A Boxing Memory: Evander Holyfield

A Boxing Memory: Evander Holyfield

Evander Holyfield was a few weeks shy from turning 59 when Vitor Belfort dismantled the remains of the former four-time heavyweight champion of the world in less than a minute of a farcical and dangerous exhibition back in 2021. It was a night that was beyond strange, Holyfield and Belfort had a combined age of 102, Donald Trump was on commentary duties, David Haye danced with his mate, which had shades of loitering with no intent. A shameful night, which, if any good, can be grasped from the shambles it did manage to kill off the seniors’ tour that Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. had started the year before.

Boxing history is littered with fighters who refuse to accept reality. Many carry on and suffer dire consequences as a result. Holyfield is another fighter who carried on long past the point of no return.

There were many times the final bell should have chimed for Holyfield. He was 41 when James Toney became the second fighter to beat him inside the distance in 2003. There were no excuses, only that father time had claimed another victim. But Holyfield found excuses, his trainer Don Turner saved him that night, he told Holyfield the truth and was fired from his role for his brutal honesty. Holyfield carried on with little reward, he should have retired many years ago, even the Toney debacle was avoidable and regrettable.

Admittedly, Holyfield did have one good night where she should have had a greater reward. In 2003, when he was 46, Holyfield went to Switzerland to challenge Nikolai Valuev for his WBA heavyweight title. He lost narrowly on the cards, and he was more than unlucky that night. Holyfield fought three more times after his near miss against Valuev and managed a couple of wins and a no-contest before finally hanging up his gloves after the 2011 win over Brian Nielsen. Although reports of another return were never far away, he was still chasing another shot at heavyweight gold and when he was 51, Holyfield was rumoured to be fighting the then-unbeaten Scottish heavyweight Gary Cornish. Thankfully, we were spared that at least.

Holyfield at the peak of his powers was akin to the ultimate warrior, a fighter with seemingly never-ending recuperate powers.

The bronze medal he won at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles should have been more, but he wasted little time in putting that disqualification loss to Kevin Barry behind him when he turned pro with Main Events and Lou Duva. Holyfield won his first world title when he beat Dwight Muhammad Qawi for the WBA cruiserweight title in 1986 in a 15-round that took Holyfield to the brink.

“That fight was so tough that even after I’d won, I thought I wasn’t gonna fight anymore,” Holyfield was quoted as saying in an interview for The Ring Magazine. He would go to the well many more times in his career.

Wins over Rickey Parker and Carlos De Leon added the IBF and WBC baubles to Holyfield’s collection and his business at cruiserweight was done. The move up the heavyweight began with routine wins over the faded James Tillis and Pinklon Thomas before a more meaningful win over an inspired Michael Dokes in 1989. Dokes was perhaps never better that night. Make no mistake, the former heavyweight champion pushed Holyfield hard on his last great effort inside a boxing ring. Holyfield marched on and was within touching distance of a fight with Mike Tyson, but that potential fight was lost when James ‘Buster’ Douglas did the unthinkable in Tokyo in 1990, Holyfield then had to settle for a fight with his Tyson’s conqueror.

Douglas was a reborn fighter against Tyson, but in his first defence against Holyfield, he reverted to type. A few months changed everything in the mentality of the new champion. Everything he was against Tyson, he wasn’t against Holyfield. Douglas offered little resistance in Las Vegas and was blown away in the 3rd with little discomfort. Despite being the new heavyweight champion of the world there was the suspicion that Holyfield was just a blown-up cruiserweight and the win over a flabby unmotivated Douglas failed to remove that lingering narrative. Subsequent wins over the ancient George Foreman and Larry Holmes didn’t convince and late substitute ‘Smokin’ Bert Cooper came within or punch or two of knocking him out. Holyfield was failing to get the heavyweight acceptance he craved. That would come ironically to some degree in defeat.

Holyfield gave a heroic performance in losing to the much bigger Riddick Bowe in 1992 in one of the greatest heavyweight title fights in history. Bowe never did recapture what he gave us that night, and the following years did echo the story of ‘Buster’ Douglas. Holyfield got his revenge the following year on an infamous night when the proceedings were temporarily interrupted by the ‘fan man’ but lost his title to Michael Moorer in 1994 on a majority points decision and when issues around his heart were diagnosed, Holyfield retired. It didn’t last, Holyfield announced he had now got a clean bill of health and returned to the ring to face Ray Mercer. In another typical tough night at the office Holyfield beat Mercer, but when his body seemed to give up on him in a third meeting with Bowe it looked over for Holyfield.

A laboured display against Bobby Czyz offered little hope, and when he was matched with Mike Tyson who had reclaimed a portion of the world heavyweight title after his release from prison following his rape conviction, there were genuine fears for his health. Tyson still had a certain aura about him, maybe not quite the invincibility of old, but Holyfield was deemed a fighter very much in decline and a Tyson victory was viewed as a mere formality. But Holyfield pulled off a staggering upset in 1996, dominating Tyson for much of the contest before stopping him in 11 rounds. The rematch the following year was expected to be revenge for Tyson, but in shocking scenes that shamed boxing, he was disqualified by the referee Mills Lane for biting Holyfield. Holyfield got the win back over Moorer and added the IBF title to the WBA belt he had won from Tyson.

In 1999 Holyfield was given a draw he didn’t deserve against Lennon Lewis with all the major heavyweight titles on the line. The return eight months later Lewis got what he should have had in their first meeting, it was a closer fight and a better one but Lewis got the nod on the cards. Holyfield kept going, a win over John Ruiz in 2000 got him the WBA title once again, before losing it back to Ruiz in the immediate return. But Holyfield wouldn’t give up, he drew with Ruiz in their trilogy fight in 2001, and a technical decision win over Hasim Rahman kept the show on the road before three straight defeats to Chris Byrd, Toney and Larry Donald pushed Holyfield further away from relevance. After the defeat to Donald in 2004 Holyfield didn’t fight for nearly two years and when he returned once more looking to enhance his dwindling finances and once again win a world heavyweight title he managed to string together four wins before two undeserved attempts at different versions of the world heavyweight title that ended in defeat, including the controversial defeat to Valuev in 2008. The win over Nielsen ended his career with a record of 44-10-2, the vast majority of those defeats came in his twilight years when he should have been safely in retirement.

Holyfield could never accept the reality that his day in the sun was over. Even in the immediate aftermath of his fight with Belfort he ludicrously claimed it was a premature stoppage.

“He shouldn’t have stopped the fight that quick,” Holyfield said. In truth, it should never have started. But Holyfield had many good nights that deserve to be remembered far more than how his career dragged on in the later years. That first hard-earned world title against Qawi, his revenge over Bowe, but his finest hour was almost certainly his staggering against-all-odds victory over Tyson. It was the win and the manner of it that in many ways, solidified his legacy.