By Jim Maltzman: Evander Holyfield says talks have started for an exhibition fight against former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. The former two-division champion ‘The Real Deal’ Holyfield (44-10-2, 29 KOs) stays that he hasn’t made a deal yet with the 53-year-old Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs), but they’re working on it.
Holyfield, 57, and Tyson are both in demand by the boxing world, as the sport has stopped due to the pandemic, and fans want to see these two battle it out in a trilogy.
Tyson, whose hair is almost entirely gray now, still possesses impressive hand speed and looks powerful in the clips of his workouts. However, Tyson’s stamina problems in the past led to him losing his last two fights to Kevin McBride and Danny Williams.
As long as Tyson is only fighting three-round exhibition matches, he might be able to perform at a high level without fading quickly. You never know until we see Tyson in action.
No deal yet for Tyson vs. Holyfield fight
“His people have been talking to my people, and we haven’t yet got a solid deal together, but it’s coming that way. If it happens, then that’s no problem,” said Holyfield to The 3 Point Conversion. “If it happens, then that’s no problem.
“Well, the thing is, he was doing something, and I was doing something. When I told people about it, they saw me working out and they kind of put two and two together,
“They must be coming together to do this like this. But the fact of the matter is, I didn’t mind if we do something like this.”
It’s unknown right now how much the Tyson vs. Holyfield exhibition match will sell for. Given that it’s likely to be three rounds, it’s going to be tough to ask boxing fans to pay a lot of money on pay-per-view to watch this. Unless the Tyson-Holyfield fight is packaged with other great fights lasting 10 to 12 rounds, it’s going to be difficult selling this fight the boxing public.
Selling an exhibition match during the pandemic isn’t the wisest thing to do unless it’s priced low enough to lure fans into purchasing it.
Tyson and Holyfield have a lot of options besides fighting each other. James Toney, Shannon Briggs, Danny Williams, and Oliver McCall are all potential fighters that could come back for exhibition fights.
Holyfield is 2-0 against Tyson, having stopped him twice in the 1990s when the two were still in their primes more or less.