By Dan Ambrose: The soon to be 50-year-old Evander Holyfield (44-10-2, 29 KO’s) is hoping he can entice one or both of the heavyweight world champions Klitschko brothers to fight him in the near future by pointing out how they can make a lot of money if they face him.

Holyfield, who turns 50 in October, said to Sky Sports News They [Klitschko brothers] have got an opportunity to probably make the biggest payday of their lives fighting Evander Holyfield…I’ll fight them. All they got to do is realize that both of us will make money, then we’ll see who the winner is.”

Holyfield could probably really use a title shot against one of the Klitschkos right now, as Holyfield recently lost his 109 room Mansion in Georgia after it was foreclosed on. However, a fight against the Klitschko brothers still likely wouldn’t be a huge payday for Holyfield because boxing fans would likely be turned off by the idea of one of the Klitshko brothers facing a past his best Holyfield. This might actually hurt the Klitschko brothers in terms of attendance rather than helping them, because Holyfield hasn’t beaten a top level heavyweight since he defeated Hasim Rahman 10 years ago in 2002.

All of Holyfield’s wins since then have come against 2nd and 3rd tier heavyweights. He’s also lost five bouts in the past ten years whenever he stepped up to fight guys like Nikolay Valuev, Chris Byrd, James Toney, Larry Donald and Sultan Ibragimov. The money that Holyfield would get for a fight against Wladimir or Vitali Klitschko would be good, but it likely wouldn’t be life changing for Holyfield. He’d need to beat one of them for him to get big money in a rematch, and that’s not going to happen. Holyfield is too past it to compete with either of the Klitschko brothers, even the fading 41-year-old Vitali.

The Klitschko don’t have any interest in fighting Holyfield out of respect for him. They don’t want to beat a fighter as famous as him and as past his prime as he is. Although the Klitschko brothers have been taking on some older fighters recently in 39-year-old Jean Marc Mormeck, 40-year-old Tony Thompson and 40-year-old Shannon Briggs, I think they have problems with fighting a guy like 49-year-old Holyfield. That might be a bit too old. Holyfield could perhaps change all that if he were fighting and beating top contenders in the heavyweight division, but that’s not what Holyfield has been doing. He’s been taking it easy facing weak 2nd tier opposition recently and playing it safe.