Boxing: Q&A with Evander Holyfield

San Antonio Express-News

Friday night at the Alamodome, former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield meets Fres Oquendo in the main event of a 10-bout card. Recently, Express-News staff writer John Whisler talked to Holyfield about his career and life in the limelight.

With all you've accomplished, why are you still fighting at age 44?



The most important thing in life is how you finish. I've said all along I want to retire as the undisputed heavyweight champion. A lot of people forget that's not something I just decided. I made the decision I wanted to be the undisputed heavyweight champion after I lost to Riddick Bowe in 1992. The bottom line is, I haven't reached my goal.


You don't have any fear of ending up the same way Muhammad Ali ended up?


In anything you do — doctor, lawyer — when you don't take care of yourself, then your body betrays you. My body is my corporation. I take care of myself. I get enough rest. I haven't had to struggle with my weight going up and down. I do the basic things real well. As for Ali, people say he's a nice person, he speaks to everybody. That's all good. But when you don't take care of your body in private, when you stress your body out, a lot of these things catch up to you.


Does it bother you that people are going to remember you most for the Mike Tyson fight in which he bit off a chunk of your ear?


No, because every time somebody brings it up I let them know the most important thing is I forgave him. God wants us to forgive. So that's what I did. But I also made more money than any athlete ever in a one-day event. I made $35 million for nine minutes. I guess people just want something to talk about. It's all in how you slant the story.


That fight was nearly 10 years ago. Have your feelings about Tyson changed?


No. People think Mike bit me because he was just a mean, nasty person. Mike bit me because he wanted to get out of the ring. He wanted out. People say, well, how do you know that? Well, in the neighborhood I grew up in, if you got in a fight and you wanted out, all you had to do was bite. They call you a sissy, and that's it. The fight's over.


You've always been up front about your personal life, where you reportedly have fathered 11 children by seven different women. This doesn't seem to correspond with your profession of faith.


It's 11 with five. People are always trying to find a way to hurt a person. There's never been a human in this world who's perfect in everything. My father wasn't there when I was growing up in the ghetto. I was born out of wedlock. In my neighborhood, success was how many women you had. I'm not saying that it's right. I raised my kids not to do that. I tell them, this is what I've done wrong. But this is what you can do and be right in the same situation.


A lot has been written about the weak state of the heavyweight division. Does that motivate you to keep fighting?

It may not be at the highest level it's been, but when Ali left, it took a long time for somebody to think that Larry Holmes was anything. People say it's weak, but they aren't the ones in there getting hit. Let them get in there and compete with those guys and see how weak it is.