Evander Holyfield is one of the greatest heavyweights to have ever laced up the gloves.
Known as ‘The Real Deal’, Holyfield captured an Olympic Bronze Medal at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles before entering the paid ranks just a few months later.
He began his professional career campaigning at cruiserweight, going on to become the undisputed champion when he defeated Carlos De Leon via eighth round stoppage in April 1988.
‘The Real Deal’ made the move up to heavyweight shortly after before he eventually made history by becoming the undisputed champion in 1990, defeating James ‘Buster’ Douglas in the third round of their bout in Las Vegas.
He made a number of successful defences of his crown, defeating the likes of George Foreman and Larry Holmes, but would suffer the first defeat of his career against Riddick Bowe in the first fight of their iconic trilogy.
In a resurfaced interview, Holyfield paid homage to former rival ‘Iron Mike’ Tyson, admitting that he was ‘lucky’ to lock horns with the heavyweight icon when he was passed his formidable prime.
“Unbeatable. When you didn’t know what Tyson was gonna do, everybody was in trouble.
He changed up and got into a rhythm that everybody does and he became beatable. I was fortunate enough to fight him when he was beatable.”
‘Iron’ Mike exploded onto the scene during the mid eighties, winning his first nineteen professional bouts via stoppage. He became the youngest heavyweight champion of all time in 1986 when he dethroned WBC champion Trevor Berbick, going on to achieve undisputed status in the year that followed with respective victories over WBA champion James Smith and IBF champion Tony Tucker.
Tyson and Holyfield faced off twice, with Holyfield winning both bouts—first by TKO in 1996 and then in their infamous 1997 rematch where Tyson was disqualified for biting Holyfield’s ear.
