A post came up on my Facebook timeline and on Team A we had Deontay Wilder, Anthony Joshua and Luis Ortiz On Team B we had Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis The matchups were as follows Wilder vs Tyson Joshua vs Holyfield Ortiz vs Lewis Which team takes it??
You've got to go with team B but you have the hindight of knowing what they accomplished for the entirety of their careers. If you go by the stats at this point in their careers then team A walk it by a country mile.
Tyson knocks out Wilder, Joshua and Ortiz in a few rounds tops. Lewis chin could be shaky but 9 times out of 10 he knocks out Joshua and Wilder just as easy as he did Andrew Golota and probably stops Ortiz like he stopped Morrison. Holyfield wasn't a huge punch punch artist but against glass chin AJ it wouldn't matter. Depending on how aggressive he is Holyfield stops AJ in the mid to late rounds. Holyfield would probably do the same to Wilder. I haven't seen Ortiz get hit by any top punches yet so I don't know if Holyfield could hurt him but he would out box him.
I think you're underestimating Holyfield punching power. True, he wasn't one of the great heavyweight punchers of legend, but he could crack. He did stop Tyson, floor Bowe with a single shot, drop Ray Mercer and stagger Foreman across the ring and buckled his knees with a single counter right hand (while giving away approximately 50 lbs).
Holyfield wasn't a one punch KO artist. He was a sharp skilled counter puncher. Holyfield stopped Tyson because of counter punching. He stagged Foreman with a beautiful counter punch. But he landed 1 billion other flush punches in that fight that didn't even bother Foreman. I think Mercer took a knee after getting hit with a body shot? I am not sure since I didn't see that fight in years. Riddick Bowe was clearly on the downward slide of his career. Holyfield landed numerous flush punches in their first 2 fights and couldn't knock down Bowe. So I don't really see the point you are trying to make. I said Holyfield wasn't a huge puncher at heavyweight. He wasn't so finding various scenarios to try to prove your point won't change that fact. That is like me saying you know Buster Douglas knocked out Tyson. So must mean Douglas was a huge puncher. Douglas knocked out Tyson because he landed numerous flush combinations. Jimmy Young knocked down Foreman when huge punches like Tommy Morrison couldn't hurt George. So does that mean Jimmy Young could punch? Know it means Foreman suffered a heat stroke and Young was able to knock him down.
Right then you realize nobody who faced Tyson and Holyfield stated their power was comparable. Tyson was a much bigger puncher than Holyfield.
Tyson KOs Wilder Inside 6 Holyfield UD Joshua Lewis UD Ortiz (Good fight with Lewis surviving a few shaky moments)
I don't know, I think Tyson hit quite a bit harder. For the most part, Tyson was able to more easily and convincingly put away common opponents that they both defeated. Pinklon Thomas and Alex Stewart comes to mind. On a bad night, I'd give Holyfield punching power on a scale 1 to 10, a 7 on a good night a solid 8,8.5. Holyfield definitely hit hard enough to hurt and eventually stop any heavyweight provided he landed flush enough.
Mismatch. Tyson would murder Wilder. I have not seen enough from Joshua, to justify favoring him over Wilder. Lewis would butcher Ortiz.
There was not a massive gulf in punching power between them IMO. It's fair to say both could crack at HW. Foreman was even remembering Holyfield's left hook to the body lastnight, he stated he still feels the punch to this day.
