The Real Deal Returns! Evander Holyfield Announces Comeback at Age 57.
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Las Vegas, NV (May 7th, 2020)– First, Iron Mike Tyson announced a comeback for charity. Now Evander Holyfield has announced he is making a comeback for charity. Maybe every former heavyweight champion will get into the giving spirit, in the age of the coronavirus, if the comeback is for an unselfish just cause. If only the fighters will get an opportunity to step back inside the ring. Given social isolation protocols, that day may have to wait for a few months.
Holyfield, age 57, 44-10-2 with 29 knockouts, Atlanta, Georgia, “The Real Deal”, has already beaten Iron Mike Tyson twice. Perhaps a third trilogy bout for charity could be in the works. Holyfield’s last ring appearance was a tenth round stoppage victory over Brian Nielsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2011.
“The champ is back! I’d like to announce I will be making a comeback to the ring. I will be fighting exhibition matches for (charity) a great cause,” Holyfield told TMZ. “My name was made on fighting,” Holyfield said on the charity’s website. “It’s time I bring that fighter out with the man I have always been. It’s time to step up as citizens need help like never before.”
Tyson, who has been offered one million dollars to fight Sonny Boy Williams in Australia, and Holyfield, who has dabbled in fight promotion, could probably use the exhibition cash. Whether Lennox Lewis, Vitaly Klitschko, Wladimir Klitschko, Riddick Bowe, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Michael Spinks, Mike Weaver, and a host of other notables from Thomas Hearns to Roberto Duran, from Sugar Ray Leonard to Floyd Mayweather Jr., how many of the old names jump on the exhibition bandwagon during the pandemic remains to be seen. True, boxing, like all sports, needs positive publicity.
From Danny Lopez to Juan LaPorte, form Wilfredo Gomez to Alfredo Escalera, from Frank Bruno to Joe Bugner, comebacks need to make sense, even if only exhibitions. Fighters will still need to complete a comprehensive battery of testing and receive official exhibition licenses from the respective boxing commissions involved in staging exhibition matches and shows.
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