LA PRESSE AMERICAINE DANS SON ENSEMBLE NE CROIT PAS TROP AUX CHANCES DE SON COMPATRIOTE CE SOIR...
...mais prend beaucoup d'egards et parle d'Evander avec affection. A browser les differents sites americains, il est interessant de voir comment les journalistes sportifs sont partagés... entre une indefectible admiration et une realité a priori crue.
Sans vraiment y croire, et laissant trainer par ci et par la leurs plumes pour assurer demain un "je vous l'avais bien dit", on sent qu'ils se disent aussi et tout bas "est ce que l'improbable peut arriver?"... Reponse ce soir.
Whilst Holyfield continues his seemingly never ending fight against old
father time; tonight he must also contend with the WBO Champion, Sultan
Ibragimov. The champion, undefeated, toppled Shannon Briggs off his
perch and in doing so added to his reputation as perhaps the sleeper of
the division.
For Holyfield, this is a step up in class, compared with the journeymen
he has been tackling in his most recent comeback. Whilst Holyfield may
be fooling himself into think he is getting back into his old grove;
many remain unconvinced. In his last outing he beat, once fringe
contender, Lou Savarese. The bout, whilst entertaining, did not really
demonstrate that Holyfield could get himself back into the world title
picture..
In spurts Holyfield put his punches together well and looked
aggressive; however, these factors are countered by his inability to
sustain the attacks and furthermore on more than one occasion Holyfield
got rocked by uppercuts (by a relatively slow handed opponent).
It is an awkward situation, whilst you have to admire Holyfields
courage and persistence, there comes a point surely when one would hope
Evander would take a long hard look in the mirror and say ‘You know
what, perhaps I don’t need this anymore’.
A remember reading through one of my old boxing magazines a few months
back and I read through the fight report of Holyfield versus Cooper. I
am sure you remember the outcome, Holyfield winning (TKO 7), but even
back then in 1991 there were suggestions that Holyfield was past his
best. Holyfield has of course subsequently laughed in the face of his
critic’s time again; beating Bowe and Tyson, blitzing Moorer in their
rematch and extending Lennox Lewis.
For every good showing though, there have been plenty of under par
outings; the laboured efforts against Ruiz, Czyz and in particularly
the trouncing by Toney.
Look I do not mean to pour cold water on the last few embers of
Holyfields fistic legacy; he is after all one of my favourite
contemporary fighters. For the first battled against Bowe alone
Holyfield should waltz into the Hall of Fame; what an epic fight that
was! Tonight Holyfield has two or three goals in mind; these being to become
the second oldest heavyweight champion in history, to become a world
champion for a fifth time and also this being the first major step
towards once again becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion. Now if
we take a quick trip to reality…in Ibragimov he faces a far younger,
fresher opponent and also one with a 80% KO ratio.
I suggest that if Holyfield makes it past rounds 9 or 10, he might just
be able to claim morale victory; but very little else. The biggest
question remains; will Holyfield finally be able to accept that it is
time to move on? Source_eastsideboxing.com_13.10.07