Which win is worth more to Holyfield; Bowe or Tyson?

The Bowe he beat was probably a better fighter than 96 Tyson, but the Tyson win did more for his legacy.

 

"Vegas opened the odds for with Holyfield as a 25-1 underdog "

https://www.espn.com/blog/statsinfo...er-holyfield-vs-mike-tyson-i-20th-anniversary

Easy to say now "oh I would have picked Holyfield" sure, not many bets were done in Vegas though, people don´t like money all of a sudden...
No, Holyfield showed that he was much better than anyone thought. He proved people wrong about how good he was and that is hammered nail and tip turned.

 

In UK a sports journalist working for Sky TV to the studio before Holy v Tyson that a lot of late money on Holy had shortened the odds and there was a feeling Holy could pull it off.

 

Okay, with those odds, people would be tempted, but Tyson was not viewed as this bum people like to claim today. He was a huge favorite for a reason, bookmakers aren´t stupid.
Holyfield outclassed him in everyway possible, mentally, physically, technically, everything.. in both fights, and it is my belief that those two fights finished Mike, he was fighting very well as this strong slugger type before Holyfield, and could have beaten many top contenders...

 

Another reaon Holy was a massive underdog was rumours of him having a hole in his heart causing a lethargic performance v Moorer and also the fact that Bowe knocked him out and there weren`t many top contenders left by the mid to late 90`s anyway.

 

The main reason for that odd is Tyson being well viewed at that moment, I won´t mention the Seldon fight but he koed Bruno in a brutal fashion when Bruno was coming from his win over McCall.

 

Correct. Which is why people had written Holyfield off and assumed he'd just be another Tyson KO victim, they thought he was done at the elite level.

 

I agree with people saying Bowe was possibly a better opponent than Tyson when Holyfield actually fought them, but remember Bowe wasn't in the best of shape vs Holyfield in their 2nd fight he'd put on 11 pounds. Plus the win is somewhat tainted because of the fan man which interrupted the fight at a crucial moment when it looked like Bowe was turning the tables.

The Tyson win had no controversy and was a pretty clear cut dominant finish by Holyfield, add to the fact that Holyfield was considered finished and it was a pretty big upset for me the Tyson win is clearly better.

 

Probably Tyson cause that win provides him with more bragging rights since Tyson was a bigger name, but us boxing fans know that was not a prime Tyson and the Bowe win is more valuable. Although that win also comes with an asterix due to the Fan Man incident and scoring that is debatable.

 

Undoubtedly Tyson, both personally and professionally. There is no question about that.

Holyfield outright WANTED to fight him for many years to prove he was the superior guy. There was a lot personal desire right there which just grew over the years and seeing Tyson succeed as a heavyweight was why he chose to become a heavyweight. I think also because Holyfield said he had never seen anyone work as hard as Tyson in the gym, it could've also played a role in this by making him want to outwork Tyson given Holyfield has always been that guy who kept at stuff no matter how difficult it got and we know repeatedly throughout his career he's always been the guy who focused on proving he could outwork the bigger guy.

As far as Bowe, the one victory Holyfield had over him is marred by steroid allegations and the Fan Man. Not a good look and even aside from those issues, he barely won. I mean look at the scorecards,

Bowe-Holyfield 2 Scorecard | PDF (scribd.com)

Bowe-Holyfield
113-115
114-115
114-114

Thats a borderline draw even with the Fan Man in Holyfields favor.

 

Well manny steward said that when he trained Holyfield for the bowe rematch all he was talking about was Mike Tyson, Tyson was in prison at the time and Holyfield was constantly talking about him, steward said he was completely obsessed with beating Mike Tyson, when don king made the first Holyfield Tyson fight steward told him he’d made a mistake. Holyfield was desperate for people to view him how they viewed Tyson
So for Holyfield beating Tyson probably meant a lot more to him, to the public it obviously did because it was a huge upset and Tyson is obviously a bigger name than Bowe, in terms of which win was more impressive I’d I say Bowe because was better than a post prison Tyson