For me, he should fight someone like Francs Botha for the WBF title or somebody for the vacant WBU title. If he were to hopefully win, he could then get a belt to his name, arguably justify his "5 time" chat and perhaps then retire. If he were to lose, then he could never be considered a contender for a major belt and should retire anyway.
I think we're all in agreement that Holyfield has probably gone on too long - but he's still competitive and I admire hugely his desire to win; even if the cynics suggest its all about the dollar.
I fear that if Evander got one more shot at Valuev he'd lose. His real chance was in that first fight when he'd been underestimated and ended up getting robbed on points.
Come on Evander.
But surely if he was fighting on for financial reasons, then he'd be jumping to fight whenever he can?
Fact is he's fought twice in the last two years and both of those were title rights.
There was the farcical situation in Ethiopia against blown-up ex-super middleweight De Retta which never happened, but apart from that he only seems interested in fighting for belts.
I thought the IBO had always been regarded as the fifth biggest, and they even get included on Wikipedia list of champions alongside the other four: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/BoxChamps.png
( If it's on Wikipedia it must be true ;-) )
So the fight is supposedly 16 days away and they want to sell 80,000 tickets?
Yet tickets aren't on sale yet and the deal hasn't even been finalised?
Does anyone think they're even in training?
I'd love to see Evander win this fight and, though its only the WBF, have another belt for his collection. However, I'd wager that it'll head the way of his other two bouts - postponement.
Yup, a novely fighter. But all the same a novelty who did rack up 77 career wins.
I know he fought Marc Potter in an unofficial bout recently and was destroyed inside a round.
However, some of those 77 wins must have been against fairly average opponents and not all no-hopers? George Linberger? He once drew with Jason Farley who eventually fought Samuel Peter. He also beat Russell Chasteen who fought Tua, Botha, Akinwande and Briggs.
Holyfield v. Botha is on UK Television....!!
Out of curiosity more than anything, I was planning on staying up to try and watch this fight online or find some commentary from the US.
It has had next to no media attention in the UK and nobody seemed to be under the impression that it was being broadcast on British shores.
I was, therefore, amazed to find the fight is being sold on PPV on Prime Time for £5.95. I booked it straight away.
Normally, when I book a fight on PPV, loads of mates come round and we tuck into a few crates. Unsurprisingly, none were interested in this bout...!!
When I booked over the telephone, I asked the lovely girl on the other end of the phone if there's been much interest in the fight. "No, not at all." She said. "We're hoping it'll pick up around 2am" she added.
Anyway, the fight doesn't start until 4am British time so going to be a late night and I need to be up at nine tomorrow. Groan. But very curious about this fight, the potentially tiny crowd in attendace and how the two guys perform. Hoping they both come threw unhurt and that Holyfield captures the belt. Not confident though.
yer i knew it was primetime, but that coverage quite frankly sucks ass. and i would only watch the fight for free tbh. :dunno: i heard there was only 1000 tickets sold aswell.
Looking forward to seeing the coverage as it doesn't quite seem as slick as Box Office on the adverts. Have never bought a fight from Prime Time before though.
How many people do you think will buy the fight on PPV in the UK?
If they really have sold less than 1,000 tickets in Vegas then it's a huge embarrassment and will no doubt make a huge loss for organisers.
Anyway, come on 'Real Deal'
We talking in the hundreds, you think?
I'm not sure how to estimate this - but I was surprised Prime Time had operators on hand to take calls person-to-person. What the girl told me suggested there has been next to no interest though.
Prime Time does have some great fights - like the Froch bouts. But they don't seen to be very good at promoting them. Sky Box Office is the undisputed king - no doubt.