Evander Holyfield faced a who’s who of top names during his record-breaking campaign including Mike Tyson and James Toney.
He fought and beat Tyson in ’96 and ’97, winning the WBA Heavyweight World title by stoppage in the first and then infamously reatined it in the rematch when Tyson was disqualified for biting his ear.
After defeating Vassiliy Jirov to win the IBF Cruiserweight World Title in 2003, Toney moved back up to heavyweight to face Holyfield. Despite a good start for ‘The Real Deal’, Toney’s combinations took their toll and he dropped him with a body shot in the ninth. Holyfield’s trainer Don Turner threw in the towel marking a stoppage for ‘Lights Out.’
A fantasy fight between those two opponents is an intriguing one, pitting the ferociousness of Tyson against the toughness of Toney, who lost ten fights but was never stopped, something of a specialty for ‘Iron’ Mike.
In an interview with ES News, Holyfield had little doubt who would win the match-up.
“Of course Mike would’ve killed him. Mike would’ve killed him. I’m telling you. When Mike realised that he can hit you, he’s gonna get you out of there. He might tap Mike or something, but I know when he hit me, and he had that power on the punch, Mike will clean you up.”
Toney retired a three-weight world champion with a total of 77 wins from 92 fights. Tyson has 50 wins from 58 at the end of a campaign that saw him become the youngest ever heavyweight champion. Controversially, he returns to the ring this November to face YouTuber-turned-fighter Jake Paul.
