Was holyfield ever that good?

Question

He only beat a worn out tyson.......

Answer 1

He was very good maybe even great fighter. But you do bring up a good point. What was his opposition, I felt he won the second fight with Lennox Lewis, and he had the trilogy with Riddick Bowe. He deserves to be mentioned amongst great fighters.

If you want to follow those lines then there are a lot of fighters who have won the title that can be held up to scrutiny.

Answer 2

Holyfield's career was counted out when he fought Tyson. He just recovered from his heart disease and many other injuries when he fought Tyson. He was the underdog. Don King handpicked him to fight Tyson thinking Holyfield was over the hill but they were wrong. Holyfield's got the biggest heart in boxing. Never quits and never gets frustrated in the ring. He's also a great tactician. The only 4 time heavyweight champion in the world. He's beaten the best of the best of his generation. He's no pushover. He's one of the very best in heavyweight boxing.

Answer 3

holyfield was good, but definitely not great. the list of names in his record is a who's who of never was', almost were's, has been's, and used to be's: granted, he whipped tyson pretty good the first time, but everyone took him too lightly, esp mike, and didn't give him a chance of winning. if you watch that fight in slo-mo, it's pretty ugly w/evander dishing out a lot of fouls, moreso even than mike. the 2nd tyson fight would've been very interesting had it continued. holy took the 1st 2 rounds easy against a cautious/tentative tyson trying to effect a jab and some kind of basic strategy. then, iron mike suddenly "woke up" and convincingly won the 3rd, in the old style we knew and loved - that is, until they took the points away for biting....he was just coming on and stealing the momentum from holyfield and fought like the mike of old. holy only beat riddick bowe once, although all three fights were exciting and dramatic,,,,but how good was bowe really? dokes? come on! foreman? never should have lasted the distance at his age, and gave such a great account of himself against a younger man, w/o even winning a round that ya gotta question what his opponent brought to the ring that night. moorer? gimme a break! lewis? pu-lease! cooper gave him all he could handle before he simply ran outta steam and evander knocked him out. evander was a great crusierweight and a pumped up heavyweight who had a lotta heart and a lotta will and, when properly programmed, would give a great performance...and, for the record, he was admittedly scared stiff of mike tyson when he entered the ring the 1st time and kept praying. the longer he lasted, the braver he got. then, he realized he could actually tag tyson - who admited he didn't even train bec he thought it'd be an easy night's work. holyfield was good, really good....but not great! and 4-time champion would mean a lot more had he captured all the titles and not pieces of them!

Answer 4

Holyfield in my opinion is an all time great. Beat the best competition out there. Another measure of greatness is can a man coming back from defeat keep himself motivated? Holyfield was able to do that as proved by winning the Heavyweight championship four times.

Answer 5

Holyfield beat everybody in the Light Heavy and Heavyweight division. I would have liked to seen him and Tyson match up before Tyson went to prison. I don't put Evander in the "great" category, but he was definitely "good".

Answer 6

Yes the Lgt Heavy, Cruiser champ and the Heavyweight champ who beat Bowe, Tyson, Foreman, Douglas etc was a really good champion with a lot of heart and desire. He beat Tyson because he was stronger and tougher and would have whipped him at any time because he had no fear of him. I don't know where he will rank with the all time greats but he has already proven himself without ducking anyone in his career.

Answer 7

Holyfield was an excellent fighter although small for a heavyweight so would always struggle to an extent against the really good true heavyweights Bowe, Lewis etc. But pouned for pouned he was one of the best not a complete fighter as his defense let him down at times but his heart and will to win was amazing.

Answer 8

Holyfield was a stud--one of the best conditioned men you'll ever see inside of the ring, a world class counter puncher and a generally tough SOB. Off the top of my head I also recall him beating Riddick Bowe (once), Larry Holmes, George Foreman, Ray Mercer, Michael Moorer, Buster Douglas, Michael Doaks, James "Quick" Tillis and Dwight Muhammed Qwai (twice).

Answer 9

What fight were you watching? Tyson had just came off a one round ko of Bruce Seldon, and Holyfield was considered washed up.
Yeah Holyfield was that great.

Answer 10

sanjo....you must be kidding or just too young to remember when you had to be great just to get in the ring and hope to survive against him
this man is from the same era as Ali and Frazier and in their prime Tyson would be lunch meat for god's sake
PS-even as an old worn out man eating cheeseburgers in training he beat Tyson
of course is Tyson that good....c'mon buster Douglas beat him too, (and i am not taking anything away from Douglas)
PS-or where you talking about who was the biggest embarrassment to boxing, (still remember the whiny cannibal taking chunks out of peoples ears to try and win)