Evander Holyfield was famed for his heart, will to win, and granite chin. But one man tested the latter to its limit.
Holyfield captured world titles at both cruiserweight and heavyweight, but it was in the marquee division where “The Real Deal” faced his greatest challenges. None bigger than Riddick Bowe across their legendary trilogy.
Bowe managed to floor Holyfield, yet the fighter who made him wonder if he’d need a dentist did so a year before their first meeting.
When George Foreman came to Atlantic City to challenge Holyfield for the undisputed heavyweight championship, it was 18 years after he had first won the crown by demolishing Joe Frazier in two rounds.
At 42, Foreman gave a far more credible performance in defeat than many expected and left a lasting impression on the then 28-year-old Holyfield, as he told Dontaes Boxing Nation.
“The guy that hit me the hardest was George Foreman. He hit me one time in that 11th round and I came back to the corner and said, ‘Did he knock all my teeth out?’ They said, ‘You all right.’
“I knew in boxing they’ll tell you anything to keep you going. In the 12th round I held him a lot, and at the press conference they said, ‘You had to hold the old man.’ I said, ‘But I beat him.’”
Holyfield refused to let pride or stubbornness cost him the titles he’d won against “Buster” Douglas.
“I wasn’t gonna let him knock me out ’cause I’m too self-centred to hold him. I’ll do whatever I can. He came out in the 12th trying to get me. I grabbed him for 15, 20 seconds. I wasn’t gonna get knocked out.”
Describing the difference in power between himself and Foreman, he said:
“I was throwing rocks, he was throwing boulders.”
Holyfield has also recently named who he deems to be the greatest heavyweight of all time – himself.
