What Makes Holyfield an ATG?

[Richard Hamilton]

His resume is incredible

[PRINCEKOOL]

Mike Tyson was 29 years of age, and fair play he was not at his peak 'But he was still in better condition than most heavyweights today' He was still doing things inside of the ring 'That where abnormal'.

Evander Holyfield's win against Mike Tyson is the best heavyweight win, of the past 30 years.

Evander Holyfield was the complete fighter, there was nothing inside of the ring he could not do 'Even in most of his loses he gained credit'. At 37/38 years of age he pushed Lennox Lewis in the rematch, after taking a sustained beating in the first fight 'And Lennox Lewis would bulldoze all of the top guys today'.

[W1LL]

"Why is Holyfield ATG?!"

[whollisboxing]

I'm struggling to see why people continue to mention Holyfield as an ATG when his resume isn't all that impressive. In all of his biggest fights, he either lost or looked unimpressive. His best opponents were whooping on him (Bowe and Lewis)

Barely beats 42 year old George Foreman
Barely beats 42 year old Larry Holmes
Loses twice to Rid**** Bowe
Loses to Michael Moorer
Beat a washed up post-prison Tyson
Loses to Lennox Lewis. Shoulda also lost the 1st matchup
Loses to John Ruiz
Loses to Chris Byrd

I see a lot of holes in his resume. He has one questionable win over Bowe, 2 wins over old greats, and 2 wins over post-prison Tyson. Decent resume, but that doesn't mean he should be discussed as a top 5 heavyweight.

I think it's important to provide context:

Barely beats 42 year old George Foreman

He won by unanimous decision with scores of 117-110, 115-112 and 116-111. The fight was way more competitive than expected but that doesn't mean Holyfield barely won. Also, Foreman went on to win the heavyweight title three years AFTER this fight so if anything that makes this win better


Barely beats 42 year old Larry Holmes

Again, he won by unanimous decision (117-111, 116-112, and 116-112). Like Foreman, Holmes performed way better than expected but Holyfield was the clear winner. He didn't barely win this fight either

Loses twice to Rid**** Bowe

You conveniently forgot to mention that Holyfield won the second fight of their trilogy and that he was giving up 30 lbs in each matchup as a former cruiserweight facing one of the great super size heavyweights of his era.


Loses to Michael Moorer

So he lost a majority decision. It's not like he was blown out.


Beat a washed up post-prison Tyson

Neither guy was at their absolute peak when they fought so it is what it is. We got the fight a few years late and Evander won. We move on.

Loses to Lennox Lewis. Shoulda also lost the 1st matchup

If you say that Holyfield beat a post-prime Tyson then it's also fair to say that Lennox Lewis beat a post-prime Holyfield. I agree that Evander should have lost both fights but Lewis was in his prime and Holyfield wasn't. Still a great win for Lennox though because Holyfield was still very good.


Loses to John Ruiz

He had a win, a loss and a draw against Ruiz and Ruiz was 10 years younger. Also, Evander was old at this point, let's be honest

Loses to Chris Byrd

See above. I'm sure that even Chris Byrd would admit that beating a 40-year old Holyfield isn't the same as beating a 30 or even 35-year old Holyfield

[Luilun]

You’re aware he was a Cruiser Weight that moved up to beat some great Heavyweights

[JakeTheBoxer]

He is the only heavyweight from 90s that fought all the best guys.

[Roadblock]

You’re aware he was a Cruiser Weight that moved up to beat some great Heavyweights

Try LH World Champion , the great Bob Foster failed going from LH to HW, in the day very few LHs were able to compete at HW let alone win the HW title 4 times.

If a guy doesnt understand what Evander has achieved he is newbie to boxing.

[skybox222]

Mike Tyson was 29 years of age, and fair play he was not at his peak 'But he was still in better condition than most heavyweights today' He was still doing things inside of the ring 'That where abnormal'.

Evander Holyfield's win against Mike Tyson is the best heavyweight win, of the past 30 years.

Evander Holyfield was the complete fighter, there was nothing inside of the ring he could not do 'Even in most of his loses he gained credit'. At 37/38 years of age he pushed Lennox Lewis in the rematch, after taking a sustained beating in the first fight 'And Lennox Lewis would bulldoze all of the top guys today'.

Tyson was still an extremely dangerous fighter at the time.

Excellent win for Holyfield.

[QueensburyRules]

Holyfield is probably the best overall fighter boxing’s ever seen with the fewest holes in his game and can use every punch with near perfect speed combined with power which got him some knockouts using great timing and technique .

He lost some fights and some were to guys who severely outsized him like a Rid**** Bowe but he’s a real CW ,probably the best guy under 200 pounds at one point .


Holyfield’s problem is he bounced around with trainers to much he defeated Bowe with Manny Steward then let him go which was a huge mistake or multiple reasons,one was Manny trained Lewis to make it that much harder for,Holyfield to win those fights .

- -Usyk been trumping him for awhile.

[Kagami Taiga]

Hes probably the greatest light heavyweight of all time. Are you serious?