Evander Holyfield is considered by many to be one of the greatest heavyweights to have ever graced the sport.
Known more commonly as ‘The Real Deal’, Holyfield began life as a professional fighter way back in 1984 after his success at the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, walking away with a Light-Heavyweight Bronze Medal.
He would go on to become the first fighter in the history of the sport to win the undisputed championship at cruiserweight and heavyweight, a record that remained unbroken until May of 2024 when Oleksandr Usyk matched this feat.
Holyfield shared the ring with a number of legendary heavyweights before his professional career came to an end in 2011, including the likes of Mike Tyson, George Foreman, Larry Holmes and Lennox Lewis to name just a few.
In an interview with Boxing Social, Holyfield was asked how he believes he would fare against Ukrainian icon Usyk, as he claims he would ‘find it difficult’ to defeat the unbeaten great.
“He’s a boxer too and it’d probably have been difficult for me because my whole thing is that I was real good with guys that were bullies, guys that were aggressive. I handled very aggressive fighters real well, it’s just boxers.
I was a boxer, so I could beat them cause they fought my game-plan. If you ever want to know a guy that would give this guy a problem, find somebody just like him. People who weren’t aggressive were difficult.”
Usyk entered the boxing history books once again back in July when he defeated Britain’s Daniel Dubois for a second time to become the first fighter within the ‘four belt era’ to win the undisputed heavyweight championship on two separate occasions.
The 38-year-old also boasts victories over Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Derek Chisora at heavyweight, proving himself to be arguably the greatest fighter of his entire generation.
