By Jim Dower: 48-year-old former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield (43-10-2, 28 KO’s) has a fight coming up on January 22nd against Sherman Williams (34-11-2, 19 KO’s) in a 10 round bout at The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Holyfield is no longer ranked in the top tier among the world’s best heavyweights, which is why it seems all the more strange that Holyfield is still talking about his goal being to capture and unify all the major world heavyweight titles.

In an interview by Chip Mitchell, Haye said “My goal is to be the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. That’s my goal. That’s the reason I’m still fighting.”

It’s going to be hard for Holyfield to realize that goal when he’s not even ranked in the top 15 in the heavyweight division. Unless there’s a heavyweight champion that’s particularly desperate for an opponent with a name, it’s almost beyond comprehension that Hoyfield will ever even get a shot at another heavyweight title. It’s not like Holyfield hasn’t had his share of undeserved title shot opportunities in the past four years, as he was able to fight for the world title against WBO heavyweight champion Sultan Ibragimov in October 2007, and then after losing that fight by a 12 round decision, Holyfield got another chance in his next fight against WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev in December 2008.

Holyfield lost that fight as well, albeit by a questionable 12 round majority decision. That loss seemed to hit Holyfield hard, because he reacted to it by not fighting for almost two years. Holyfield came back in 2010 and defeated Francois Botha by an 8th round stoppage. However, that’s not the kind of opponent that Holyfield really needs at this point if he wants to get a title shot against one of the champions. Both isn’t ranked in the top tier, and is 42. It was a fight that did nothing for Holyfield. You can say the same for his upcoming fight against Sherman Williams.

This isn’t a fight that will increase Holyfield’s rankings because the 38-year-old Williams is B level fighter and not ranked high enough to do anything for Holyfield in terms of giving him a push up the rankings. Holyfield already has his next fight scheduled against 45-year-old Brian Nielsen in march. Again, this isn’t a fight that will get Holyfield a title shot. He’s wasting his time if he’s truly serious about wanting to fight for a world title, because these are the type of fights that 2nd tier fighters and beginning fighters take, not established fighters trying to get a title shot.