Prime Holyfeild vs. Current Wlad

[nomadman]

I foresee one of two situations playing out:

Either Holyfield catches Wlad early and begins to pressure Wlad to a stoppage

or

Wlad successfully slows the pace to his liking with his jab and grab style and grinds out Holyfield to a UD.

Of the two I see the former being the slighty more likely scenario playing out. Wlad isn't nearly as vulnerable to durable punchers as he was in the past (so anyone mentioning the likes of Purrity needs to get the hell out of this thread) but he's still vulnerable to getting caught in that split second when a fighter bridges the gap and Wlad clinches him up. Holyfield could catch him at some point coming in and whilst I don't think one shot would KO Wlad, it would certainly swing things in Holy's favour, especially if he starts to time Wlad and land with some regularity. I can see him stunning Wlad with a sharp overhand right, Wlad vainly trying to clinch him up and getting caught with a barrage of follow up blows, Holy fighting his way out of the clinch as Wlad gets increasingly groggy, then dropping him to his knees a few seconds later. Wlad gets up, gets dropped a few more times and the ref or corner stops the fight.

On the other hand, if Wlad establishes his jab early he could disrupt Holy's rhythm, especially if he can time Holy bouncing in. Holy's got a great beard but Wlad's a massive puncher and could easily stun him at several times with a quick right or hybrid jab/hook. If Wlad starts getting some momentum I see him begin to grind down Holy with jabs and leaning clinches, Holyfield getting the odd good punch in but not really troubling Wlad and eventually losing a UD (I think Holy's resilient enough and Wlad reticent enough to make this fight go the scorecards). Would easily be the toughest fight of Wlad's career though.

Holyfield 60/40

[RubenSonny]

A key element to Bowes victory was his excellence on the inside - a distance which Holy loved to fight at and the logical key to victory against a big man (its usually assumed they would lack on the inside) like Bowe, however due to Bowes effectiveness there, he didn't have the obvious advantage making Bowe an extremely difficult style match-up for him. Wlad has shown nothing on the inside, and that would be were Holy would be most effective, sure it would be pretty difficult to actually get there, but someone the calibre of Holy can get passed that jab and put some damage down. I think Holy would win a pretty hard fought but clear decision say 8-4, 9-3 type fight maybe a late stoppage.

I take this back I've been watching Holyfield recently and I absolutely think he'd stop Wlad.

[The Smash]

I don't think it goes 10 rounds; prime Holyfield would be like nothing Wlad has ever seen, from his ability to withstand heavy artilery, certainly heavier than Wlad has, to his refusal to physicallly relent. He would be too much. If Wlad doesn't retire on his stool Evander would drive that left hook to the body in the early rounds and take a tired Klitschko out in the 9th.

[young_robbed]

I foresee one of two situations playing out:

Either Holyfield catches Wlad early and begins to pressure Wlad to a stoppage

or

Wlad successfully slows the pace to his liking with his jab and grab style and grinds out Holyfield to a UD.

Furthermore why don't you guys have more confidence in Holyfield? Guy fought all kinds of opponents. much more tested then wlad too.

Holyfield could KO Wlad anytime.

[BigStereotype]

This is a real interesting fight. Wlad has most of the technical and almost all of the "on-paper" advantages. He's taller, longer, generally bigger, more powerful, slightly quicker, etc. etc. But Evander has, without fail, EVERY grittiness advantage. He's tougher, with a granite chin and just more sack in general. Wlad is one of the "softer" heavyweight champs I have ever seen. So, Wlad might outbox Holyfield and beat him up a bit but I'd pick Holyfield to win by dramatic late-round KO.