101 Facts About Evander Holyfield

Evander Holyfield was born on October 19,1962 and is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011.

Evander Holyfield reigned as the undisputed champion in the cruiserweight division in the late 1980s and at heavyweight in the early 1990s, and was the only boxer in history to win the undisputed championship in two weight classes in the "three-belt era", a feat later surpassed by Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue and Oleksandr Usyk, who became two-weight undisputed champions in the four-belt era.

Evander Holyfield turned professional at the age of 21, moving up to cruiserweight in 1985 and winning his first world championship the following year, defeating Dwight Muhammad Qawi for the WBA title.

Evander Holyfield then went on to defeat Ricky Parkey and Carlos de Leon to win the WBC and IBF titles, thus becoming the undisputed cruiserweight champion.

Evander Holyfield moved up to heavyweight in 1988, later defeating Buster Douglas in 1990 to claim the unified WBA, WBC and IBF heavyweight titles and the undisputed heavyweight championship.

Evander Holyfield successfully defended his titles three times, scoring victories over former champions George Foreman and Larry Holmes, before suffering his first professional loss to Riddick Bowe in 1992.

Evander Holyfield regained the crown in a rematch one year later, defeating Bowe for the WBA and IBF titles.

Evander Holyfield later lost these titles in an upset against Michael Moorer in 1994.

Evander Holyfield was forced to retire in 1994 upon medical advice, only to return a year later with a clean bill of health.

Evander Holyfield won a 1997 rematch against Tyson, which saw the latter disqualified in round three for biting off part of Evander Holyfield's ears.

Evander Holyfield lost a rematch against Ruiz seven months later and faced him for the third time in a draw.

Evander Holyfield retired in 2014, and is ranked number 77 on The Rings list of 100 greatest punchers of all time and in 2002 named him the 22nd greatest fighter of the past 80 years.

Evander Holyfield is the first boxer to hold world titles in three different decades, in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

Evander Holyfield was born on October 19,1962, in the mill town of Atmore, Alabama.

Evander Holyfield began boxing at age seven and won the Boys Club boxing tournament.

When he was 20 years old, Evander Holyfield represented the US in the 1983 Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela, where he won a silver medal after losing to Cuban world champion Pablo Romero.

Evander Holyfield started out professionally as a light heavyweight with a televised win in six rounds over Lionel Byarm at Madison Square Garden on November 15,1984.

On October 30 in Atlantic City Evander Holyfield knocked out opponent Jeff Meachem in five rounds, and his last fight for 1985 was against Anthony Davis on December 21 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Evander Holyfield won by knocking out Davis in the fourth round.

Evander Holyfield began 1986 with a knockout in three rounds over former world cruiserweight challenger Chisanda Mutti, and proceeded to beat Jessy Shelby and Terry Mims before being given a world title try by the WBA Cruiserweight Champion Dwight Muhammad Qawi.

In what was called by The Ring as the best cruiserweight bout of the 1980s, Evander Holyfield became world champion by defeating Qawi by a narrow 15 round split decision.

Evander Holyfield culminated 1986 with a trip to Paris, France, where he beat Mike Brothers by a knockout in three, in a non-title bout.

Evander Holyfield retained his belt, winning by seventh-round knockout, and then went on to unify his WBA belt with the IBF belt held by Ricky Parkey, knocking Parkey out in three rounds.

Evander Holyfield began 1989 meeting another former Heavyweight Champion, Michael Dokes.

Evander Holyfield won by a knockout in the 10th round, and then he met Brazilian Champion Adilson Rodrigues, who lasted two rounds.

Evander Holyfield's last fight of the 1980s was against Alex Stewart, a hard punching fringe contender.

In 1990, Evander Holyfield beat Seamus McDonagh, knocking him out in four rounds.

Evander Holyfield had been promised a title shot against Tyson in 1990.

Evander Holyfield countered with a straight right hand and Douglas went down for the count.

Evander Holyfield was the new undefeated, undisputed heavyweight champion of the World.

Evander Holyfield weighed in at 208 pounds and Foreman weighed in at 257 pounds.

Evander Holyfield made his next defense in Atlanta against late replacement in Bert Cooper over Francesco Damiani who suffered a foot injury in training days before the fight, Cooper surprised Evander Holyfield with a very good effort.

Evander Holyfield landed brutal power shots, culminated by repeated vicious uppercuts that snapped Cooper's head back.

Evander Holyfield made the mistake of getting into a slugfest with the younger, bigger and stronger Bowe, leading to his defeat.

Evander Holyfield began 1993 by beating Alex Stewart in a rematch, but this time over the 12-round unanimous distance.

Evander Holyfield took his eyes off Bowe for one moment and then told Bowe to look up to the skies.

Twenty minutes later, calm was restored and Evander Holyfield went on to recover his world heavyweight titles with a close 12 round majority decision.

Evander Holyfield's next fight, April 1994, he met former WBO light heavyweight Michael Moorer, who was attempting to become the first southpaw to become the universally recognised world heavyweight champion.

Evander Holyfield dropped Moorer in round two, but lost a twelve-round majority decision.

However, watching a television show hosted by preacher Benny Hinn, Evander Holyfield says he felt his heart heal.

Evander Holyfield then passed his next examination by the boxing commission.

Evander Holyfield later stated that his heart was misdiagnosed due to the morphine pumped into his body.

In 1995, Evander Holyfield returned to the ring with a ten-round decision win versus former Olympic gold medalist, Ray Mercer.

Evander Holyfield was the first man to knock down Mercer.

Evander Holyfield knocked Bowe down with a single left hook but Bowe prevailed by a knockout in eight.

Evander Holyfield later claimed that he contracted hepatitis before the fight.

In 1996, Evander Holyfield met former world champion Bobby Czyz, beating him by a knockout in six.

Tyson was heavily favored to win, but Evander Holyfield made history by defeating Tyson in an 11th round TKO.

Evander Holyfield knocked Moorer to the canvas five times and referee Mitch Halpern stopped the fight between the eighth and ninth rounds under the advice of physician Flip Homansky.

Evander Holyfield unified his WBA belt with the IBF belt by avenging his defeat by Moorer.

In 1998 Evander Holyfield had only one fight, making a mandatory defense against Vaughn Bean, who was defeated by decision at the Georgia Dome in the champion's hometown.

Evander Holyfield claimed his performance was hindered by stomach and leg cramps.

Evander Holyfield blamed his lackluster performance on a perforated eardrum.

Evander Holyfield was leading on two of the three scorecards when the fight was stopped in the eighth round due to a severe hematoma on Rahman's forehead above his left eye that was caused by a headbutt earlier in the fight.

Evander Holyfield was ahead, so he was declared the winner by a technical decision.

On December 14,2002, Evander Holyfield tried to become the first man ever to be Heavyweight Champion five times when he and Byrd met, but Byrd came out as the winner by a 12-round unanimous decision.

On October 4,2003, Evander Holyfield lost to James Toney by TKO when his corner threw in the towel in the ninth round.

At age 42, Evander Holyfield returned to the ring to face Larry Donald on November 13,2004.

Evander Holyfield lost his third consecutive match in a twelve-round unanimous decision.

Evander Holyfield was initially criticized for his ongoing comeback; but he was adamant that his losses to Toney and Donald were the result of a shoulder injury, not of old age.

Evander Holyfield had looked better in his first four fights since Donald and appeared to have answered the critics who say that he lacked the cutting edge and ability to follow up on crucial openings that he had in his youth.

Evander Holyfield defeated Jeremy Bates by TKO on August 18,2006, in a 10-round bout at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.

Evander Holyfield dominated the fight which was stopped in the second round after he landed roughly twenty consecutive punches on Bates.

Evander Holyfield defeated Fres Oquendo by unanimous decision on November 10,2006, in San Antonio, Texas.

On March 17,2007, Evander Holyfield defeated Vinny Maddalone by TKO when Maddalone's corner threw in the towel to save their man from serious injury in the ring.

On June 30,2007, Evander Holyfield defeated Lou Savarese, knocking the bigger and heavier Savarese down in the fourth and again in the ninth round, en route to a unanimous decision win.

On October 13,2007, Evander Holyfield was defeated by Sultan Ibragimov.

Many analysts were outraged at the decision, thinking Evander Holyfield had clearly won.

Evander Holyfield reportedly agreed to fight South African boxer Francois Botha on January 16,2010; it was agreed that the venue for the fight would be the Nelson Mandela Memorial Stadium in Kampala, Uganda.

Botha held and hit Evander Holyfield, and took the control of the fight for the first three rounds.

Evander Holyfield started the bout slowly and in the second round, he was cut in the left eye following an accidental clash of heads.

Nielsen had said that although it would be mighty difficult for him to beat Evander Holyfield, he promised it would not be a one sided affair.

Evander Holyfield said that if he won he would move to next level and challenge for major titles.

Evander Holyfield started the fight aggressively, pressing the 46-year-old Nielsen into the ropes and landing several hard jabs and hooks, knocking him down in the 3rd round.

Evander Holyfield pushed Nielsen into a corner and battered him with combinations until the referee stopped the contest.

However, In June 2014, after not fighting in over three years, Evander Holyfield announced his final retirement.

Evander Holyfield is currently a boxing adviser to heavyweight prospect Zhang Zhilei.

On September 3,2021, it was reported that Oscar De La Hoya, who had been slated to headline a Triller PPV show against Vitor Belfort on September 11, had been hospitalized with COVID-19, and that Evander Holyfield would be stepping in for De La Hoya.

Evander Holyfield is the younger brother of actor and dancer, Bernard Evander Holyfield, and currently lives and trains in Fayette County, Georgia.

Evander Holyfield founded Real Deal Records which signed the briefly successful group Exhale.

In late 2007 and early 2008, Evander Holyfield was among a number of celebrities to be doing television ads for the restaurant chain Zaxby's.

In 2017, a statue of Evander Holyfield designed by sculptor Brian Hanlon was commissioned by the city of Atlanta for installation in Downtown Atlanta.

Evander Holyfield had a video game released for the Genesis and Game Gear: Evander Holyfield's Real Deal Boxing.

In 1996 Evander Holyfield was given the opportunity to carry the Olympic torch when it was on its way to his hometown of Atlanta for that year's Olympics.

On September 22,2007, Evander Holyfield released the Real Deal Grill cooking appliance via TV infomercials.

Evander Holyfield's popularity has led to numerous television appearances for the boxer.

Evander Holyfield had minor roles in three movies during the 1990s, Blood Salvage, Necessary Roughness, and Summer of Sam.

Evander Holyfield made a guest appearance on Nickelodeon's game show Nickelodeon Guts during its third season in 1994.

Evander Holyfield appeared once in an episode of children animated series Phineas and Ferb.

In 2005, Evander Holyfield came in fifth place on ABC's Dancing with the Stars with his partner Edyta Sliwinska.

Evander Holyfield made an appearance on the original BBC Strictly Come Dancing "Champion of Champions" showdown, which featured the final four teams from the 2005 edition of the British series, plus two celebrities from spinoff versions, paired with British professional dancers, one featuring Holyfield paired with Karen Hardy, and Rachel Hunter paired with Brendan Cole.

Evander Holyfield replaced Montel Vontavious Porter, who had to pull out after being legitimately diagnosed with a heart condition that was not part of a storyline.

Evander Holyfield appeared as himself in the 2011 remake of Arthur.

On January 3,2014, Evander Holyfield became the 12th housemate to enter the 13th series of Celebrity Big Brother.

In May 2016, Evander Holyfield entered the Argentine dancing reality show Bailando 2016.

In 2019, Evander Holyfield appeared as part of the Carolina Hurricanes NHL team's "Storm Surge" celebration, in which he pretended to knock out Hurricanes player Jordan Martinook at center ice.

Recordings of Evander Holyfield supporting the Hurricanes occasionally appeared on the team's scoreboard for the remainder of that season and in subsequent years.

Evander Holyfield's fortune was drained by frivolous spending, multiple failed business ventures, constant child support payments, and his three divorces, among other things.

On February 28,2007, Evander Holyfield was anonymously linked to Applied Pharmacy Services, a pharmacy in Alabama that was under investigation for supplying athletes with illegal steroids and human growth hormone.

On March 10,2007, Evander Holyfield made a public announcement that he would be pursuing his own investigation into the steroid claims in order to clear his name.

Evander Holyfield was again linked to HGH in September 2007, when his name came up following a raid of Signature Pharmacy in Orlando, Florida.