Holyfield/Tyson/Lewis/Bowe - How would you rate them...

Holyfield/Tyson/Lewis/Bowe.

How would you rate them...

1. Against each other in terms of careers? Which one would you rate first, second, third & fourth? Things to consider - who had the best resume? Who was most dominant? Who did best head to head among them?

2. In all-time heavy rankings. Which of them make the Top 10 all time? How do they rate against the other Top Heavies?

 

1. Lewis
2. Holyfield
3. Tyson
4. Bowe


TFK

 

Cosign.

 

A well though out answer to this could take a long time, so my first response is Bowe third and Holyfield fourth, in a round robin format, because I'm not sure, prime for prime, if Holyfield was better than any of them or could beat them heads up.

 

I don't think the list is meant as a head to head kind of ranking.

I'm with TFK, although there might be a case for interchanging Lewis and Holyfield.

 

Yep. I wasn't thinking of it as a head-to-head only thing. But that should be part of the equation. And only the head-to-head that actually happened, rather than introducing Mythical Matchup head-to-head.

 

That's a little biased against Tyson, given when his prime was and when he fought Holyfield and Lewis. He's really not from the era of Bowe and Lewis, and really not even with Holyfield. Tyson's prime was before any of them made their mark in the division.

 

fair is relative. holyfields prime was in a different division. head to head holyfield beat two of the three and nearly beat the third

 

It's not biased...it's rating figthers based on the facts only. It's too easy to say that "So-and-so would have beat so-and-so if the fight happened at this time". Are you one of those folks who believe Tyson's prime conveniently ended around the time of his first loss??

Tyson was still a young man and a good fighter at the time Holyfield became a heavy contender and when Holy won the title. And he held titles and was a major factor in the division after he was released from prison.

And to be fair...Tyson was a huge favorite over Holy going into their first fight. Hell...Tyson was criticized for waiting until Holy looked to be totally washed up before making that fight.

 

I put Lewis above Holyfield because Lewis never embarassed himself at the end of his career like Holyfield continues to do. We were asked to judge them by their careers, which means their entire careers, not just the highpoints.

Lewis beat every fighter he ever faced, and didn't tarnish his legacy by fighting too long like the other 3 have.

TFK

 

I thought the discussion was just about their careers heavyweights, since I wouldn't put any of them in the top 10 if we're not talking about that division.

Head to head, Lewis has wins over all three. ::

 

Holy
Tyson
Bowe
Lewis

In my eyes.. Lewis HAS to be at the bottom as he was one of the worst champs ever


Holy and Mike.. it's hard to say

Mike was the youngest EVER to become HW champ and totally dominated when he was very young. People forget that leading up to the spinks fight..most media thought Spinks was too good..

Holy was a cruiser so it's impressive that he came up and beat many top heavys.. his wars with Bowe were awesome plus he DOMINATED Tyson.. even though Tyson was done already.. still impressive

Bowe IMO had the most talent but the least drive and determination

Lewis.. although I never liked him.. have to admit he had the tools to be great but never really became great.. fought a lot of bums and looked bad doing so.. really LOST to old ass Ray mercer, plus got knocked out COLD by Rahman and mccall..

 

In a topic with Bowe and Lewis, and it's Lewis who fought a lot of bums?

Very balanced take.

 

That's how I have it.

 

::



I love you LOK.

 

Bowe fought some bums no doubt.. but he put them out in style for the most part

Lemmon with life and death with several bums (mohawk).. etc..

 

LOK's hate for Lewis is legendary...second only to Esk.::

 

bowe's career and potential greatness were ruined by the two H's. hunger and holyfield.

 

Bowe had more trouble with Herbie "I fell down 47 times" Hide and an aging Tony Tubbs then Lemmon did with Mohawk.

 

Well, he was a big fighter that was pretty well developed at fighting on the inside against smaller fighters...but he also got hit a lot with that style.

I thought the Holyfield rematch was very close, he could have well won all three fights (or at least not lost any of them), but I agree that the accumulated punishment he took in those fights really took their toll on him.

Holyfield was not only tremendous strong physically and mentally, but he also proved to be more adaptable, an under-rated reason why he was able to last as long as he did. The difference between the fighter he was when he first moved up and where he finished (as a champion) aren't nearly the same versions.

 

You mix and match them various ways. No matter how you do it Bowe has to be last though.

 

seems about right to me.

 

Yep

 

Lewis
Holyfield
Tyson





















Bowe.

 

Yeah-More to the point.

 

Holyfield
Lewis
Tyson
Bowe

 

Just had to be different, didn't you?

 

yes....

 

Next you're going to get tattoos and nipple piercings. :nono:

 

:nono:

‘If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.’ -The pimp of the Bulge..