I don't want to misrepresent myself here. Evander "Real Deal" Holyfield is a first ballot hall of famer, and a legit 4 time world champion in 2 weight classes.. unified or undisputed each time. He succeeded during one of the toughest eras of heavyweights in boxing history, and even when losing, usually gave his opponents hell. However, there are many reasons not to be a fan of Mr. Holyfield, nor to ever model oneself after him. Some of these reasons are well-documented, while others are only known to boxing insiders.
Holyfield does not have the greatest reputation outside of the ring. While long revered as the god-fearing blood-and-guts warrior who was a gentleman outside the ring, it turns out that was not so black and white. Repeated stories of rude-ness or surliness to fans, trainers, writers, and others in the boxing world have surfaced in recent years. Add to that, his many children out of wed-lock, and his god-nonsense begins to show itself. I'm glad he was able to use his faith to help save him from intimidation, but it became a bigger joke in his later career. Whether predicting a 3rd round KO over Lennox Lewis, to predicting he would be unified champion a 4th time, god seemed to repeatedly be lying to Evander.
When it comes to fighters who should not make hometown defenses, Holyfield often does not make my list. This is mainly because unlike Cory Spinks, Mike Alvarado, or Michael Nunn, who suffered devastating KO losses at home, Holyfield was unbeaten in Atlanta. However, if you scratch the surface, you'll see the story goes much deeper. He had 3 title fights in Atlanta, his hometown. In every case he was favored to win easily, and in every case, he struggled to do so. Dwight Qawi could easily have been declared the winner of their 15 round WBA cruiserweight title fight. I had Holyfield winning, but it was very close. When they rematched on neutral ground, Holyfield dominated and stopped Qawi in 4 rounds. He also was dropped by Bert Cooper in ATL, and struggled to win an 8-4 decision over Vaughn Bean.. a man who had never beaten an opponent with a winning record.
The other two big elephants in the room are the ones everyone knows about. He is a dirty fighter, who stayed in the game too long. It's ironic that he was the victim of the world's most famous foul (Tyson's ear bite), because boxing experts routinely rank him ahead of Tyson when compiling boxing's dirty dozen. Headbutts, elbows, low blows, etc. You name it, Holyfield did it, and more and more as his skills eroded. He probably should have retired after the second Moorer fight, way back in 1997. At that point he was already a 3-time unified world champion, who had beaten every man he'd ever faced. He made more money (which he later squandered... yet another aspect of his less-than-savory character), but never looked as good as he did that night.
Chris Strait
www.convictedartist.com
