The Warrior who came to fight but could not
NEW YORK, N.Y. (InsideBoxing) In a much anticipated war between Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis, fans were treated instead to a boring, lack of ambition fight.
In round one Lewis immediately set the tempo and style of this bout. An uncharacteristic Lewis came out aggressively in pursuit of Holyfield, establishing a strong jab and intimidating the Warrior Holyfield. Not only did Lewis win the first round but gained respect and made Holyfield's game plan null and void. Holyfield would spend the rest of the fight trying to figure out how to get inside of Lewis' reach and make Lewis brawl. The closest Holyfield came to altering Lewis winning style was in the third round, the one Holyfield predicted a knock out, in this round Holyfield launched an all out power punching effort. Unfortunately, Lewis would not bite and would not allow himself to be suckered into an exchange of power shots. Instead he held Holyfield at bay by using his reach and keeping him far enough to where his punches could not reach and land effectivley. On occasions, when Holyfield would manage to get inside, Lewis would clinch and not allow Holyfield to punch. So give Holyfield the third round for effort. I would be hard pressed to say I could give Holyfield any other round. Maybe in the later rounds when Lewis started to show signs of tiring you could make a case for Holyfield, so give Holyfield the tenth and eleventh rounds.
Bottom line is Holyfield was unable to to penetrate Lewis' simple offense of using his reach to keep the smaller guy away. Holyfield made no effort to change his style (or doesn't know how to) of bouncing and reaching with punches, so why would Lewis even think about changing his offense. Lewis never really even tried to knock out Holyfield, he knew this may leave him vulnerable for the "mississippi" punch. And why would he? His simple and basic offense was out pointing Holyfield 3 to 1.
The decision of a Draw by the judges was asinine and although an immediate shock to Lewis, you can bet in aftermath, Lewis understands this is an opportunity to line his pockets with additional millions of US Dollars. After all, beating Holyfield so convincingly, it would have been hard to have the public buy into a rematch.
Holyfield has nothing to apologize for or be ashamed of, he still a great fighter and will beat any fighter his size or smaller than he. He does however, need to except the fact that he has trouble with bigger and taller fighters. His style of fighting (slow and power) will not allow him to penetrate the reach of a taller fighter. This lack of ability is what will keep him out of the ranks of one Muhammad Ali, a rank, Holyfield would like the public to put him in.