Why Does Evander Holyfield Refuse to Retire?

This past August, Evander "The Real Deal" Holyfield (39-8-2 26 KO'S) returned to the ring after a nearly two-year layoff. The reason Holyfield had been off for so long is because he was recovering from shoulder surgery, a surgery that had been put off for about two years. In those two years, he was fighting with a bad shoulder. He lost all three of his fights.

But, before you go on thinking this is a Holyfield praise piece, and that he will no doubt win his 5th world title in just a matter of months, think again. Holyfield has been theoretically done since 2002, when he defeated Hasim Rahman by an 8th round technical decision. That was the fight when a lump the size of a grapefruit rose on Rahman's head, prompting doctors to stop the fight and go to the scorecards.

In those previously mentioned three losses in the row, all following the Rahman win, his management team for some reason put him in with three defensively minded fighters. At nearly 44 years of age, these are exactly the type of fighters Holyfield should not be fighting. First came Chris Byrd who, despite fighting as a middleweight as an amateur, proved to be a mainstay at the top of the heavyweight division for nearly half a decade. Holyfield would lose a wide unanimous decision.

Next up was arguably one of the best pound for pound fighters of the last decade, James Toney. This was only James Toney's second fight at heavyweight, so more than a few boxing experts thought Holyfield had a decent chance of winning this one. Toney would go on to embarrass Holyfield more than he ever had, causing Holyfield's corner to stop the fight in the 9th round. This was also around the time Holyfield hurt his shoulder, and used this as an excuse for the loss. Why he continued fighting after this is anyone's guess, but 13 months later he was in the ring with yet another accomplished boxer, Larry Donald.

Larry Donald won the fight by a very wide margin, winning nearly every round. Many thought this was the end of the line for Holyfield and the New York State athletic commission helped the process by banning him from boxing for fear of his safety.

Around the beginning of 2006, while recovering from his long awaited shoulder surgery, there were rumblings that he was planning a comeback. Many members of the boxing media thought he would go on the "George Foreman Plan," which is to take on a bunch of low level fighters and look good against them, and then try for a title shot. This seemed reasonable enough, considering Holyfield was still younger than when Foreman won his title at the age of 46. However, Foreman also had a ten-year layoff, hadn't lost eight times, and didn't have a bad shoulder.

Holyfield came back against one of these lower level fighters, Jeremy Bates, a 21-11-1 fighter with 18 KO's. Up until about six weeks before their scheduled August 18th bout, Bates was retired and selling insurance in West Virginia. Predictably, Holyfield knocked Bates out, in the third round.
Fully expecting Holyfield to fight another Bates-like opponent, he dropped a bomb in the pre-fight press conference, saying he would next be fighting a top ten guy. After a few names had been thrown around, Fres Oquendo, a former world title challenger, was the name they settled for. Oquendo, 26-3 18 KO's, is another boxer who falls under the masterful boxer category, so this choice of opponent took boxing fans by surprise. Many media members, including myself, think that Holyfield would best be suited fighting an opponent who will stay in front of him instead of a fighter Holyfield has to chase, which on 43-year-old legs is no doubt a chore.

Holyfield says he continues to fight because he wants to retire as a five-time world champion. If he can somehow get by Oquendo, then he may at least get that title shot. Oleg Maskaev, the WBC champion, and his manager Dennis Rappaport have shown great interest in a fight with Holyfield. Maskaev is no spring chicken himself at 37 years old. Maskaev, who defeated Hasim Rahman for the WBC crown on August 12th, is looking to maximize his dollar input before he has to retire and a PPV fight with the well-known Evander Holyfield would do just that.

While Holyfield was sitting in idle the last two years, it was almost a given that he would never be a player in the division again. But now he stands, amazingly enough, just one fight away from getting his shot at that elusive fifth world championship.

If you had to pick a champion for Holyfield to fight (there are four heavyweight champions), you would pick Maskaev. He's the oldest, at 37, and he stands there with you and slugs it out.

If Holyfield wins the title, it will no doubt be one of the biggest sports stories of all time. It would put George Foreman's amazing accomplishment on the backburner. It still seems unlikely, but two years ago it seemed impossible.