Who ranks higher on the all-time great Heavyweight list, Lewis or Holyfield?

Fair enough and I agree. But IMO the fights showed that Lewis would have been able to handle Holyfield. IMO even a prime Holyfield would lose to Lewis albeit in a much tougher closer fight.

 

Lewis of the early 90's would have had a tough time with Holyfield of the early 90's. He wasnt equipped to shutdown Holy's offense and would be forced to slug it out with Holyfield, just as he did with Ray Mercer. Holyfields accurate counterpunching would have made a bigger difference than Mercers offense in my opinion.
The Lewis that fought Holyfield would have most likely been too strong for Holy of 91 but if I was a betting man I would still pick Holyfield to win.

 

:good

 

Holyfield for me. But it's one of those where it could be seen either way.

 

True,but the 2nd Holy-Lewis fight was pretty damn close.In fact,it was much closer than the 1st which Lewis clearly won.

 

I don´t think the 2nd one was much closer. People were suprised that it was closer and so they perceive it closer than it actually was ... in my opinion anyway.

 

Oh no a bigger man, bigger puncher would be forced to slug it out with a none punching cruserweight, your right what a terrible stylistic match up, how would Lewis possibly win atsch Holyfield of the early 90s got hurt by Cooper and beat by Bowe, Lewis is fresher, faster, fitter and more dynamic in the early 90s

 

I thought Holy was much more aggressive in the second and landed far more telling blows than he did in the first,where he seemed more lethargic.

 

Agreed.... I might be alone but i am one of the few that thinks the younger more aggressive style of Lewis would pose Holy more problems

 

He was also sloppier and wide open for counterpunches. Why do you think Oliver Mcall put him on his ass? atsch The wider open you are, the easier it is for a sharpshooter like Holyfield to land his best shots. Lewis was not fresher fitter or even close to being as fast as Holyfield was in the early 90's..

 

Yes. He was better in the 2nd one and it seemed to me as if Lewis took it a bit easier and yes the 2nd fight was closer. I don´t dipute that. It was still a clear win for Lewis. If I remember it right I had the first one 9-3 and the second one 8-4 for Lewis.

 

Fit and fast with a tight a defense.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPQy-ScwyvE[/ame]

 

How about the '93 Holy* that beat Bowe against the '99 Lewis who beat old Holyfield?
He was 217lbs of solid muscle & made some impressive use of his boxing & counterpunching ability, along with his vicious combinations while brawling.

*I know it's impossible, as they both had Steward in their corners.

 

Its a close one for me. Lewis improved his defense, his balance, and his overall ring smarts by 99. He would have muscled Holyfield around, but Holyfield was so good at finding an opening, thats why Lewis fought him so tentative in those two fights, even though Holyfield was far more flat footed and less active.
As I said the fight would be closer, neither outcome would suprise me, but I would lean more towards Holyfield if I had to bet. I always felt Lewis lacked the inside game and if Holyfield was able to make him fight just a little in close he would have a lot of chances to beat him. Just my opinion..

 

I think the fact that Holyfield has been all but proven to use steroids/HGH should count for somethnig here.