Why did Holyfield struggle against lesser fighters

Because Holy was inconsistent and maybe he had some PED problems.

 

This was not a singular Holyfield problem. All fighters of any degree struggle with lesser fighters at some time in their career. Bowe struggled with Hide and Golota. Mercer struggled with Ferguson and Wilson. Foreman struggled with Schulz and Savarese. The list goes on and on for fighters of all eras, not just Holyfield.

 

Holyfield could have gone against anyone But his style wasn’t the best. Defense wasn’t all that nor his offense. Was just kind of good at everything while not being great at anything in particular. He often went off his game plan which negatively affected him. That being said William said it best every great had their struggles against lesser fighters

 

He simply ducked anything...juiced or not he was. His strong will to fight continuously brought him to risk life many times. True Warrior.

 

He just abandoned his gameplan early when he got caught with something. One of the reasons he was so great in my opinion he could box but most importantly he appeared to love to fight

 

Tendency to brawl.good for the fans though, exciting fights

 

Can't agree. Holyfield was one of the best hit-and-run boxers of all time, if not the best.

 

Never said he wasn’t an all time fighter but I tend to think he gets over rated a bit. His offense and defense were really good. Championship good obviously. But he wasn’t particularly great at anything (maybe throwing combos). Went off the script to much and his style wasn’t all that hard to figure out.

 

I agree he was not one of the great thinkers of boxing, and that he followed the same couple of game plans, but he was such a good athlete he was hard to fight.

 

I think it was motivation. Holyfield really wanted to make an impression at heavyweight, and looked good in his first few forays into the division. By the first Alex Stewart fight, he was like, "I've got this..." and didn't put in as much effort. Against Douglas he really wanted that title and looked spectacular. That Holyfield would've beat the Tokyo Douglas. Foreman was supposed to be easy, so maybe Evander didn't work as hard. Cooper was an sub who'd been defeated several times; Evander wasn't as motivated. Holmes, like Foreman, was supposed to be old and easy. Bowe was a young tiger, so Holyfield trained harder. Maybe he didn't think much of Moorer. Against Mercer he wanted to make a good impression after the Moorer fight. Bowe III, I don't know. Czyz, he took lightly. But he'd wanted Tyson for years, so he was ready. After 1997 or so, he was past-prime, and while still a top-level heavyweight, his body couldn't do things as well as they could when he was younger.

 

The Holmes and Stewart fights looked pretty One sided to me. Alex had a brief moment of success in the 5th round but other than that got his ass kicked. Cooper had Evander hurt but that might have had to do with complacency. That and Burt hit damn hard.

 

Getting in the ring with another well-trained big guy throwing punches is a risky proposition. Most of these guys, these lesser opponents, were the best boxers in their gyms since they were kids, most were amateur standouts, guys who spent their young lives blasting opponents and only ran into static when they hit the highest level. Very, very few top level heavies have a smooth path, even in the best of times.