Comments Thread For: Evander Holyfield Blocks The Sale of His Olympic Medal

[Weltschmerz]

Exactly. In a world where 90% of the population has to work backbreaking 60hr weeks just to get by, I have no sympathy for the likes of Holyfield or Tyson.

They could have did some long lasting community work with that money, instead they wasted it on sports cars, legal bills, and gambling.

Well they can spend their money however they like, and I don't think they asked for sympathy from the general public.

[NachoMan]

Exactly. In a world where 90% of the population has to work backbreaking 60hr weeks just to get by, I have no sympathy for the likes of Holyfield or Tyson.

They could have did some long lasting community work with that money, instead they wasted it on sports cars, legal bills, and gambling.

What world do you live in where you see 90% of the population doing back-breaking work for 60 hrs a week?? I would say that 90% of the population (particularly in the developed world) has not done one day of back-breaking work in their entire lives. Holyfield and most other elite fighters who made it to the top of the sport are among the small minority of people who actually knows what real sweat and toil are about. I'm pretty much always considered the house liberal wherever I go, but even I don't think that Evander owes anybody else (except for his dozens of kids, of course) one cent of his money. When you bust your ass and make a million dollars you can go ahead and donate it all to "the community" if you want. We will all think the world of you. Incidentally, from what I've read over the years, Evander has, in fact, spent plenty of his time and money supporting charitable causes.

[CubanGuyNYC]

They could have did some long lasting community work with that money, instead they wasted it on sports cars, legal bills, and gambling.

...from what I've read over the years, Evander has, in fact, spent plenty of his time and money supporting charitable causes.

I'm not familiar with Holyfield's philanthropic activities, but I don't doubt that he's given quite a bit of money away to worthy charities and not-so-worthy "charities" (like the legions of leaches he, no doubt, was plagued with). It's true that much of Evander's money was spent foolishly, but it's stereotypical to imply that it was all frittered away on objects of vanity.

[Light_Speed]

Donald Trump, a man who was born into money and attended the prestigious Wharton school of business, was once forced to file for bankruptcy protection for his businesses and was brought to the brink of personal bankruptcy. Trump may be many things, but he's not stupid; and he's certainly no stranger to handling large sums of money. If he could bungle his finances, why should a boxer's money woes be attributed solely to his perceived stupidity?

But Trump was making risky investments, you can't compare an ambitious businessman to a rich athlete. Especially when there are many athletes who made a lot less money than him but are still rich today.