Or whatever 'peak' versions you choose. Holyfield would probably outwork him. Holy was borderline shot when they fought with diminished balance and reflexes making him slow on the trigger & reducing his pace, allot. In spurts where he sustained the type of energy and activity level he showed at his peak he seemed able to put Lewis in a shell. A higher paced, quicker Holy certainly have forced Lewis to really fight & we'd have seen much more violent exchanges. I think the chances of a Lewis KO become much higher, out of necessity on his part, but I think by far most likely outcome - Holyfield UD 12
Let me end this abortion right here. No version of the bastardmaker ever beats any version of Lennox Lewis. IF THEY REMATCH in 2026 , Lewis wins. Lewis always wins.
Holy opening up more in his prime also increases the chance of him getting KO'd. I hated Lummox, but making Lummox come out of his boxing shell and open up is actually terrible for the OPPONENT. Unless its Tyson, cause it wouldn't be wise for Lummox to exchange with a prime Mike. Same with a prime Foreman. But in the case of Holy and Bowe, forcing Lewis to open up more would have backfired for them. In the case of Bowe, it would have gotten him KTFO.
I stand by my original post. Prime Holy would beat Lewis. Brahman will have inhaled and exhaled many universes before Wlad Klitschko could have beaten a prime Holyfield.
Prime Holyfield did not have the power of the later version, he was easier to hit, he had stamina problem and had a habit of making fights difficult for himself. Holyfield was always exciting, he had heart, he always trained well but he was never as effective nor as reliable a performer as people like to remember. Because of these weaknesses prime Holy fought very evenly with old Dokes, he lost 3-4 rounds against both Foreman and Holmes, he was very close of losing to Cooper, he was soundly beaten by Bowe, defeated him very narrowly in rematch and lost to Moorer who apart from that fight never really impressed as a heavyweight. I don't know which fights of 'activity' you refer to: in all his fights that went over six rounds he fought in spurts, apart from Bowe I where he fought with higher energy and much because of that got soundly beat up. Holyfield is one of those guys who looks good in highlight reels, is easy to respect for surprising everyone many times and fought back when the title heavyweight champion actually meant something, but for these reasons he is easy to overrate too. Back when Holyfield was the champ for the first time he wasn't very highly regarded: winning decisions over old men and losing the first time he met his top contender didn't impress everybody. I think Holyfield was in his prime in 96-97 (against Mercer and Tyson) when he still had quickness but his power had clearly improved from his first reign. ' Even then, I don't think he would beat Lewis. He would try harder, but that would also cause him getting hit more by hard punches
Holyfield was already quite allot slower & with poorer balance by the time he fought Tyson. Against Mike it didn't matter much because 90% of what he did was wait for Mike to attack then throw one punch and clinch. He'd slowed even more 2 years later. He was 37 years old, remember. Holyfield was always a spurt fighter, perhaps, but there were more spurts when he was 29 rather than 37 and, more importantly, those spurts were quicker on the trigger, more accurate and far more dangerous. Many that Lewis were able to evade would get through and that changes the entire complexion.
Quicker? yes, more accurate? yes, more dangerous? - I don't know. I think Holyfield became much better puncher through the years as he grew in size (he was only 208 lbs against Douglas) and also because he planted his feet more. He landed plenty on Moorer but was not able to seriously trouble him (apart from the KD), his punches didn't have that much effect on Bowe etc., while in 95-96 he dropped Bowe, Mercer and Tyson and turned the Moorer rematch around with his punching power. Holyfield's style changed between 91 and 96 and since styles make fights, I think he was better against some opponents in '91 while in other cases his style in '96 worked better, so you can't say that he was better in all aspects at one time. Against Lewis, I think he needed the strength to be able to take heavy shots, he needed the experience and the one-punch threat - it just wasn't quite enough
I don't see any evidence that his power increased. Foreman and Holmes were the only 2 of 10 to go the distance with him prior to Bowe. The two fights bookending the Lewis fights were 12 round dirges against Bean & Ruiz. Those two would have been blasted out
Anyway, the power debate is moot when you can't land solid shots because your timing, trigger/reflexes & speed are shot. You gotta land punches first then worry about how hard you punch. He barely did in 1999; he definitely would, aged 29.
Lewis always beats Holyfield. I agree with Ugo as well that I'd favour the Klitschkos over him too, although he has a big chance of getting to Wlad late
