Evander Holyfield is one of the greatest heavyweights of the last forty years.
More commonly known as ‘The Real Deal’, Holyfield made his professional debut just months after he walked away from the 1984 Olympic games in Los Angeles with a bronze medal.
In just his 18th professional outing, Holyfield captured the undisputed cruiserweight championship with an eighth round knockout victory over Carlos De Leon in 1988. He would go on to repeat this feat at heavyweight just two years later, stopping Buster Douglas in the third round of their bout at The Mirage in Las Vegas.
Holyfield became the first fighter in boxing history to achieve undisputed status at both cruiserweight and heavyweight, until Ukrainian icon Oleksandr Usyk matched the record last May when he outpointed Tyson Fury in Riyadh.
Despite coming up against an abundance of generational greats, ‘The Real Deal’ has revealed the one heavyweight that he believes was unbeatable during his formidable prime.
In a Youtube clip, Holyfield gave plaudits to former rival ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson, admitting he was lucky to come up against the once ferocious heavyweight legend when he was ‘beatable’.
“Unpredictable. When you didn’t know what Tyson was gonna do, everybody was in trouble.
He changed up and got into a rhythm that everybody knew and became beatable. I was fortunate enough to fight him when he was beatable.”
Tyson was just 20-years-old when he became the world heavyweight champion with a second round knockout victory over Trevor Berbick in 1986. ‘Iron’ Mike faced a number of issues outside of the ring during the later stages of his career, but in the eyes of many is one of the greatest heavyweights to have ever laced up the gloves.
