IBRAGIMOV Vs. HOLYFIELD
SULTAN IBRAGIMOV Vs. EVANDER HOLYFIELD
World Heavyweight Championship
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Distributed By Canadastar Boxing Inc.
Live! From Moscow, Russia
On Closed Circuit-Pay Per View
For Canadian Commercial Locations
EVANDER HOLYFIELD
PROFILE AND BIO
- As At 1 September 2007 -
Former undisputed heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield brings a quiet dignity to a sport that is sometimes preoccupied with empty flash and false bravado. Heart, courage and toughness have always been words affiliated with great boxing champions, but no one in the history of the sport has possessed these traits in greater measure than "The Real Deal".
Holyfield made his professional debut by defeating Lionel Byarm. He won four bouts in the Junior Heavyweight Division before moving up to Cruiserweight, where he continued to dominate.
He won the first world title in 1986 against the WBA's world cruiserweight champion, Dwight Owai.
Holyfield combined an awesome display of strength and boxing skill to bring Ricky Parkey's International Boxing Federation (IBF) cruiserweight reign to an abrupt end in the third round in May 1987.
Holyfield became boxing's first undisputed cruiserweight champion in April 1988 by knocking out World Boxing Council (WBC) champion Carlos DeLeon in the eighth round.
To this day, Holyfield is the only undefeated, undisputed Cruiserweight Champion.
In October 1990, Holyfield fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming the Heavyweight Champion of the World when he dropped James "Buster" Douglas (then IBF, WBC and WBA champion) in three rounds. Holyfield was the first cruiserweight champion to wi the heavyweight title.
His first title defense was against George Foreman, who had 65 knockouts in his 69 victories (with 10 of those KO's occurring in the last two years). The bout against foreman ended after 12 rounds, with Holyfield retaining his title.
Holyfield was scheduled to fight Mike Tyson in November 1991 in the most anticipated match of the year, but on October 18, the bout was cancelled when Tyson injured his ribs.
In 1992, Holyfield suffered his first defeat in 29 professional fights, losing a unanimous decision to Riddick Bowe.
One year later, in one of he toughest and most unusual fights of his career, Holyfield reclaimed the title from Bowe. This victory enabled Holyfield to become the fourth fighter in history to regain the heavyweight title of the world. He became the third fighter, joining the ranks of Muhammad Ali and Floyd Patterson, to regain the title in a rematch.
In 1994, Holyfield lost his titles in a bout against Michael Moorer by a narrow 3-2 decision. Immediately following the fight, Holyfield was rushed to a hospital where it was determined that he was going into heart failure. He was told that he had heart problems which were not life-threatening, but were career-ending. On his doctors' recommendations, he retired from the ring.
With each of his 2 follow up visits to his doctor, he was told he was improving. A third visit revealed that his heart was healed.
Boxing officials were not convinced and wanted him to undergo and pass a battery of physicals before any state commission would license him to fight again. After intense testing at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, his heart was pronounced healthy and he was medically cleared for a comeback.
Holyfield returned to the ring to fight Ray Mercer in May 1995. He dropped Mercer in the eighth round.
In November of that same year, Holyfield suffered the first knockout of his career in a non-title bout against Riddick Bowe. Again, instead of giving up and bowing out of boxing, he continued to push himself.
In 1996, Holyfield fought on the third card of a triple-header and completely dominated bobby Czyz, a former middleweight champion.
In what will go down in history as one of boxing's finest nights, he finally faced Mike Tyson - five years and one day after they were due to originally meet.
Both Tyson and the boxing experts had underestimated him as he dictated the action from the beginning, frustrating Tyson and not allowing the seemingly invincible puncher to unleash his notorious power shots. In the sixth round, he continued his assault and floored Tyson with a left hook and he continued to throw solid combinations, racking up points and staying out of harm's way.
In the 10th round, Holyfield stepped up the tempo as Tyson was tiring. Near the end of the 10th, he unleashed several blows that sent the champion reeling into the ropes. The bell sounded to end the 10th, and Tyson was wobbly.
He charged out of the corner in the 11th, while Tyson did not appear to know where he was. He continued with another barrage of punches and referee Mitch Halpern waved the fight off 37 seconds into the 11th round.
The impossible dream was complete. He had knocked out Tyson and regained the heavyweight title for the third time in one of the biggest upsets in the history of sports.
In the most anticipated rematch in boxing history, he and Tyson met in the ring once again on June 28, 1997. Again he faced the "Baddest Man on the Planet" and after two rounds, he was leading on all scorecards. In the third round, Tyson bit Evander's left ear, spitting a piece of it on the canvas. The fight resumed and Tyson bit his right ear. Mills Lane disqualified Tyson and Evander retained his heavyweight title in one of the most controversial fights in boxing history.
Following both bouts with Tyson, and armed with one belt, Holyfield now had his sights set at the IBF crown and its title holder, Michael Moorer. On November 8, 1997, he and Moorer squared off a second time. Following the eighth round, referee Mitch Halpern called a halt to the bout and Evander put belt No. 2 around his waist.
Set to defend his both of his titles against Henry Akinwande in June 1998, Holyfield found out the day before the fight that Akinwande was diagnosed with Hepatitis B and the fight had to be postponed. He finally got his opportunity of defending both titles when he entered the ring for the first time in over 10 months in September against the IBF's No. 1 contender, Vaughn Bean. He was awarded a unanimous decision after 12 rounds to retain both titles.
In a highly anticipated heavyweight unification bout in March 1999, he retained his belts on a controversial 12-round draw against Lennox Lewis. Eight months later, he and Lewis squared off in a rematch and the bigger, younger, stronger Lewis won a unanimous decision.
When Lewis was stripped of the WBA belt in 2000 for failing to defend his WBA title against top-rated contender, John Ruiz, the WBA declared the title vacant and ordered Ruiz and Holyfield to meet for the world title belt. Holyfield made boxing history in August 2000 when he outlasted John Ruiz to win the vacant WBA heavyweight title and become the first boxer to win the heavyweight championship on four occasions.
Holyfield lost the rematch to Ruiz on a close, unanimous 12-round decision in March 2001 and then met Ruiz a third time in December 2001 in Ruiz's backyard, but was denied a fifth heavyweight title when the 12-round bout was declared a draw.
In June 2002, he faced former Heavyweight Champion Hasim Rahman in a heavyweight eliminator and scored an eighth round technical win after the fight was stopped due to a baseball-sized lump on Rahman's forehead.
In December 2002, he battled Chris Byrd for the IBF title. Unable to find his rhythm against Byrd's awkward style, and suffering an injured shoulder in the first round, he lost the 12-round decision.
After battling a nagging shoulder injury in losing efforts to top contender, James Toney in October 2003 by 9th round TKO, and Larry Donald in November 2004 by unanimous decision, Holyfield decided to undergo surgery for the problem.
Since then, Holyfield has won his last four bouts.
In August 2006, Holyfield destroyed Jeremy Bates in two rounds (KO 2). In November 2006, he dominated dangerous contender Fres Oquendo to win a unanimous decision (W 12).
In March 2007, Holyfield battered Vinny Maddalone to earn a third round knockout (TKO 3).
Most recently, in June 2007, Holyfield twice floored Lou Savarese on his way to capturing an impressive unanimous decision (W 10). The second knockdown from a left hook with only seconds remaining in round nine, put Savarese on his back on the canvas. Savarese climbed to his feet and survived the round, but only to be battered further and nearly knocked out in round ten. |
