Evander Holyfield made history when he became the first fighter to achieve undisputed status at cruiserweight and heavyweight.
‘The Real Deal’ defeated Carlos De Leon in April 1988 to unify the WBC, WBA and IBF titles at cruiserweight, and it took him just 2-years to repeat this feat at heavyweight when he knocked out Buster Douglas in the 3rd-round of their showdown to capture the undisputed heavyweight championship.
He would go on to enjoy impressive victories over a number of legendary heavyweights, including Riddick Bowe, Mike Tyson and Larry Holmes. He remained unbeaten until he faced ‘Big Daddy’ Bowe at the end of 1992, although he would avenge this defeat exactly 1-year later.
Holyfield would eventually announce his retirement from boxing in 2011. shortly after he defeated Brian Nielsen. In preparation for his bout against Nielsen, ‘The Real Deal’ spent some time sparring former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr, who was just 19-years-old at the time.
Speaking to Pro Boxing Fans, Holyfield admitted that his inability to keep up with Ruiz during their sparring sessions indicated that he had reached the end of his journey, leading to him making the decision to draw the curtain on his career.
“When I sparred that guy Ruiz and when he was 19 years old he was able to tag me, I knew then [it was over]. I don’t pass my age range where it no longer makes sense to get hit like that by somebody you think you should be able to beat, because experience and all this, but he had speed and I was losing speed.”
In another interview, Holyfield revealed how the gym sessions left him a little ’embarrassed’.
“When we were sparring, every day he did the same thing … He was aggressive then. It kind of embarrassed me a little bit. I thought, ‘I’m a champ and you chasing me like this?’”
Ruiz is best known for pulling off one of the biggest upset victories of all time when he knocked out Anthony Joshua in June 2019 to become the unified WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion, although he would go on to lose his titles in a rematch with Joshua just 6-months later.
