By Eric Thomas: Former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield (42-9-2, 27 KOs) will be getting a second chance at a heavyweight title in a little more than a year, this time against World Boxing Association heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev (49-1, 34 KOs) on December 20th at the at Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland.
Holyfield, now 46, lost his last fight, a 12-round unanimous decision loss to heavyweight Sultan Ibragimov in October 2007.
By Eric Thomas: According to Dan Rafael of ESPN, four-time heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield (42-9-2, 27 KOs) is going to get yet another shot at a heavyweight title, this time against WBA heavyweight title holder Nikolay Valuev in a title shot on December 20th. The location isn’t known at this time, but it will probably take place in Germany where Valuev, 35, fights most of his bouts. Holyfield reportedly hasn’t yet signed the contract for the fight but is having his attorney review it, according to ESPN. If Holyfield does end up taking the fight, which is very likely, he will be 46 by then, making him one of the oldest title challengers of all time.
He hasn’t fought since losing a one-sided decision to WBO heavyweight champion Sultan Ibragimov last October. It would seem almost beyond belief that Holyfield would be given another shot considering he’s not fought in a year, and has done nothing to deserve a shot at a title. Six years ago, in December 2002, Holyfield also lost in a title bid against Chris Byrd for the vacant IBF title, getting beaten easily by Byrd in another one-sided decision loss. It’s been an incredible seven years since Holyfield last held a title, losing his WBA heavyweight title after only one fight, getting beaten by John Ruiz in March 2001.
By Sargon Solomon: It’s been almost three years since former heavyweight champion of the world Mike Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs) last fought, a time in which he quit in the 6th round against Kevin McBride. Following that defeat, Tyson walked away from boxing, stating that he no longer wanted to continue if he could no longer fight at his best. For most people, they figured that would be the end of Tyson, that he would never attempt to enter the ring again. However, in the past two weeks both Tyson and former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield have stated in interviews that they could possibly meet against each in a future third bout between the two of them.
After watching 45 year-old Evander Holyfield (42-9-2, 27 KOs) lose by a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision to World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion Sultan Ibragimov last October 13th in Moscow, Russia, my thoughts were that Holyfield needs to retire from the ring as soon as possible. Unlike others, I hadn’t bout into Holyfield’s excuses about his shoulder problems – which required surgery – as being the reason he’d looked so bad between 2002 and 2004, a time in which Holyfield has lost three out of five fights. He looked old, and there could be no other reason for it than that.
Against Ibragimov this past October, Holyfield looked much the same – unable to pull the trigger, bad reflexes and poor punch out put. I felt that Holyfield had done nothing to deserve the shot at Ibragimov in the first place, considering that Holyfield had fought four journeyman after having come back from his two year layoff, and hadn’t fought one top 10 fighter to deserve the to fight a champion. Not surprisingly, Holyfield was out-gunned by Ibragimov, looking as if he didn’t belong in the same ring with him. It wasn’t even slightly close, as Ibragimov toyed with Holyfield, hitting him whenever he pleased, dancing away untouched on the outside.
Boxingnews24.com has learned that former world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs) is reportedly interested in a third bout with former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield (42-9-2, 27 KOs), according to boxingtalk website. Tyson, 41, said that he’d only take on a third fight with the 45 year-old Holyfield “if the money’s right,” meaning that Tyson would be looking to get a million plus payday for the the bout. Tyson went on to say that he’d be looking to “knock him out,” perhaps a signal that he would want to ensure that the fight doesn’t get into the later rounds like their first bout, a fight where Tyson ran out of gas and was ultimately stopped in the 11th round.
It’s doubtful that Tyson could fight hard for more than several rounds, judging by his last two fights against Danny Williams and Kevin McBride, both of whom stopped Tyson after he started quickly in the first two rounds and then almost immediately tired out. Tyson said that he’s not interested in taking on any preliminary bouts, and wants to “go straight at him.” Again, at this stage in his career, even a journeyman fighter would be a threat to Tyson if the bout was to beyond three rounds. It’s understandable that Tyson would want to avoid this happening, and possibly ruining a shot at Holyfield.
The outcome was never in doubt on Saturday night, as the 32-year old World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion literally boxed circles around the 44-year old challenger Evander Holyfield in the process of winning by an easy 12-round unanimous decision at the Khodynka Ice Palace, in Moscow, Russia. The final judges’ scores – 118-110, 117-111 and 117-111 – gave no indication about how truly one-sided the bout was for Ibragimov, as Holyfield did virtually nothing all bout long except for follow him around and take shots to the head and midsection. In truth, Holyfield looked basically the same fighter he was in losing efforts to Chris Byrd, James Toney and Larry Donald in 2003 and 2004, only then Holyfield blamed the losses because of a shoulder a problem.
This time, there were no such excuses to fall back on because he was badly outclassed every minute of the fight. After a cautious first two round, I assumed that Holyfield would come out blazing in the third like he had against the four mediocre opponents he’d beaten during his boxing comeback. However, when Holyfield continued to throw next to nothing in the 3rd and fourth rounds, I began to understand that he just couldn’t, that he was simply too old to pull the trigger. By the 8th round, it had become embarrassing, as Ibragimov was hitting Holyfield at will and making him look like an old man, despite his still relatively youthful appearance.
A few days ago Sultan visited Red Square wearing a USA track suit. Moments after entering he was confronted by Kremlin workers lugging bags of Russian clothing gear who insisted that he change into their nation’s colors . . . I guess none of them noticed the ticket checker at the Kremlin entrance who was wearing a New England Patriots baseball cap . . ..
Moscow traffic makes the LA Freeway at rush hour look like the Indy 500. There are between 10-12 million Muscovites-and 4 million cars. Drivers park everywhere and anywhere, including on the sidewalk. One individual parked in the right lane of a three-lane highway. . . . Amazingly enough horn blowing is rarely heard . . .
As four-time heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield (42-8-2, 27 KOs) approaches this Saturday’s heavyweight championship bout with WBO heavyweight champion Sultan Ibragimov 21-0, 17 KOs) at the Khodynka Ice Palace, in Moscow, Russia, a big questions looms about how much Holyfield has left in the tank after twenty three years as a professional boxer. Holyfield, 44, though he’s not fought as many bouts as many younger fighters, such as Wladimir Klitschko, his bouts have been much tougher, the type in which he’s stood in front of his opponents and traded shots for round after round. Along with his many wars, you have to factor in his advanced age which makes him one of the oldest heavyweights to challenge for a title since George Foreman accomplished the feat in the 90s.
While much has been made about Holyfield’s recent success over journeyman fighters Jeremy Bates, Fres Oquendo, Vinny Maddalone, and Lou Savarese, the fact remains that these fighters are hardly world class, and certainly not the type of competition to get a good gauge about how much Holyfield has left in the tank.
Four-time heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield (42-8-2, 27 KOs) is poised to win his fifth heavyweight title next month when he travels to Moscow, Russia to take on undefeated WBO heavyweight champion Sultan Ibragimov (21-0, 17 KOs) on October 13th. Never mind that Holyfield, 44, has done little to deserve a shot at the title since making his comeback to boxing following a two-year suspension by the New York State Athletic Commission due to “diminishing skills” following three consecutive losses to Chris Byrd, James Toney and Larry Donald.
Since making his comeback, Holyfield, ranked # 13 in the WBO, has faced in the following order: Jeremy Bates, Fres Oquendo, Vinny Maddalone and Lou Savarese. None of them, however, are ranked in the top 10, a fact which makes his shot at a title rather unfair given the fact that he’s essentially leapfrogged over 12 other fighters that are ranked ahead of him in the WBO. In the old days, a fighter had to earn his way to title contention by fighting and beating the best fighters, slowly working his way to the # 1 spot. However, in Holyfield’s case, all of that has seemed to have been thrown on the window to allow Holyfield yet another shot at a title.
By Kevin Dinkins: Since destroying Lamon Brewster in six brutal rounds last month on July 14th, there’s been a tremendous amount of curiosity about who IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (49-3, 44 KOs) will elect to fight next. Of the names most bandied about, Corrie Sanders and Evander Holyfield have come up the most. Since Wladimir has a non-mandatory defense coming up, he’s free to take on a lower level fighter like these two, not that they’re not credible opponents, mind you, but clearly not at the top of the class at this stage in their careers. Normally, Wladimir would fight a lower guy, possibly someone in the lower top 10 or possibly as low as 14, but a big problem right now, unfortunately, is that many of the fighters in the top 10 are busy and have fights coming up.
The fighters lower than that, however, are relatively unknown and not something that the cable networks want to see matched up with Wladimir, mainly because it won’t generate fan interest in wanting to view the fight. That’s where Holyfield comes in, and to a much lesser extent, Sanders, both of whom the fans might tune in to watch just for the spectacle of seeing them essentially be put out of their misery by Klitschko, whom at this point in his career is at the top of his game.