Johnny Nelson made no mistake in picking who he felt would have prevailed in a showdown between Oleksandr Usyk and Evander Holyfield.
Usyk wrote his name into heavyweight greatness last December, defeating Tyson Fury for the second time to retain his unified WBC, WBA and WBO titles and cement his place as the greatest heavyweight of his generation.
‘The Real Deal’ is also regarded as an all-time-great fighter, having held the undisputed championship at cruiserweight as well as heavyweight throughout his impressive career.
Holyfield also remains the only man in boxing history to become a world heavyweight champion on four separate occasions.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Nelson was quick to give his backing to ‘The Real Deal’ in a fantasy fight against Usyk, claiming it is an ‘easy’ decision to make.
“I can easily answer that. You look at a prime Evander Holyfield jumping up to heavyweight with a prime Oleksandr Usyk, I’d go for Holyfield.
Holyfield could be destructive, concussive and would figure everything out until the last second of every round.
It would have been an amazing fight but I would have sided with Evander Holyfield, because of his power, stamina and pace.”
Holyfield’s career spanned 27 years, defeating the likes of George Foreman, Michael Moorer and Mike Tyson along the way. He walked away from the sport in 2011 shortly after defeating Brian Nielsen in his 57th and final professional outing.
He had an exhibition contest in 2021 at 58-years-old, suffering a first round knockout defeat to MMA legend Vitor Belfort in Florida.
