Article on Evander Holyfield

[moonbeam]

By Stuart Brennan

Evander Holyfield is gunning for another world heavyweight title and refuses to listen to the legions of fans that have urged him to quit for the good of his health. The 43 yr old legend say's he still has unfinshed business at the tail-end of a career which brought an epic trilogy of fights with Riddick Bowe, two sagas against Lennox Lewis and two infamous scraps with ear-munching Mike Tyson.
And when he returns to the states after his flying vist to manchester, Holyfield will resume training for a bout with club fighter Frank Wood on July 29th.
Holyfield is adored by fight fans the world over as a true warrior, but many of them have implored him to quit rather than risk being mauled by a man he would have pummelled in his heyday.
The New York State Athletic Commission has gone one step further, refusing to allow him the fight on its territory on health grounds.
Holyfield, as ever, stands undaunted, a man alone.
The riches he made from the sport-he lives in an enormous £10 million mansion in Atlanta, Georgia and the fact that he has a beautiful wife and 10 children do not enter the equations in Holyfields head.
"People have there opinions, but they have to look after themselves" he says " I have a mind of my own, and I wouldnt be the man I am today if I listened to popular opinion. For most of my life, I was told I wasnt going to amount to anything, so popular opinion doesnt go well with me. My goal is to retire as heavyweight champion of the world. It hasnt happened yet, but I believe that everything has a start and everything has an ending- you cant choose the start, but you can choose the ending".
Maybe the parlous state of heavyweight boxing is encouraging Holyfield to hang on- two of the big three titles are held by eastern europeans who are solid rather than spectacular, with Russian Nickolay Valuev and Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko the top in the world.
Holyfield, despite a 20yr career littered with excruciatingly tough fights claims he still has enough in the tank for one last hurrah, despite losing his last three fights, to Chris Byrd in 2002, James Toney in 2003 and Larry Donald in 2004.
" there will always be good heavyweights but right now the landscape is different. I am looking at all of the belts and have no plans beyond July 29th" he said.
Holyfield believes that boxing faces extinction in the US unless the powers-that-be can revamp the sport at the grass roots level: " they dont show amateur fights on TV that much, so we dont have many fighters participating. Those that do dont stay in amateurs long enough to get the skills necessary to dominate. Its like missing high school and trying to go straight to college. We need to get a good amatuer programme running and show it on TV. They dont even show the Olympic boxing anymore, an no one knows the Olympic team. People need to stand up for boxing. It is one of the oldest sports in the world and America used to thrive on boxing- now we go to the Olympics and get fewer medals than some countries who never used to win a thing. Boxing does appear to be on the slide, and adjustments need to be made".
He hinted that promoters need to look after the interests of the fighters alittle more, or face up to a dwindling supply line, adding " most people who fight dont have a great education, but they know what they want and are willing to pay the price. The problem comes when they are successful and people are envious".
Holyfield has never been the most naturally-talented of boxers, but through grit, mental strengh and ability to maximise what he has, he will be remembered as a legend by fight fans.
Outside the sport, he is remembered as the man receiving end when Tyson bit off more than he could chew.
Holyfied says he has no bitterness over the incident, in 1997, which saw the New Yorker disqualified and left Holyfield requiring surgery on his mauled ear.


I know this has probably been covered already but i was wondering what everyones opinion is on this. Should Holyfield bow out gracefully, or carry on to try and make his happy ending.

[LawHoops]

its already too late for him to bow out gracefully.........he should have quit after the first ruiz fight

[NUCLEAR BULL]

its a shame he refuses to listen when he's told he's a legend with nothing to prove. i hope he see's sense and forgets this quest of being undisbeauted heavyweight champion of the world again, but it doesn't seem he will, i really hope he doesn't get hurt anymore then he already has

[cockey cockney]

Its a big shame with Evander. The man was a great great fighter in his prime and he has nothing to proove, hes just damaging his health.

[Mintymen]

Best conditioned HW of all time. I hope he gets what he wants and retire.

[Bigsexy]

I've had it with him , he's a stupid ass that deserves what he gets.

[ringside]

I guess he just finds it to hard to leave the sport, still an all time great but should have left long ago.

[cockey cockney]

I've had it with him , he's a stupid a** that deserves what he gets.

Your a stupid ass.

[clean]

It really is sad. He actually believes the only reason he's been losing lately is just because of styles and not his erroded skills. I don't want to see him hurt but you almost hope someone will KO him because that would be the only way he sees the truth.