By Eric Thomas: Former two division world champion Evander Holyfield (43-10-2, 28 KO’s) will be back in action on March 5th to take on 45-year-old Danish heavyweight Brian Nielsen (64-2, 43 KO’s) on March 5th in a still to be determined location in Denmark. Nielsen hasn’t fought in eight years, and that alone makes this fight somewhat of a farce. It’s obviously just a money fight for Holyfield, but it’s more than a little disappointing if you were hoping that Holyfield was going to take on a top level fighter so that he could move forward with his goal of trying to capture all the heavyweight titles before retiring.

Nielsen made a career out of fighting and beating nothing but 2nd tier fighters. It’s unknown why he failed to progress from this level to fighting better opponents to take away the fluff from his record. Before retiring in 2002, Nielsen finally took on a top tier fighter in Mike Tyson and was easily beaten in a 7th round TKO loss in October 2001. Nielsen’s last two fights were against Ken Murphy and Uriah Grant.

Holyfield was supposed to be fighting journeyman Sherman Williams on December 9th, but that fight was canceled due to poor ticket sales and lack of television deal, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. Holyfield last fought in April, beating 42-year-old Francois Botha by an 8th round TKO. Before that, Holyfield was beaten by WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev by a 12 round majority decision in December 2008. For a fighter that wants to capture all the heavyweight titles before retiring, Holyfield doesn’t seem to be in a big rush to accomplish his goal.