Would Holyfield Be........

[Subwayboy]

As highly regarded if it was for Mike Tyson.


Dont get me wrong Evander is my favourite boxer of all time, but i was wondering that if he didnt have those two HUGE fights with Tyson, would he be held in such high regard.

Would he be the biggest money earner in the history of boxing with out Mike Tyson???

Would Evander Holyfield be a household name with out Mike Tyson??

I just thought it would be interesting to see what every one thinks on this topic.

Please note i am not in any way putting down Evander. I think he was one of the greatest

[Bad Intentions]

I think he would still be popular but his won over Tyson was icing on the cake, I think his fights with Bowe were pretty crucial to his legacy also, he showed much heart in those.

[snipes12]

holyfield is still great w/o iron , coz he beat so many great names before he did face mike , like holmes , douglas ,foreman , etc , i agree wid bad intentions when he defeated iron its like icing on the cake for his career.
his also a good example that career records dont count, what matters is how many great names did u beat.

[SUPER ZAB FAN]

No doubt his legacy would still be intact , but i dont think that he would have been the all time money maker.Tyson name is Platinum when it comes to Pay per view and sold out fights , during that particular time frame , there werent to many Big namr fights out there that could have nearly generated the amount of money those 2 fights commanded

[Tarver is my dad]

His legacy was intact before he fought Tyson, however I think when he fought Tyson and got his ear bit off, thats when nonboxing fans knew his name too.

[SUPER ZAB FAN]

Very true, just like i said his legacy was intact but the money was no where near the same until after he fought TYSON

[TheGreat1]

It's almost lik easking if Ali would be a household name if not for foreman? It's hard to tell because they both had great fights throughout their careers. People say foreman and tyson as beast, and not many thought they could slay these beast. when they did their stock went from good champion to Legand. Holy was amazing

[SUPER ZAB FAN]

Yeah thats right , but like someone said in a earlier post , everyone knew who holyfield was after the tyson fights , whether it was from the ear , or the domination in the first fight. He was fighting a lil dirty in both fights though in my opinion with all the head butting , but it got him the win

[Subwayboy]

i wasnt saying that he wouldnt be where he is with out Mike, i was just throwing it out there for discussion.
I feel Tyson had much more natural tallent that went to waste, and Holyfield just used up every ounce of the tallent that he was given. To me that is the difference between the two

[fight_fan]

i feel that the wins over Tyson added to his legacy, but the man was the original Warrior before Tyson stepped into the ring with him. my only wish is that they would've fought back in '91 before a freak sit-up injury and the oh so pesky prinson stint came and ruined things. Evander would've beaten Mike then for the same reasons that he beat him in '96...