BoxRec

Why did he struggle to gain the public's favour initially?

The man was a warrior but it wasn't until he fought and beat Tyson that he really got the respect he deserved. Holyfield was one of he greatest heavyweights of all time and is the greatest cruiserweight who ever fought, what was it? The shadow of Tyson? The public'a misconception of him? What about the heart diagnosis and alleged links to steroid use?

A lot if it had to do with tyson, maybe 90% of the reason why he didn't catch on. Also, no one really cares about the cruiserweight division except hardcore boxing fans.

When Holyfield finally looked vulnerable getting dropped by bowe, he earned everyone's respect ironically. He showed the heart of a lion. Up to that point he had a lot of naysayers due to the fact he moved up in weight and his best wins were over an old ass foreman, holmes, and an obese buster douglass. He was soft spoken, talked about God and had a perfect action figure physique but for some reason lacked knockout power. He was like a G.I Joe character with boxing gloves.

Then people started hating him again because of the steroid allegation and the fact he wouldn't freaking go away. He should have retired at least 8 years sooner than he did, giving us snooze fests against Ruiz and valuev.

Tyson had a lot to do with it, Lennox Lewis had a lot of that as well throughout a lot of his reign also, they were keeping the belts warm for when Tyson was back on song. I never thought at the time that Holyfield would have beaten Tyson, I was worried for Holyfields health if I remember rightly, I thought there was a good chance of Tyson killing him, or at least giving him irreversible brain damage.

Another thing with Holyfield is that he wasn't a one punch KO artist, though he had a physique that suggested he should have great KO power - well, to the uninitiated anyway, so personally - I think it is a combination of those two factors.

Cygnus475 wrote: He showed the heart of a lion. Up to that point he had a lot of naysayers due to the fact he moved up in weight and his best wins were over an old ass foreman, holmes, and an obese buster douglass.

This is a good point, people were disappointed that he couldn't KO Holmes and Foreman (at the time that is) he also let Vaughn Bean go the distance also - which isn't an impressive result, though he won that fight.

Great fighter but just wasnt as charasmatic as others and TBF to him he had no interest in being anything other than a champ

SNG wrote:
What about the heart diagnosis and alleged links to steroid use?

I don't know about the steroid use, the whole Evan Fields thing was odd but he's never been caught cheating so its all speculation. What I did find odd about this was he retired in 1994 due to health problems and looked finished after being stopped by Riddick Bowe in 1995. He then took 5 rounds to stop a past it Bobby Czyz who was a blown up LHW but when he fought Tyson he looked impervious to pain and like a new man. Considering he was 7lbs light than Tyson, a weight advantage Tyson rarely got, Tyson's punches seemed to bounce off him.

Controversial wrote:

SNG wrote:
What about the heart diagnosis and alleged links to steroid use?

I don't know about the steroid use, the whole Evan Fields thing was odd but he's never been caught cheating so its all speculation. What I did find odd about this was he retired in 1994 due to health problems and looked finished after being stopped by Riddick Bowe in 1995. He then took 5 rounds to stop a past it Bobby Czyz who was a blown up LHW but when he fought Tyson he looked impervious to pain and like a new man. Considering he was 7lbs light than Tyson, a weight advantage Tyson rarely got, Tyson's punches seemed to bounce off him.

He's my all time #2 fighter and he most certainly used PED's on the move up to Heavyweight. Of course, that was just to fight bigger guys on PED's. He always knew Mike was his bitch, so did I. He certainly didn't punch as hard, but he was always physically stronger than Tyson.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote: He's my all time #2 fighter and he most certainly used PED's on the move up to Heavyweight. Of course, that was just to fight bigger guys on PED's. He always knew Mike was his bitch, so did I. He certainly didn't punch as hard, but he was always physically stronger than Tyson.

Stronger because he used PED's?

Controversial wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote: He's my all time #2 fighter and he most certainly used PED's on the move up to Heavyweight. Of course, that was just to fight bigger guys on PED's. He always knew Mike was his bitch, so did I. He certainly didn't punch as hard, but he was always physically stronger than Tyson.

Stronger because he used PED's?

No, stronger because he was a stronger man.

Not that PED"s hurt, and I certainly won't assume Mike wasn't on them too. The main thing with them is that Holyfield was much smarter, much better footwork and a much better infighter. Mike's best range was midrange and Evander had him there too. Mike's only advantage at any point in their careers was power.

I knew of alot of people who liked him right from the start of his pro career. Now Virgil Hill was a guy who never seemed to get past being a local favorite only.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:
He's my all time #2 fighter and he most certainly used PED's on the move up to Heavyweight. Of course, that was just to fight bigger guys on PED's. He always knew Mike was his bitch, so did I. He certainly didn't punch as hard, but he was always physically stronger than Tyson.

As in the second best fighter who ever lived?

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

Controversial wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote: He's my all time #2 fighter and he most certainly used PED's on the move up to Heavyweight. Of course, that was just to fight bigger guys on PED's. He always knew Mike was his bitch, so did I. He certainly didn't punch as hard, but he was always physically stronger than Tyson.

Stronger because he used PED's?

No, stronger because he was a stronger man.

See that's where I struggle to believe it entirely, a blown up cruiserweight who was as physically strong as the much taller, younger and bigger Bowe and able to walk through Tyson's best punches does make me go hmmmm

davie wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:
He's my all time #2 fighter and he most certainly used PED's on the move up to Heavyweight. Of course, that was just to fight bigger guys on PED's. He always knew Mike was his bitch, so did I. He certainly didn't punch as hard, but he was always physically stronger than Tyson.

As in the second best fighter who ever lived?

no

Controversial wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

Controversial wrote:
Stronger because he used PED's?

No, stronger because he was a stronger man.

See that's where I struggle to believe it entirely, a blown up cruiserweight who was as physically strong as the much taller, younger and bigger Bowe and able to walk through Tyson's best punches does make me go hmmmm

He was freakishly strong to begin with. I never saw him stronger than Bowe, Mike was never a powerhouse in that regard, just tremendous punching power.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

Controversial wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:
No, stronger because he was a stronger man.

See that's where I struggle to believe it entirely, a blown up cruiserweight who was as physically strong as the much taller, younger and bigger Bowe and able to walk through Tyson's best punches does make me go hmmmm

Mike was never a powerhouse in that regard, just tremendous punching power.

I'm not so sure, Tyson was knocking out grown men when he was a teenager, even when he started boxing he was sparring with adults, that takes enormous strength, not just punch power. He was allegedly bench pressing silly weights as a young teenager also. He was a powerful fighter and built like a tank, not sure he lacked physical strength.

Controversial wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

Controversial wrote:
See that's where I struggle to believe it entirely, a blown up cruiserweight who was as physically strong as the much taller, younger and bigger Bowe and able to walk through Tyson's best punches does make me go hmmmm

Mike was never a powerhouse in that regard, just tremendous punching power.

I'm not so sure, Tyson was knocking out grown men when he was a teenager, even when he started boxing he was sparring with adults, that takes enormous strength, not just punch power. He was allegedly bench pressing silly weights as a young teenager also. He was a powerful fighter and built like a tank, not sure he lacked physical strength.

I never said he lacked physical strength, he just wasn't as strong as Holyfield. Magnified by the fact that Holyfield was a much better in-fighter. Bench pressing, Holy was repping 360 before he was a Heavyweight.

In the late 80's Holyfield hired a ballet instructor to help him stretch, as he'd become so rigid from the weight work

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

davie wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:
He's my all time #2 fighter and he most certainly used PED's on the move up to Heavyweight. Of course, that was just to fight bigger guys on PED's. He always knew Mike was his bitch, so did I. He certainly didn't punch as hard, but he was always physically stronger than Tyson.

As in the second best fighter who ever lived?

no

I didn't think so, it did read like that.

I thought to myself, this place will go into melt down if he seriously tries to argue that

Mike Tyson seems to get a pass on the steroids issue, just because he says he didn't do it. He's admitted to all sorts of performance inhibiting drugs but he didn't do anything to help his performance

Tomasino wrote:Mike Tyson seems to get a pass on the steroids issue, just because he says he didn't do it. He's admitted to all sorts of performance inhibiting drugs but he didn't do anything to help his performance

You really do try to convince yourself Tyson was shite don't you, maybe you should try and train harder and not feel so inadequate about yourself.

Rexob wrote:

Tomasino wrote:Mike Tyson seems to get a pass on the steroids issue, just because he says he didn't do it. He's admitted to all sorts of performance inhibiting drugs but he didn't do anything to help his performance

You really do try to convince yourself Tyson was shite don't you, maybe you should try and train harder and not feel so inadequate about yourself.

He wasn't shite you little moron. Why are you stalking me? I've had your little pansy arse on ignore for ages and yet you still stalk me day after day. Sad little wank stain.

Just stick to posting stuff about Kevin Mitchell's knob, that's the extent of your boxing knowledge you stupid little gimp.

Tomasino wrote:

Rexob wrote:

Tomasino wrote:Mike Tyson seems to get a pass on the steroids issue, just because he says he didn't do it. He's admitted to all sorts of performance inhibiting drugs but he didn't do anything to help his performance

You really do try to convince yourself Tyson was shite don't you, maybe you should try and train harder and not feel so inadequate about yourself.

He wasn't shite you little moron. Why are you stalking me? I've had your little pansy arse on ignore for ages and yet you still stalk me day after day. Sad little wank stain.

Just stick to posting stuff about Kevin Mitchell's knob, that's the extent of your boxing knowledge you stupid little gimp.

You seem to go on about gimps a lot as well, is it some sort of fetish you are into? each to there own I suppose.

Little pansy arse

Rexob wrote:

Tomasino wrote:

Rexob wrote:

You really do try to convince yourself Tyson was shite don't you, maybe you should try and train harder and not feel so inadequate about yourself.

He wasn't shite you little moron. Why are you stalking me? I've had your little pansy arse on ignore for ages and yet you still stalk me day after day. Sad little wank stain.

Just stick to posting stuff about Kevin Mitchell's knob, that's the extent of your boxing knowledge you stupid little gimp.

You seem to go on about gimps a lot as well, is it some sort of fetish you are into? each to there own I suppose.

Little pansy arse

Honestly what a sad little pecker you are. Tyson fan boys are always the same.

Evander was the Real deal! I remember Holyfield knocking Rodrigues stiff in brutal fashion, wish he had fought Tyson around 88/89 would have been a great fight at this time.