Where's the Holyfield Appreciation Thread?

[soul_survivor]

This is bizarre, one of the greatest fighters ever, one of the greatest and most entertaining heavyweight champions ever and...nothing. The guy just retired and there isn't even a thread, not one that I saw anyway. So let's make this the official appreciation/retirement thread for a true ATG, a term too oft used but rarely merited.

[Elroy1]

Holyfield is one of the greatest boxers and greatest ambassadors of the sport we've ever had, no doubt.

[Dat]

Yep, the Real Deal is definitely one of the best and classiest HW boxers ever. Truly an ATG.

[musiol]

the real deal.

[Box-Office]

That is mostly because of his career after Nikolai Valuev fight.

[Bigtimeboxing]

dude was a steroid cheat.

[IronDanHamza]

I thought he retired in 2013.

[soul_survivor]

If you omit everything post Lewis 2, what you have is a startling record, 36-3, having won every fight at cruiserweight and only having lost to Bowe (2x) and Moorer, he beat a fearsome Tyson, managed to beat Bowe once and defend his titles against tougher, bigger opponents.

Even after the Lewis loss, he managed to stake a claim for a portion of the heavyweight title.

Now that's something.

[soul_survivor]

buuuump!!

[bojangles1987]

Maybe no one believes him.

Holyfield was the ballsiest fighter that fought in my lifetime, and one of the greatest.