Question: What exactly was wrong with Evander Holyfield?

[Weltschmerz]

Holyfield is a clear cut all-time-great; probably the OP is largely ignorant in terms of Holyfield's actual accomplishments, some of which came at cruiserweight early in his career in the 80's. Other than that, I would highlight the Lennox Lewis fights at heavy which were controversial decisions in the eyes of many and also displayed Evander's class as an elite. And let's not forget the Valuev robbery? Holyfield was in his mid forties at the time and should rightly have added more history to his legacy.

[DinoCop]

Had he a loud mouth, he w'd be greater.

[Motorcity Cobra]

Heart is something your born with,you either have it or you don't. Being on steroids didn't give Evanderthay grit and determination he alway fought with. On roids not on roids Holyfield always fought his heart out

But he wouldn't have been as successful. PED's won't make you go in there and knock everybody out. But it will help you recover faster in order to train longer and harder which leads to that extra edge in the ring.

[Combat Talk Radio]

Heart is something your born with,you either have it or you don't. Being on steroids didn't give Evanderthay grit and determination he alway fought with. On roids not on roids Holyfield always fought his heart out

I'm fairly certain he was referring to the hole in Holyfield's heart - PHYSICAL heart damage, which Holyfield was hospitalized for.

Holyfield was kind of a tweener, he was more suited for CW than HW. It's alleged that steroids helped him bridge the gap at HW but he was still somewhat undersized. I think he earned a lot of respect because of his heart and determination. When Holyfield stepped into the ring you knew leather would be flying.......

This makes sense if he was suited for cruiser, but I don't even think that's it. The competition level at cruiser was a joke really. Anyone can look good against lesser competition, like I said. Look at Hamed, Wilder, GGG...

I much prefer Holyfield's HW run, I'm just saying that it felt like something happened mentally to him after he met Bowe and I'm trying to figure what that was. There was a clear decline in his abilities from that first fight onward. Why? Is that when he stopped juicing?


Point of comparison: Tommy Hearns. Hearns did not show decline to me. He lost key fights but he won other key fights people thought he might lose (Duran, Cuevas, Hill). He was KO'ing fighters up till he hung em up, and I'm sure he's in a select class of few that has more KO wins than decisions. He always showed up even when he changed style.

[Jsmooth9876]

Holyfield was a great fighter. A small heavyweight fighting Giants and giving them hell.... He was also a juicer, that's pretty well know now i would think. Package for Mr Evan Fields....

[sterling]

Heart is something your born with,you either have it or you don't. Being on steroids didn't give Evanderthay grit and determination he alway fought with. On roids not on roids Holyfield always fought his heart out

That is so true.

[nacho daddy]

I don't get it when people talk like that. Have you ever been at a boxing gym, watched sparring (or been in the ring) and think, "Damn, that guy is really good!"
Then you realize that really talented individual isn't even good enough to ever even train with a title contender, let alone fight one.

It's a loooong road to fight top guys in an era like Evander was in. The fact that he could hang with some of the best heavies in history is what makes him great. This idea that the most dominant champ of an era is the only one who can be called great is nonsense.

holyfield was juiced out of his mind a cyborg and almost died from a heart condition caused by the PEDs. he is worshipped and povetkin is the worst villan in boxing for a billionth of an mg of a legal until a few months ago substance

[BKM-]

I'm just saying that it felt like something happened mentally to him after he met Bowe and I'm trying to figure what that was. There was a clear decline in his abilities from that first fight onward. Why?

You are way too confused about obvious things. Holyfield took an epic amount of damage from a much larger man that night, and it just so happened to be a fight where he lost the most prestigious title of his career. Add all of that up and most fighters would be finished after that. He was not, he had a dip in performances and declined physically afterwards but eventually made a highly succesful comeback. The fact that he was able to do that is one of the reasons he's considered one of the greatest heavyweights.

You are even wrong about Bowe 1 being his last peak performance too. He won the rematch, remember. That may have actually been his most technical and impressive HW performance.

As for the whole PED's nonsense, everybody did it. Lets get over it and stop being naive. Did Evan do it more than others? Probably. We'll never know, these guys take that info to the grave with them. I think Tyson would rather admit raping Washington than admit taking roids in his comeback.

[Combat Talk Radio]

You are way too confused about obvious things. Holyfield took an epic amount of damage from a much larger man that night, and it just so happened to be a fight where he lost the most prestigious title of his career. Add all of that up and most fighters would be finished after that. He was not, he had a dip in performances and declined physically afterwards but eventually made a highly succesful comeback. The fact that he was able to do that is one of the reasons he's considered one of the greatest heavyweights.

You are even wrong about Bowe 1 being his last peak performance too. He won the rematch, remember. That may have actually been his most technical and impressive HW performance.

Dude come on. He BARELY got out of there with the belts and that certainly was not his best performance.

The main swing round was skewed because of the parachute dude. Prior to that Bowe was bombing on "Real Deal" and likely would have won the fight on SD - which is why Bowe stopped him in the third fight.

Holyfield/Douglas was easily the best of Holyfield IMO. Yes, Douglas was effectively a journeyman, but from a style perspective, that's the Holyfield I expected to see in every fight and didn't. That's my point.

It's like Grabomir/Fury. I saw Grabomir literally take Hasim Rahman to school and domesticate David Haye, yet he "chose not to throw punches" against an out of shape Tyson Fury and basically turned Povetkin into a pillow for a nap? Why?

[nacho daddy]

You are way too confused about obvious things. Holyfield took an epic amount of damage from a much larger man that night, and it just so happened to be a fight where he lost the most prestigious title of his career. Add all of that up and most fighters would be finished after that. He was not, he had a dip in performances and declined physically afterwards but eventually made a highly succesful comeback. The fact that he was able to do that is one of the reasons he's considered one of the greatest heavyweights.

You are even wrong about Bowe 1 being his last peak performance too. He won the rematch, remember. That may have actually been his most technical and impressive HW performance.

As for the whole PED's nonsense, everybody did it. Lets get over it and stop being naive. Did Evan do it more than others? Probably. We'll never know, these guys take that info to the grave with them. I think Tyson would rather admit raping Washington than admit taking roids in his comeback.

PED nonsense then why did wilder not fight povetkin? holyfield did so much HGH his forehead looked like a cro magnum caveman and he used it as a battering ram