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Sometimes its just too
comprehensive to go into too
much detail about a fighters
career. This is the case with
one of the best of all time, the
legendary former World Boxing
Federation (WBF) World
Heavyweight Champion Evander
Holyfield.
But the career of “The Real
Deal” is so amazing, that even
when going through the
high-lights only, it is more
than enough volume for the next
edition of our “Champions Of
The Past”.
The youngest of nine children,
Holyfield was born on October
19, 1962 in Atmore, Alabama. His
family later moved to Atlanta,
Georgia, where Evander was
raised in a crime-ridden Housing
project and started boxing at
the age of seven.
As an amateur he compiled a
record of 160-14 (75), and won
bronze in the 1984 Olympics in
Los Angeles after losing by
controversial disqualification
to New Zealand´s Kevin Barry in
the semi finals. Following that
disappointment, he decided it
was time to turn professional.
Holyfield signed a deal with
promotional firm Main Events,
along with other amateur
stand-outs and Olympic
team-mates Mark Breland,
Meldrick Taylor, Virgil Hill,
Pernell Whitaker and Tyrell
Biggs, and they all made their
pro debuts on November 15, 1984
at Madison Square Garden in New
York.
Fighting at Light Heavyweight,
Holyfield scored a six-round
decision over Lionel Byram
(9-1-2), and a year later he was
7-0 (4) with victories over the
likes of Mark Rivera (12-1),
Tyrone Booze (10-3-2), who would
go on to win the WBO World
Cruiserweight title in 1992, and
Jeff Meachem (6-1).
By December of 1985 he had
developed into a Cruiserweight,
and beating Anthony Davis
(17-3), Chisanda Mutti (23-5-2),
Jesse Shelby (12-2-1) and Terry
Mims (13-12) set him up to
challenge WBA World Champion
Dwight Muhammad Qawi (26-2-1) in
only his twelfth paid outing on
July 12, 1986 in Atlanta.
Many felt that the hard-nosed
Qawi, with the experience of
eight previous world
championship fights, would be
too big a task for Holyfield,
but after one of the best
Cruiserweight battles in the
divisions history, the home-town
hero was declared the winner by
split decision.
Holyfield defended the WBA title
against Henry Tillman (14-1)
before adding the IBF world
crown with a third-round
stoppage of
Ricky Parkey (20-4)
in May of 1997. Parkey would go
on to win the WBF World
Cruiserweight title three years
later.
Title defenses against Ossie
Ocasio (21-4-1) and Qawi in a
rematch followed. Ocasio was
stopped in eleven rounds, and
Qawi didn't pose quite as many
problems as he did in their
first fight, as he was dropped
twice and stopped in round four.
On April 9, 1988 in Las Vegas,
Holyfield also won the WBC world
title in a unification fight
against Carlos De Leon (44-4),
stopping the Puero Rican in
eight. This turned out to be his
last fight at Cruiserweight, as
he made his Heavyweight debut
against James Tillis (38-13-1)
three months later, winning by
TKO 5.
Former Heavyweight World
Champions Pinklon Thomas
(29-2-1) and Michael Dokes
(37-1-2), and contenders Adilson
Rodrigues (35-2), Alex Stewart
(24-0) and Seamus McDonagh
(19-1-1) were the next victims,
leading Holyfield to a shot at
WBC, WBA and IBF World Champion
James “Buster” Douglas.
Douglas (29-4-1) had famously
defeated Mike Tyson in Tokyo in
February of 1990 to become
champion, the biggest upset in
Heavyweight history, but when he
made his first defense the
following October in Las Vegas,
he was destroyed in three rounds
by Holyfield.
George Foreman (69-2),
Bert Cooper (26-7),
also a future WBF World
Champion, and Larry Holmes
(54-3) all failed to dethrone
Holyfield, before Riddick Bowe
(31-0) did the job on November
13, 1992 in a Heavyweight
classic in front of 18.000
spectators at the Thomas & Mack
Centre in Las Vegas.
They re-matched a year later at
Caesars Palace, and Holyfield
got his revenge after another
great fight, winning by scores
of 115-113, 115-114 and 114-114.
This was the fight with the
infamous Fan-Man incident, where
a man flew into the outdoor
arena on a motorized
para-glider, crashing into the
ring ropes.
Holyfield was on the wrong end
of another majority decision, at
the same venue on April 22,
1994, when Michael Moorer (34-0)
ended his second reign. In May
of 1995 he returned with a win
over Ray Mercer (23-2-1), before
a rubber-match against Bowe was
signed for the following
November.
Bowe had won the WBO World title
since their last encounter, but
that belt was not on the line
and, besides a guarantee of $8
million each, they only fought
for pride and glory. Holyfield
scored a knock-down in round
six, but Bowe came back strong
to drop him twice and win by
stoppage in round eight.
At this point there were already
plenty of fans and experts
claiming that Holyfield was
done, so when he looked very
lackluster in a fifth round
victory over Bobby Czyz (44-6)
six months later, it didnt bode
well for his chances against WBA
ruler Mike Tyson (45-1) on
November 9, 1996.
But Holyfield shocked everyone,
except for himself and his own
team, when he stopped Tyson in
eleven rounds to become only the
second fighter in history, after
Muhammad Ali, to become a
three-time world heavyweight
champion.
The rematch, as every sports fan
will know, was even more
shocking as Tyson was
disqualified in the third round
for repeatedly biting
Holyfield´s ear.
On November 8, 1997 Holyfield
added the IBF title by stopping
Michael Moorer (now 39-1) in a
rematch. Moorer, who had picked
up the vacant IBF strap after
losing the unified titles in a
massive surprise against George
Foreman, was knocked down five
times before retiring after the
seventh round.
In a September 1998 homecoming
title-defense in Atlanta, Vaughn
Bean (31-1) couldn't prevent a
unification fight against WBC
champion Lennox Lewis (34-1), as
Holyfield cruised to a wide
unanimous decision to set up the
mega-fight against the Brit.
Holyfield and Lewis fought to a
draw on March 13, 1999, and kept
their respective titles, but
Lewis won the rematch (W12)
exactly eight months later.
Holyfield later regained the WBA
title, vacated by Lewis, when he
defeated John Ruiz (36-3) to
become the first four-time world
Heavyweight champion in history.
From that point on it became
very much an up-and-down ride
for Holyfield. At the age of 38
he lost a rematch to Ruiz (L12),
and drew in their third fight.
Then he beat former world
champion Hasim Rahman (35-3),
who had won and lost against
Lewis, putting him right back in
the picture for another crack.
However, he came up short
against Chris Byrd (35-2) for
the vacant IBF world title, and
when James Toney (66-4-2)
stopped him in nine one-sided
rounds and Larry Donald (41-3-2)
easily out-pointed him, most
were certain that Holyfield was
done as a major force.
But, stubborn as they come,
Holyfield went back to the
drawing board. He took care of
some injuries he felt were to
blame for his poor showings
against especially Toney and
Donald, and started yet another
comeback in the summer of 2006.
First Jeremy Bates (21-11-1) was
halted in two rounds, then Fres
Oquendo (26-3) was outpointed,
before he got rid of Vinnie
Maddalone (27-3) inside three
rounds and Lou Savarese (46-6)
survived the ten-round distance
but lost clearly on points after
being floored twice.
Those four wins put Holyfield in
line for a shot at WBO World
Champion Sultan Ibragimov
(21-0-1) on October 13, 2007 in
Moscow, Russia. While he lost a
unanimous decision, he did well
enough to be
chosen for yet another
chance at the WBA title fourteen
months later against another
Russian, Nicolay Valuev (49-1).
The tallest (2 m.13 cm.) and
heaviest (almost 150 Kg.) world
champion in history, Valuev was
a big favorite against the much
smaller legend (189 cm., less
than 100 kg.). Valuev did get
the victory by the narrowest of
margins (114-114, 115-114,
116-112), but most observers
felt Holyfield was robbed of the
victory.
Almost pulling off the miracle
against Valuev would in itself
have been a fine ending to a
magnificent career, but no one
could tell Evander Holyfield to
forget his dream of becoming a
world heavyweight champion for
the fifth time.
It would be over a year, but the
opportunity finally came when he
was matched against fellow
former world champion Francois
Botha (47-4-3) for the vacant
WBF World title on April 10,
2010 at the Thomas & Mack
Centre, the same venue where he
fought Lewis, Moorer and Bowe in
the past.
47 years old at the time,
Holyfield became the oldest
Heavyweight World Champion in
history when he, after a closely
fought contest, caught up with
Botha in round eight, knocking
the South African down with a
right hand before forcing the
stoppage.
On January 22, 2011 Holyfield
retained the WBF World title
when a fight against Sherman
Williams (34-11-2) was ruled a
No-Contest in round three, due
to the champion´s left eye being
cut as a result of an accidental
clash of heads in the second
round.
Less than four months later
Holyfield traveled to Denmark,
where he stopped local
icon
Brian Nielsen (64-2) in the
tenth. The WBF title was not on
the line, as Nielsen had not
boxed in over nine years, and it
turned out to be Holyfield´s
last fight. However,
he didn't officially announce
his retirement until June of
2014.
After 27 years as a
professional, compiling a record
of 44-10-2 (29), world titles at
Cruiserweight and Heavyweight,
taking part in 27 World
Championship fights, Evander
Holyfield keeps himself busy
these days promoting shows via
his The Real Deal Boxing
promotional company.
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