Table of Biography
Evander Holyfield is a retired American professional boxer from Alabam, the United States. Moreover, Evander Holyfield is the only boxer to win the undisputed championship in two weight classes in his career from 1984 to 2011.
Early Life
Evander Holyfield was born in Atmore, Alabama, the United States on October 19, 1962. His zodiac sign is Libra and he is currently 60 years old as of 2022. Moreover, he is also popular with his nicknames “The Real Deal” and “The Warrior”. The former professional boxer holds American nationality and belongs to an African-American ethnic background.
His father is Isom Coley and his mother Annie Laura Holyfield worked as a cook in a restaurant. Moreover, he has eight siblings from a different father and was the youngest among them. At the age of 4, his family moved to Atlanta, Georgia from Atmore, Alabama. He grew up in Bowen Homes Housing Projects which was full of crime at that time.
He graduated from Fulton High School in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1980. Besides that, there is no further information about the former professional boxer’s other academic achievements.
Professional Life
At the age of seven, Evander Holyfield started boxing and used to fight on the streets. A boy named Cecil Brown beat him twice in the early days of his boxing which disappointed him enough to quit boxing. However, he won the third time when he built the courage to fight him again. After that, he joined the Boys & Girls Club at the age of eight.
Moreover, Carter Morgan introduced him to the field of professional boxing and won the boys club boxing tournament. At the age of 13, he became eligible to compete in the first junior Olympics and won the Southeastern Regional Championship and the best boxer award at the age of 15. After that, he represented his country the United States in the 1983 Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela. However, he won the silver medal after his loss to Pablo Romero of Cuba in the final.
In 1984, he bounced back from his loss and won the National Golden Gloves tournament. After that, he represented the United States in the light heavyweight division of boxing at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California in 1984. However, he ended the tournament by winning a bronze medal and ended the year with 160 wins and 14 losses as an amateur boxer.
In the same year, he made his professional boxing debut and began his journey in the light heavyweight division on November 15. Moreover, he defeated Lionel Byarm in the sixth round of his debut fight.
Caption: Evander Holyfield’s fight against Mike Tyson (Source: Instagram)
Cruiserweight Division
After that, he went up into the cruiserweight division and fought against Tyrone Booze on July 20, 1985, and won the fight. In 1986, he fought against Dwight Muhammad Qawi for the WBA Cruiserweight Championship. After 15 rounds, he won the fight and became a world champion via a split decision. Moreover, The Ring Magazine recognized the fight as the best cruiserweight bout of the 1980s.
He knocked out Ricky Parkey in the third round and won the IBF belt in 1987. After that, he went on to defeat the Lineal & WBC champion, Carlos De Leon, in Las Vegas in 1988. He moved to the heavyweight division and won his first heavyweight bout against James “Quick” Tillis by a knockout in round five. Moreover, he also knocked out former heavyweight champion Pinklon Thomas in the seventh round at the end of 1988.
After that, he fought and won against many boxers and became the number-one contender for the Heavyweight title for two years. He became undefeated undisputed heavyweight champion of the world after he knocked out Buster Douglas in the third round on October 25, 1990. However, he lost for the first time in his career against Riddick Bowe on November 13, 1992.
He won the rematch against Riddick on November 6, 1993, but lost the third and final fight against Riddick. After that, he lost against former WBO light heavyweight champion Michael Moore in April 1994. Later, he announced his retirement after the fight due to a heart condition. However, he returned to the ring and won the fight against Ray Mercer. In 1996, he shocked everyone by defeating Mike Tyson in round 11 by technical knockout.
More Fights
Evander Holyfield fought against Lennox Lewis which ended in a draw but lost to Lennox in the rematch. After that, he won the fight against John Ruiz by unanimous decision in 2000. However, he lost the rematch in March 2001 and the final match between them ended in a draw. Later, he lost three consecutive fights against Chris Byrd, James Toney, and Larry Donald after his win against Hasim Rahman. After that, he defeated boxers like Jeremy Bates, Fres Oquendo, Vinny Maddalone, and Lou Savarese.
However, he lost against Sultan Ibragimov in 2007 and Nikolai Valuev in a World Heavyweight Championship match. Later, he won the next fight against Francois Botha by a knockout. However, he again announced his retirement in June 2014 and worked as a boxing adviser to Zhang Zhilei. On September 11, 2021, he lost the exhibition fight against Vitor Belfort by a knockout.
Achievements
Evander Holyfield has won four World Heavyweight Champion in the history of boxing. Additionally, he became the first boxer in history to become the World Heavyweight Champion for 4th time. Moreover, he held WBA, WBC, and IBF titles together from the year 1990 to 1992.
Caption: Evander with WBA, WBC, and IBF titles (Source: Instagram)
Evander Holyfield – Net Worth 2023
Evander Holyfield has earned a huge amount of money from his fight against several boxers. According to online sources, the estimated net worth of the former professional boxer is around $1 million US dollars. Moreover, he suffered financially despite earning $513 million US dollars due to mismanagement of money.
Relationship Status
Caption: Evander with his current girlfriend (Source: Instagram)
Evander Holyfield has married three times Paulette Bowen, Janice Itson, and Candi Calvani Smith. Moreover, the former professional boxer has eleven children with six sons and five daughters. Additionally, he has a son named Evan who is also a professional boxer. Furthermore, the former professional boxer is currently in a relationship but he has not revealed any information about his girlfriend. The duo is soon going to be married.
There were allegations of the use of steroids against Evander Holyfield but he refused the allegations. Besides that, there is no information about the former professional boxer’s other rumors and controversies.
Evander Holyfield – Body Measurements
Evander has black eyes and black hair with a height of 6 feet 2 inches and a weight of 102 Kg. Moreover, the former professional boxer’s biceps size is 16 inches and his chest size is 44 inches.
Social Media
Evander Holyfield is pretty active on social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. His Instagram account @evanderholyfield has over 532 thousand followers. On Twitter, he has over 302 thousand followers on his account @holyfield. Moreover, his official Facebook account “Evander Holyfield” has over 1 million followers.