Evander Holyfield‘s name will forever be held in the highest regard in boxing circles having faced some of the sport’s biggest names.
Holyfield achieved the rare feat of being an undisputed cruiserweight champion who then managed to move up to heavyweight and despite being a naturally smaller man, became undisputed in the heavyweight division, all having also picked up an Olympic bronze medal before turning professional.
His up-and-down career at heavyweight included wins over Buster Douglas, Hasim Rahman, Ray Mercer, and Riddick Bowe, whilst he suffered losses to the likes of Michael Moorer, Bowe and Lennox Lewis.
Of course, there were also two infamous fights with Tyson, the first of which he won by stoppage in the 11th, and the second which saw Tyson disqualified for biting a chunk out of Holyfield’s ear.
Speaking to The Ring Magazine for their ‘The Best I Faced’ feature, ‘The Real Deal’ was asked to name the best overall opponent he ever faced, and he went with the one-time undisputed former heavyweight champion, Bowe.
“I would say Bowe. I had three fights with Bowe. He was very competitive, he was always going to be in shape when he fought me. Then… I would say Qawi.”
It took more than a quarter of a century for anyone to match Holyfield’s two-weight exploits when Oleksandr Usyk became undisputed heavyweight champion in May having also done so down at cruiserweight back in 2018.
