Evander Holyfield, byname the Real Deal (born October 19, 1962, Atmore, Alabama, U.S.), American boxer, the only professional fighter to win the heavyweight championship four separate times and thereby surpass the record of Muhammad Ali, who won it three times.
Holyfield's first love was football. He did quite well as a linebacker for the Warren Boys Club team, and dreamed of making the football team in high school. He did make the team as a sophomore at Fulton High School, but the results were frustrating for Holyfield. At five-foot-four inches and 115 pounds, Holyfield was just too small, and game after game he found himself warming the bench. It got so bad that he decided to quit before the end of the season, and told his mother of his decision. She ended the conversation with a simple declaration: "You finish it out."
Holyfield fought in his first professional fight shortly after the Olympics, defeating Lionel Byarm on November 15, 1984, in New York City. Less than two years later Holyfield won his first title belts, the World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) cruiserweight (then known as junior heavyweight) championships. He defeated Dwight Muhammad Qawi in fifteen rounds in Atlanta on July 12, 1986, to win the titles, becoming the first boxer from the 1984 Olympics to win a professional championship. Holyfield successfully defended his championship belts for nearly two years and was the first-ever undefeated, undisputed cruiserweight title holder. The cruiserweight belts now feature his image in honor of his achievements in that weight class.
Evander Holyfield, the only boxer to become the heavyweight champion of the world four times, faces Mike Tyson in the ring. Holyfield trained for his second title fight at the gym of Lee Haney, an eight-time Mr. Olympia, in Atlanta.
Evander Holyfield
Holyfield gave up the cruiserweight titles to move up to the heavyweight division in July 1988, and he became the undisputed
Evander Holyfield poses with his championship belts in 1990, after becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
Evander Holyfield
heavyweight champion of the world (winning the WBA, IBF, and World Boxing Council titles) on October 25, 1990, when he knocked out Buster Douglas in the third round. Following three successful title defenses, Holyfield lost a twelve-round decision and the heavyweight belts to Riddick Bowe on November 13, 1992. He regained the WBA and IBF titles a year later, on November 11, 1993, by defeating Bowe in another twelve-round decision.
Three years later Holyfield began a well-publicized pair of fights with former champion Mike Tyson, who had recently been released from prison after serving time for rape. Holyfield kept his titles by knocking out Tyson in the eleventh round of the first fight, on November 9, 1996. When the two met again on June 28, 1997, Tyson was disqualified for twice biting Holyfield's ear during the fight.
In 1999 Holyfield fought WBC heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis twice—first to a much-disputed draw on March 13 and then with Lewis winning by decision in the November 13 rematch to reunify the titles. In 2000 the WBA stripped Lennox Lewis (who has since retired) of his WBA belt for refusing to defend his title against John Ruiz. Holyfield then met Ruiz three times for the vacant title, winning the first fight by a unanimous decision on August 12, 2000; losing the second on March 3, 2001; and drawing the third match on December 15, 2001.
As of 2005, Holyfield has won only one fight since drawing with Ruiz. On June 1, 2002, he beat Hasim Rahman by a technical decision after accidentally headbutting him. He then met WBA heavyweight champion Chris Byrd on December 14, 2002, for the IBF world title that was vacated when Lewis retired. Holyfield lost a unanimous twelve-round decision. Undeterred, Holyfield fought James Toney on October 4, 2003, but lost by technical knockout. On November 13, 2004, Holyfield suffered his third consecutive loss, to Larry Donald, by unanimous decision. Through the 2004 fight, Holyfield's record stands at thirty-eight wins (including twenty-five knockouts), eight losses, and two draws.
1982 Golden Gloves national title
1984 Bronze medal, Olympics, boxing
1986 WBA Cruiserweight champion (Defeats Dwight Qawi)
1987 IBF Cruiserweight champion (Defeats Rickey Parkey)
1988 Undisputed World Cruiserweight Champion (Defeats Carlos DeLeon)
1990 Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion (Defeats Buster Douglas)
1993 Retakes IBF/WBA Heavyweight titles (Defeats Riddick Bowe) (One of three heavyweight champions to regain title from the man who beat him)
2000 Retakes WBA Heavyweight title (Defeats John Ruiz)
Quotations:
It is not the size of a man but the size of his heart that matters.
Evander Holyfield
Stay on your toes and always move forward.
Evander Holyfield
He listens to his trainer real good. He just doesn't listen to me. I still can't get him to do nothing.
Evander Holyfield
I have to have an adjustment before I go into the ring. I do believe in chiropractic. I found that going to a chiropractor three times a week helps my performance. The majority of boxers go to get that edge.
Evander Holyfield
I beat Larry Holmes and George Foreman. I whupped Mike Tyson twice. I had my ear chewed off and spat on the ground in front of me. I've seen everything it is possible to see in boxing. I know this business better than anyone. So I live and die by my own decisions.
Evander Holyfield
If you don't take no chances, then you're not a performer. Performers always take chances. You go see a singer, they'll hit the high note. They'll hit that note, they're not afraid, they're gonna exaggerate the fact and make me enjoy it, make me say, 'Wow, I wish I could do that!
Evander Holyfield
As far as working out, I know exactly what I'm doing.
Evander Holyfield
No. I probably do better not being in politics. They have too much control over you when you are in politics.
Evander Holyfield
I got three whippings a day from my mama.
Evander Holyfield
My goal is to be the undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World.
Evander Holyfield
The game's been good to me and I hope I've been good to the game. I'm 50 years old and I've pretty much did everything that I wanted to do in boxing.
Evander Holyfield
We lived in a real rough place but my mother kept me straight.
Evander Holyfield
Deep down, I reckon the sweetest moment will come when it's finally all over. When, at last, I know that I can stop fighting. Of course it'll also be a little sad. The sweetest moments, y'know, always come with just a little sadness.
Evander Holyfield
From what I hear is happening, young Indian boxers have started to do well on the world stage and started to gain the attention of the general audience.
Evander Holyfield
I'm just one woman away, my mother, from being the same as Mike Tyson. I would've ended up like him if my mama had not been so tough and strong. A lot of people, including Mike, don't know I came from the ghetto. They think I'm too nice and proper. But that's the way my mama raised me - to look people in the eye and respect them.
Evander Holyfield
The big guys choose who they want to fight and they think about history: 'how many times I defended my title.' They try to break a record: 'how long I was there.' But if you look at the pedigree, who they fought, ain't nobody gonna give them credit for it because they fought a lot of people with no experience.
Evander Holyfield
A setback only paves the way for a comeback.
Evander Holyfield
Well, number one I like dancing. Number two I knew it would be challenging because I had never done this type of dance before. I always wanted to and I happened to have the courage to go out there and give it my best shot.
Evander Holyfield
People who make the choice to study, work hard or do whatever they endeavor is to give it the max on themselves to reach to the top level. And you have the people who get envy and jealous, yet are not willing to put that work in, and they want to get the same praise.
Evander Holyfield
That's the biggest problem with boxing in the United States. They do not promote it like they used to, when it used to be Howard Cosell and they showed it on 'Wide World of Sports.' Everybody knew all the fighters. Everybody was looking forward to the year when the Olympics came on.
Evander Holyfield
When you have a sound mind, you can do what's necessary.
Evander Holyfield
The word of God steadies me. He says your trials and tribulations make you who you are. So you can see my whole story in the way I endured and overcame some testing experiences.
Evander Holyfield
Well, when I think of steroids I think of an image. You have the advantage over someone, which is a form of cheating. I guess it wouldn't be right unless it was legal for everybody. Reason it's not legal for everybody is because it can hurt people seriously.
Evander Holyfield
The main thing about Bruce Lee is that, he was a little guy. And you know, his quickness, his aggressiveness, his explosive power, you have to be a great athlete to have all these, his body, his look, you know, all these things have to do with discipline and structure. He was able to go against the biggest guy, regardless of who he was.
Evander Holyfield
height 6′ 2½″ / 189cm
Away from the boxing ring, Holyfield is a preacher whose personal heroes are the Nobel Peace Prize winners Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela, the leader of the South African anti-apartheid movement. In addition to contributing a substantial amount of money to evangelical causes, he started a college fund for minority students, and funded a family community center. In 1996 Holyfield published his autobiography, Holyfield: The Humble Warrior, which he wrote with his brother Bernard. In July 2003 Holyfield, who has ten children, married for the third time, and in 2005 he competed as a celebrity dancer on the television series Dancing with the Stars.
Off stage and out the ring, Holyfield devotes some of his time to helping young people. The Holyfield Foundation supports numerous programs for inner-city children. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
50-year-old Evander Holyfield former Heavyweight champion, has been married three times. his first marriage to Paulette Bowen lasted 6 years, the got married in 1985 until 1991, five years later he got married to his second wife was Janice Itson, they divorce in 2000.
Then on July, 2003 he got married to his third wife 32-year-old Candi Calvana Smith who also goes by Candi Holyfield, with whom he has two children Ethan Holyfield born on February 5th, 2004 and Eve Heloyfield born on May 14th, 2005. On February 1st, 2010 Candi Holyfield filed a restraining order against Evander, she claimed he hit her in the face and neck after things got crazier during a heated argument at their mansion in Georgia.
Candi said her children with Holyfield, witnessed the attack, Candi added that days after that happened he threw a bottle of water at her, in the legal documents Mrs. Holyfield stated the the abused began ever since she was pregnant with their first child and continued over the years.
Candi filed for divorce after the domestic abuse, but he talked her into work things over, she dismissed the protective order within days and even it was reported they would appeared at Dr. Phil
But things did not improve and today after two years Candi is officially a single woman. The divorce papers were finalized at a the Georgia Superior Court. It was stated that the former couple agreed on a settlement regarding property divorce, custody, spousal and child support.
He has a total of 11 children, all with names beginning with the letter "E."
