Would Foreman and Holmes have beaten Holyfield if they were prime?

I favor both young Foreman and Holmes over Holy.

But still these were 2 very good wins as 3,5 years later Big George won HW championship of the world, and Holmes just beat top-5 undefeated Ray Mercer and 3 years later almost beat prime McCall.

 

Young Foreman would have brutalized Holyfield like he did Norton...like a lion vs an antelope....Holmes would have outpointed Holyfield much like he beat Norton....a very close bout.

 

Ok, prime vs. prime and everyone at their very best. Holyfield was just about as good as he ever was vs. Foreman. Against Holmes Holyfield had a bit of an off night.

As for how good Foreman and Holmes were when they faced Holyfield?

Foreman had won 24 fights in a row, 23 by KO including KO wins over Qawi (only Holyfield and Foreman stopped him), Cooper, C00ney, and Rodrigues among others. Foreman was well prepared and rose to the occasion. He was actually at his strongest (but Im not saying he punched harder than he did in '73/'74), he paced himself well, his stamina was good, he fought smart, unloaded when he could, used good defense and a good jab. Im not sure what he could have done differently that woukd have made much of a difference... plus he would have been about 40 Lbs. lighter had he been his younger self.

Holmes had won 6 fights in a row including a near shut out over a previously undefeated Ray Mercer. He was in much better shape for this fight than he was for Tyson. He may have looked leaner vs. Tyson but he was not well prepared for that fight. He was well prepared for Holyfield and he rose to the occasion. Holyfield was not at his very best. He really wanted a fight with Tyson but it didnt seem like it was ever going to happen.

I think Holyfield beats either version of Foreman... it's never easy though. I think a prime Holmes wins a close decision over Holyfield.

 

Both in their prime beat Evander.

 

Near shut-out of Ray Mercer?

 

I think they both would have beaten him - Foreman by Ko and Holmes by dec.

 

In my opinion yes, I honestly can't see giving Mercer more than 3 rounds. A case can be made that Mercer only won one round. Holmes did whatever he wanted to do that night. Holmes controlled the fight and toyed with Mercer at times. He really made Mercer look very limited.

 

I find it unlikely that he could have beaten prime versions of them, yet not done considerably better against the versions he was presented with.

He won both the fights, but not with anything like the degree of dominance that he should have.

 

Old Holmes and very old Foreman both did reasonably well vs Holy. Prime Holmes and Foreman beats Holy. Holmes by decision. Foreman by ko.