Tweet
By Keith Idec - Twenty years ago, Evander Holyfield was headed toward one of the biggest fights of his career.
Fresh off his tremendous third-round knockout of James “Buster” Douglas, he was one of boxing’s biggest stars. The former cruiserweight champion demolished the man who beat the man and was making more than $25 million per fight.
George Foreman, four years and 24 fights into his heavyweight revival, was his opponent in a masterfully marketed main event that essentially established pay-per-view boxing as we now know it. A much smaller, much younger Holyfield defeated Foreman by unanimous decision at the Atlantic City Convention Center in that April 1991 bout, which propelled the Atlanta native into one of boxing’s best trilogies with Riddick Bowe and a celebrated career in which he earned nearly $300 million.
Two decades later, Holyfield is Foreman, only older.
At 48, he is six years older than Foreman was when they fought for the undisputed heavyweight championship. He is still slightly younger — seven months, to be exact — than Foreman was during his final fight in November 1997, when he lost an infamous majority decision to Shannon Briggs at Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City.
Holyfield has many more detractors than Foreman did, though, as he continues to box while his 50th birthday looms. A cringing legion of fans and media members has wished for nearly a decade that Holyfield would halt his unrealistic pursuit of regaining his status as undisputed champion.
As usual, a defiant Holyfield couldn’t care less.
“People have been telling me what I can’t do all of my life,” Holyfield said. “I’ve made a career out of proving people wrong.”
That’s Holyfield’s stock answer, precisely what he has to say as he keeps clinging to the belief that he’ll get the opportunities he needs to become the division’s unified champion again, no matter how old he’ll get in the process. Still, deep down Holyfield has to be asking himself how it all came to tonight. [Click Here To Read More]
Fresh off his tremendous third-round knockout of James “Buster” Douglas, he was one of boxing’s biggest stars. The former cruiserweight champion demolished the man who beat the man and was making more than $25 million per fight.
George Foreman, four years and 24 fights into his heavyweight revival, was his opponent in a masterfully marketed main event that essentially established pay-per-view boxing as we now know it. A much smaller, much younger Holyfield defeated Foreman by unanimous decision at the Atlantic City Convention Center in that April 1991 bout, which propelled the Atlanta native into one of boxing’s best trilogies with Riddick Bowe and a celebrated career in which he earned nearly $300 million.
Two decades later, Holyfield is Foreman, only older.
At 48, he is six years older than Foreman was when they fought for the undisputed heavyweight championship. He is still slightly younger — seven months, to be exact — than Foreman was during his final fight in November 1997, when he lost an infamous majority decision to Shannon Briggs at Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City.
Holyfield has many more detractors than Foreman did, though, as he continues to box while his 50th birthday looms. A cringing legion of fans and media members has wished for nearly a decade that Holyfield would halt his unrealistic pursuit of regaining his status as undisputed champion.
As usual, a defiant Holyfield couldn’t care less.
“People have been telling me what I can’t do all of my life,” Holyfield said. “I’ve made a career out of proving people wrong.”
That’s Holyfield’s stock answer, precisely what he has to say as he keeps clinging to the belief that he’ll get the opportunities he needs to become the division’s unified champion again, no matter how old he’ll get in the process. Still, deep down Holyfield has to be asking himself how it all came to tonight. [Click Here To Read More]
Comment