore, it stands to reason that those whose lists are more closely correlated with depth of win resume than mine, will have him higher than me.