Monday, 02 June 2025

Evander Holyfield

Contest: The US Athletic Hall of Fame - Athletes 2025
Embed from Getty Images
Sport(s): Boxing
Statistics: Boxing Record: 44-10-2-1, 29 Wins by KO
3-Time WBA World Heavyweight Champion
1-Time WBC World Heavyweight Champion
2-Time IBF World Cruiserweight Champion
1-Time Undisputed Heavyweight Champion
1-Time WBA World Cruiserweight Champion
1-Time WBC World Cruiserweight Champion
1-Time IBF World Heavyweight Champion
1-Time Undisputed Cruiserweight Champion
1 Olympic Bronze Medal (1984, Light Heavyweight)
1 Pan American Silver Medal (1983, Light Heavyweight)
Member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame
If you were watching a PPV Heavyweight boxing contest in the 1990s, the odds are strong that it was Evander Holyfield you saw in the main event.

“The Real Deal” had a decent amateur career, peaking with a Bronze Medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics in the Light Heavyweight division. After he turned professional, he only needed four years to unify the Cruiserweight Title. Holyfield’s star was rising, but the big money and status were as a Heavyweight, and that unification fight was his last in the Cruiserweight division.

Holyfield worked his way up the ranks and looked to have a title shot at Mike Tyson’s undisputed Heavyweight Championship, but he shockingly lost those belts to James “Buster” Douglas. Holyfield would easily beat Douglas for the title but would have to wait for Tyson, as he was jailed for a rape charge. When Tyson left jail, Holyfield continued to fight. Although he lost his belts to Riddick Bowe, he avenged that loss and later fought Tyson, whom he beat twice. The second of these fights saw a frustrated Tyson bite Holyfield's ear.

Holyfield continued to fight into his late 40s and went down in history as one of the most recognized pugilists of all time.

We are proud to nominate Evander Holyfield for the United States Athletic Hall of Fame.

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