How Bad Has Evander Holyfield's Legacy Been Damaged?

[Truth]

I think Holyfield is still an all time great, but I believe his repuatation has went down. Some may look at his as a joke now...its sad.

[Tarver is my dad]

I still consider Holyfield an all time great but damn...dude gotta stop fighting.

[KidBlackie]

Holy is kind of a tweener, part cruiser, part heavy. In his prime he was an excellent boxer/puncher with heart. Past his prime, which came after the Douglas fight, he was sluggish, inconsistant, slower, but still fought with a lot of heart and put together a great series against Bowe. His combined title record is pretty good for this era, but his heavy record is much more modest and there are many questions about his health problems and whispered steroid use which may have been the reason. I would hate to be Holy 10 yrs from now. Sad story.

What's funny is how much overrated he got by beating Tyson. That was back in 97 and his record is miserable since but he continued to get title shots on the strength of those wins.

[tino]

he is a halle of famer heavy , that is for sure .

but he may even claim to be the greatest cruiserweight EVER . his fight with quawi were classics

[BadMagick]

All time great? - for what? (this is where you all call me a ****** etc)

I dont buy EH being HOF at all.

Beat a washed up Tyson - LOST a trilogy with Bowe, LOST 1-1 with LL

WHO did he ever beat? WHO did he ever look good against?

How about his whole career at Cruiserweight? Go read some boxing history, and don't come back until you actually know something.

The problem is that the Cruiserweight division never gets any attention, which then leads for great Cruisers to go up to heavy in an attempt to make more money, which doesn't always work out (Jirov sucks at heavy, but was great at Cruiser, with his only loss coming from James Toney, in one of the best Cruiser [perhaps overall] fights I've ever seen).

[Eric Persson]

Best cruiserweight in the history of the sport, beat Bowe, Foreman, Tyson x2, Moorer, Mercer, Rahman, Ruiz and drew with Lewis at heavyweight. And people say that he was never that good? His legacy was not as damaged as RJJ's legacy, because Holyfield was seen as washed up when he he stopped Tyson in 96, and he kept reviving his career, RJJ just got shot and dissappeared.

[masterdirector]

this'll be a good litmus test for the Jones haters.

[BadMagick]

this'll be a good litmus test for the Jones haters.

I don't get what you're saying.

Are you saying that if they say Jones' legacy is tarnished, then so is Holyfield's, or?... I don't get it.

[Floydmayweather]

I dont even like Holy but he was hell of a fighter here is a link to a good article, which shows just how good he was.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evander_Holyfield

[masterdirector]

I don't get what you're saying.

Are you saying that if they say Jones' legacy is tarnished, then so is Holyfield's, or?... I don't get it.

Most will say Holyfield's career isn't that tarnished by his continued string of losses. They would for Jones though. They'll be more willing to call Holyfield an all time great than Jones, which I disagree with. Only person Holyfield has a win against that's more impressive than Jones is Tyson. Jones' resume is more impressive, minus the Tyson fight.

I'm not saying Holyfield shouldn't go down as an all-time great, he definitely should. But Jones should more.