bladeofsorrow

Bowe messed everything up really. Lewis fought Ruddock and Holyfield fought
Bowe. The winners were supposed to meet up and fight, but Bowe didn't want to.

So, Holyfield was left without a belt and that messed things up for Lennox
Lewis. Basically, everything happened and Holyfield eventually got to Lewis. He
never ducked anybody.

supercalo

holyfield waited till he thought Lewis was done, old and slow, only thing he
got wrong was that he was older and slower than Lewis

mike haught

In article <20030820220834.15843.00000280@mb-m12.aol.com>, Blade Of Sorrow
says...


Well, then you have to factor in Holyfield's recapturing the title from Bowe,
losing it to Moorer while Lewis was smacked flat in the meantime by McCall.

-mwh

boxmuham

There was a very small window for an earlier Holyfield-Lewis bout to
be made. Lewis basically "arrived" with his great win over Ruddock in '92.
Two weeks later, Holyfield lost to Bowe. Holy's goal was to regain the
championship, so his next year was focused on that, and he beat Bowe at the end
of '93.
In '94, Lennox was flattened by Oliver McCall and Holyfield lost a
very close split decision to Moorer. Both men lost a lot of championship
credibility that year. Suddenly, Holyfield was viewed as an "old" fighter past
his prime, the victim of too many wars, and Lennox had a ton of questions
surrounding his own abilities after the 2nd round, single shot KO loss.

Both men had to rebuild. '95 was a mixed year for both. Holyfield
beat Ray Mercer convincingly, but lost the rubber match to Bowe (after almost
KO'ing Rid**** himself before running out of steam). Lewis spent '95 beating
some third-tier heavyweights, like Justin Fortune and Lionel Butler, before a
good win over a shot Tommy Morrison.

'96 started roughly for Lewis, with his questionable win over Ray
Mercer in a surprisingly tough fight. '96 was much better to Holyfield, who
KO'd Mike Tyson then beat him again six months later before finishing '97 by
thrashing Moorer. At that point, Holyfield had beaten everyone he'd ever
faced.

It was a long road to '99 when they finally met. The "draw" with
Holyfield finally gave Lennox the credibility he'd probably deserved for years.
Their rematch showed that, at age 37, Holyfield, like most, was finally done.


That's a bit of history, but there's not really a short answer as to
why they didn't meet earlier. Each had other things to do, in terms of earning
championships, avenging losses, climbing back up the latter, etc.
Their rematch hints at what might have been if a 31 or 32 year old
Holyfield had been able to face a 28 or 29 year old Lewis. But at 29, Lennox
was flattened by McCall, and it would be many years before the opportunity for
their matchup again arrived.

BoxM

bubipoo

LEWIS HAD TROUBLE WITH AN OLD HOLY...
HOW THE HELL DO YOU SEE HIM BEATING A YOUNG HOLY...

phil

I think to say he had trouble with an old Holy is a bit unfair, I think he
beat him convincingly in the first fight, I think Lewis fought an
intelligent but cautious fight doing what he & probably most of us felt was
enough to win,
Unfortunately the judges were either crap or bottled out so it was scored a
draw.
Sometimes boxers who do just enough to win can get right up your noses as it
appears that they have no heart for a fight & it can turn people off them,
however, chin aside Lewis has proved he has heart it just depends which
Lewis turns up & who the opponent is as to what style he chooses to fight.
An extreme example of fighters who think too much & punch too little is
either Sven Ottke or Floyd Mayweather Junior, I often wonder why either of
these fighters bother to lace up a pair of gloves, they would be much better
off with a pair of running shoes!.

the sanity cruzer

That was because god tricked Holyfield before the first fight. God told
Holyfield he'd win by 3rd round KO. Suddenly following the 3rd round,
Holyfield was on his own fighting Lewis and wondering if someone else had
left the message on his answering machine about the 3rd round kayo and had
just said it was from god.

For the rematch, Holyfield had a new answering machine.

loki

It was an old Lewis as well, and he didn't have a problem beating
Holyfield.


Loki

supercalo

Holy had even MORE trouble with a old lewis, how the hel,l do you see him
beating a young lewis if he got beaten by a old lewis?

goodmanbrown3333

I would argue that LL really developed with age and got better with age. Many
heavyweights are like they, late bloomers so to speak. They get away with it
because they don't rely on speed as much as the little guys, and speed is the
first to go usually.

LL was a decent chamption when he was young but IMO he was better and more
seasoned when he fought Holyfield.
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