Evander Holyfield shared the ring with some of the biggest punchers of all time during his illustrious career.
‘The Real Deal’ will go down as one of best to ever lace up the gloves. He was the first man to become undisputed at cruiserweight and then at heavyweight, a feat only recently matched by Oleksandr Usyk.
During his 57 fight career he stepped in the ring against the likes of Lennox Lewis, Riddick Bowe, James Toney, Mike Tyson and George Foreman.
Foreman and Tyson are both regarded as two of the biggest hitters the sport has ever seen, but when asked by Fight Hype as to who packed the bigger punch, Holyfield was in no doubt that it was ‘Big George’.
“George Foreman. A lot harder, a lot bigger too though.”
In an ‘Best I Faced’ feature for Ring Magazine the 61-year-old also praised Foreman for having the best chin of anyone he ever faced.
“George Foreman had the best chin. I hit him and I hit him a lot of times, a lot of times, 17 punches one time! Lennox Lewis had a great chin. I went back and watched the fights and the people who knocked him out [did so] because he had a different mindset for them. He didn’t fight smart with them ‘cause he felt he could beat them. Everybody he pursued and thought that he could beat, they ended up knocking him out – that’s Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman. I came to respect him ‘cause I know in the last fight I buckled him a few times but he didn’t go.”
Holyfield beat Foreman by unanimous decision back in 1991 to retain his WBA, WBC, and IBF heavyweight titles.
