HOLYFIELD beats Usyk at Cruiser or HW.

[Dr Z]

Holyfield faced better competition at every level.

Holyfield?

The same guy who is 1-1 vs Moorer , 1-1-1 vs Ruiz, got a home town ref bougus action when he was knocked down by Bert Cooper. Holy was roided to the gills.

A golden goose who fouled his opponents and had the establishment of power brokers looking out for him as he got several people paid.

[Donnie Herrera]

No question or doubt about it…Holyfield was the Real Deal and always will be…

[joseph5620]

AJ and Dubois are undisputed in the 90s

You clearly weren't around in the 90's if you believe something that ridiculous.

[joseph5620]

I say Usyk faced better competition at every level. Nobody can prove who was better, of course Holy's opposition is more famous and popular. Usyk never makes any mistakes, Holy made many in the ring. Usyk by decision.

I would say that you are highly uninformed and misinformed with that statement

Usyk never faced a heavyweight better than Lennox Lewis, Bowe, or Tyson. His cruiserweigt competition was not better either. That leaves your statement with no credibility.

[ONOFF]

Neither of them survives 12 vs Golota or Tua.

Tua had an irrelevant amateur career and stood only 178 cm tall. He was one of Lewis’s easiest opponents..Lennox simply kept him at bay with his jab (much like he did against Tyson). Throughout his career, Tua struggled against the few noteworthy opponents he faced, such as Chris Byrd, Rahman, and Ibeabuchi...with the exception of Moorer and Ruiz, though it's worth noting that both were somewhat overrated as well.

Golota wasn’t even a prototype of the Euro boxers we see today...Just another overrated, one-dimensional mental midget who’d be completely nonexistent in today’s “sh@t” era. Clumsy and stiff (and yet somehow a terrible matchup for Bowe), he highlights just how overrated the '90s really were. An era where a 45+ year-old, slow-as-hell Foreman managed to become champion. The tapes don’t lie—most of these guys were overrated gatekeepers. Moorer is a prime example of this.

[ONOFF]

I would say that you are highly uninformed and misinformed with that statement

Usyk never faced a heavyweight better than Lennox Lewis, Bowe, or Tyson. His cruiserweigt competition was not better either. That leaves your statement with no credibility.

Misinformed... Right...So much irony...

Both Lennox and Bowe were owned by Alexander Miroshnichenko in the amateurs—another Eastern European whose pro career was ruined thanks to Soviet bloc boxers being banned from turning professional. Bowe had two losses, back to back, against Miroshnichenko. And let’s be honest—Miroshnichenko wasn’t anything special. Certainly not on Usyk’s level.

Let’s also not forget that Lennox himself refused a rematch with the only real threat he ever faced, Vitali Klitschko. He also got knocked out cold by Hasim Rahman. These things matter, because Vitali, was nowhere near as skilled or mobile as Usyk. He was dangerous simply due to his insane durability, endurance, and knockout power. He was robotic, yet relentless. But never had the type of footwork we're used to seeing from Uysk.

I’m always amused by these hyperbolic claims, where boxing fans are dead certain that Fighter X or Y from the past would easily destroy today’s elite, even though there’s zero proof of that. Meanwhile, we do have the footage. We’ve seen the fights. And it’s become pretty clear that a lot of fans are either living in denial or lying to themselves.

Lennox couldn’t get rid of Zeljko Mavrovic, and had to chase a rematch just to erase the humiliation he suffered against Rahman in their first fight. And yet that’s the guy we’re supposed to believe would be Usyk’s "daddy"? Hey, maybe , i guess ? But there's way too many question marks to be 100% sure of anything, no matter the era of past champions.

[ONOFF]

And... again—we're supposed to believe Usyk's cruiserweight career was hot garbage compared to Holyfield's, even though the cruiserweight division was only created in 1979, was still in its infancy during Holyfield's run, and was largely cut off from elite talent behind the Iron Curtain. To claim that Holyfield fought the best available competition is to completely ignore the geopolitical reality that barred an entire generation of high-level Eastern European and Soviet-bloc fighters from participating in the sport professionally.

That same talent pool has gone on to dominate modern boxing.

Usyk, on the other hand, competed in a fully globalized era, in a mature division that had over 30 years to grow and deepen. He didn’t just win a belt—he unified the entire cruiserweight division, and did it all on the road, beating top-tier fighters in their own backyards.

If Holyfield’s era was supposedly the peak of cruiserweight boxing, then we’re being asked to believe that the division peaked just a few years after it was created—and then somehow stagnated or regressed for the next three decades. That argument doesn’t survive even basic scrutiny.

[JimRaynor]

It's a 50/50 fight, I love Holyfield and think he's one of the ATG.

[joseph5620]

Misinformed... Right...So much irony...

Both Lennox and Bowe were owned by Alexander Miroshnichenko in the amateurs—another Eastern European whose pro career was ruined thanks to Soviet bloc boxers being banned from turning professional. Bowe had two losses, back to back, against Miroshnichenko. And let’s be honest—Miroshnichenko wasn’t anything special. Certainly not on Usyk’s level.

Let’s also not forget that Lennox himself refused a rematch with the only real threat he ever faced, Vitali Klitschko. He also got knocked out cold by Hasim Rahman. These things matter, because Vitali, was nowhere near as skilled or mobile as Usyk. He was dangerous simply due to his insane durability, endurance, and knockout power. He was robotic, yet relentless. But never had the type of footwork we're used to seeing from Uysk.

I’m always amused by these hyperbolic claims, where boxing fans are dead certain that Fighter X or Y from the past would easily destroy today’s elite, even though there’s zero proof of that. Meanwhile, we do have the footage. We’ve seen the fights. And it’s become pretty clear that a lot of fans are either living in denial or lying to themselves.

Lennox couldn’t get rid of Zeljko Mavrovic, and had to chase a rematch just to erase the humiliation he suffered against Rahman in their first fight. And yet that’s the guy we’re supposed to believe would be Usyk’s "daddy"? Hey, maybe , i guess ? But there's way too many question marks to be 100% sure of anything, no matter the era of past. champions.

Comparing Amateur boxing to professional boxing just proves my point that you have no idea what you're talking about and whatever you say after this is meaningless, not credible, and a waste of my time. Stopped reading after that

[ONOFF]

Comparing Amateur boxing to professional boxing just proves my point that you have no idea what you're talking about and whatever you say after this is meaningless, not credible, and a waste of my time. Stopped reading after that

"Not credible," yet you're seething. You ‘stopped reading,’ but somehow still replied...remarkable multitasking for someone allegedly above it all. You dodged every point, yet claim victory like a fighter who refused to show up, then bragged about winning by walkover. That’s not debating, that’s coping. Kind of like how Soviet boxers were banned from going pro—robbed of the fight, then dismissed by people who never saw them compete. Irony’s funny like that.