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holyfield's impossible dream
www.fighnews.com
May 25, 2006
By Richard Fletcher
Let me tell you how I feel about Evander Holyfield. I remember the steel in his eyes when he was at his peak. I remember the warrior spirit, the never-say-die attitude that carried him to the heavyweight championship and beyond.
But 18 months after having his licence suspended, the Real Deal still can't accept that his career is a done deal. Reports this week say Holyfield is pondering another comeback. He is quoted as saying: "If people really knew me, they know I'm supposed to be on top, and that's how I am supposed to retire."
But those people also know it's a futile quest and one that could lead to Holyfield getting badly hurt. At his best, Holyfield was a relentless threshing machine of a fighter, a fearless opponent who would never back down. But he is now 43 years old, well past the age when men should be fighting for money, and simply fumbling for reasons to justify his return.
Holyfield was banned by the New York State Athletic Commission after a points defeat by Larry Donald in November 2004, his fifth defeat in eight fights. A year before that, Holyfield was outclassed and stopped by James Toney, the former middleweight champ who went on win the heavyweight crown. In both fights, Holyfield looked like a shell of his old self, a man fighting on memory.
I wish Holyfield was young again, almost as much as the man himself. I fondly remember previewing his heavyweight debut against James "Quick" Tillis for Britain's Boxing News nearly 18 years ago. There was so much to admire even back then and, in a way, still is. But there is no way, even in this comparatively weak era, that he can regain even a portion of what he had.
Maybe Holyfield has put himself on some sort of mission to restore American pride. Although old opponent Hasim Rahman holds the WBC title, the heavyweight division is predominantly in the grip of Eastern Europeans. The current incumbents, Nicolai Valuev, Sergei Liakhovich and Wlad Klitschko, would not have lived with Holyfield at his best but, sadly, would probably embarrass him now.
No Holyfield fan wants to see that but Evander has always been his own man and he is, it seems, going to do everything in his power to fight again. He will point to the case of another former opponent, George Foreman, who came back after a 10-year absence and won the heavyweight title at 45, three years after getting outpointed by Holyfield.
But Foreman had something Holyfield doesn't: concussive power even in advancing years. It was that which enabled Foreman to knock out Michael Moorer with a single right hand and regain the title he lost to Muhammad Ali in 1974.
Even at his peak, Holyfield wore opponents down with workrate rather than power, although he scored 25 KOs in his 38 wins in a career spanning 20 years. During that time, he became the best cruiserweight in history and fought every major heavyweight of his generation, failing to beat only Lennox Lewis. In 1996, Holyfield produced one of the great upsets when breaking down and stopping a resurgent Mike Tyson in 11 rounds. He could have retired then but didn't.
Now he wants to try to get it all back again. But it's an impossible dream. Holyfield's fierce pride is clearly still in tact but his reflexes have dulled and his punch resistance has diminished severely. For his own sake, I hope Holyfield's comeback doesn't happen but I've got a horrible feeling it will. I just hope the man doesn't live to regret it.
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Originally Posted by Hulk
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