Evander Holyfield loves boxing. And boxing fans loved Evander Holyfield. But there's a reason why the 48-year-old heavyweight – who will enter the Hall of Fame five years after he finally retires, if and when he finally retires – is fighting in a lesser venue against a lesser opponent and would be getting less attention of his fight wasn't coming on an otherwise empty weekend.
Tim Dahlberg of the Associated Press:
The problem is Holyfield hasn't had a good fight in years, unless you count his win over equally ancient Francois Botha last April a good fight. It wasn't, and there's no body of evidence in boxing that the older fighters get, the better they get.
It's the exact opposite, of course, as it is in all sports. But other sports don't involve getting hit repeatedly in the head.
The fighter who helped make the '90s a good time for the heavyweight division might be emboldened in his quest by the knowledge that the cupboard is painfully bare among boxing's big guys. Take away the Klitschko brothers and Britain's David Haye, and there's not a whole lot left in the division.
But Holyfield is never going to get a fight with the Klitschkos or Haye, much less beat them. He's stuck fighting guys like Williams and Brian Nielsen, who is coming out of a nine-year retirement to fight Holyfield in Denmark in March.
Still, he soldiers on, fighting for paydays a fraction of the $35 million he made to fight Tyson the second time around. He's had recent money issues and a payday is a payday, but listen to Holyfield talk and you get the feeling he really does think he can be heavyweight champion again.
To listen to the above promo is like listening to a commercial for a Monster Truck rally. All noise. Little substance. SATURDAY! SATURDAY! SATURDAY!
Santos A. Perez in The Miami Herald:
Holyfield, who turned 48 in October, refuses to join his former rivals in retirement. As much as strict state commissions deny Holyfield fights, there always is a willing location, opponent and promoter.
Now, instead of fight Meccas such as Madison Square Garden and Las Vegas, Holyfield settles for venues overseas or in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., site of his bout against Sherman Williams on Saturday night. Fight organizers, still trying to bank on Holyfield's name recognition, somehow gave this bout a pay-per-view tag.
But does Evander Holyfield truly need to retire?
If you'll pardon me linking to myself on very, very, very rare occasions, I asked that question this week:
Holyfield could not be that ageless wonder in the past decade. He will not be that ageless wonder now.
But he has not been damaged despite fighting on against opponents the caliber of Bates or Maddalone or Savarese or Botha. He should not be in any danger against Williams or Nielsen.
Holyfield is a fraction of what he once was. As is Roy Jones Jr. As are numerous other faded former stars. And commissions must take that into account should these faded stars want to face those who have replaced them at the top.
There is a tremendous difference between how Jones looked against Jeff Lacy and how Jones looked against Danny Green and Bernard Hopkins. There is a tremendous difference between Holyfield standing across from the men he has beaten – and even the titleholders, Ibragimov and Valuev, he has lost to – and him being in the ring with Haye or the Klitschkos.
If athletic commissions will still allow the men Holyfield has beaten to fight, then the same commissions must allow Holyfield to fight as well.
We can say this now. But time, unlike nearly every fighter to enter the sport, remains undefeated.
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