By Matt Stein: Along Roy Jones Jr. wanting a piece of the Klitschko brothers, former two division world champion Evander Holyfield (43-10-2, 28 KO’s) wants a piece of the brothers and/or WBA heavyweight champion David Haye. Holyfield, who just turned 48 on October 19th, thinks Haye and the Klitschkos can make a big fight if they fight each other or if they fight him. He thinks the money is low against the other heavyweight contenders.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Holyfield says “I have a goal, and they [the Klitschko brothers and Haye] have the belts that I need to retire. Now if I can get they belts, retire, then they can come back and get them back. Anything worth having, someone else have it. You just got to go and wrestle it from them. Other than being a champion, your history comes off how much money you did you make when you was the champion. So when you look at the Klitschkos, and David Haye, the money is low. The only person they can make a big fight with is if they fight each other or if they fight me, because people want to see your fight somebody when they think you probably won’t beat. But if you do beat him, it’s going to be a tough fight. So I’m that guy.”
Holyfield hasn’t been all that active in the past two years. He fought once in 2008, losing a 12 round decision to WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev. Holyfield then didn’t fight in 2009, and recently he defeated 41-year-old Francois Both by an 8th round TKO in April.
Holyfield may need to concentrate his efforts more on Vitali Klitschko and Haye rather than Wladimir, because said he won’t fight Haye. He sees him as “An icon” and doesn’t want to face him. In other words, Wladimir doesn’t want to be seen beating up on a nearly 50-year-old ring great like Holyfield. That would look bad, and most people would agree on that. if Holyfield is really determined to fight for a heavyweight title again, he might be better off actually working for it by taking on and defeating the top contenders to become the mandatory challenger to get his shot. Holyfield was given title shots on a silver platter against Sultan Ibragimov and Valuev in 2007 and 2008, based on four wins over 2nd tier opposition. Holyfield needs to show how much he wants the titles by working his way to a title shot by beating the top contenders. I don’t think he can at this point in his career. He might be able to beat some of the contenders, but not the best ones in the top five.
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