Evander Holyfield beat both Mike Tyson and George Foreman in a record-breaking career.
Holyfield was born in Alabama but cut his teeth in the ring in Atlanta. He would win a Bronze Medal at the ’84 Olympics before turning over to the pro ranks for a cruiserweight run that saw him win all three major belts in 18 fights.
His record of becoming the first man to be undisputed at both cruiser and heavyweight is made all the more impressive by the big men in his era.
‘The Real Deal’ beat James ‘Buster’ Douglas, Larry Holmes, and Ray Mercer in his run, but two wins over Tyson remain the most memorable. He stopped the ferocious puncher in their first encounter and would win on a DQ second time around when Tyson infamously bit his ear. Six years before, he had bested Foreman by unanimous decision.
Speaking to Mail Sport, Holyfield backed Tyson to toppled ‘Big’ George if the two big hitters had ever met in the ring. They came relatively close in the late eighties, a couple of years in to Foreman’s return following a decade of retirement.
He had sights set on regaining the heavyweight championship though, and Tyson lost his grip on undisputed status when he was surprisingly knocked out by Buster Douglas in Tokyo, 1990.
Foreman instead challenged Holyfield for the belts in ’91 but lost, eventually winning the IBF and WBA against Michael Moorer in ’94.
All three fighters are in the record books for different reasons – Tyson for being the youngest ever heavyweight world champion, Foreman for being the oldest and Holyfield for the above-mentioned success in two divisions, something only just equalled by Oleksandr Usyk.
