HOLYFIELD VS. BELFORT & SILVA VS. ORTIZ RESULTS, POST PRESSER & VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Holyfield Exposed by Father Time in Trump Triller Exhibition
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Hollywood, FL (September 12th, 2021)– In the 1936 second version of the musical Showboat, Paul Robeson sang “Ol’ Man River” by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. Former World Heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, age 58, lost a battle Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Jack Johnson, James Jeffries, and other famous champions of the ring have lost to. That opponent is father time, and themselves. When Oscar De La Hoya, ill from the Coronavirus, pulled out of his cruiserweight exhibition with Vitor Belfort, Holyfield stepped in at the last minute to replace De La Hoya. The Golden Boy’s show was moved from Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, to Florida, in order to enable Holyfield’s exhibition to get approved. The last-minute decision by Florida to allow Holyfield to face Belfort in De La Hoya’s place was a farce at his age and given a lack of formal preparations. If the California State Athletic Commission would not sanction it, Florida’s sanction proved an unreal deal.
Without hard work and proper preparations in any profession, Evander Holyfield knew better than to take a paycheck and return to the ring, even for an exhibition. Boxing is serious business, a real deal. We can now reason why De La Hoya versus Belfort and Holyfield versus Tyson III would have been sadistic exhibition massacres. For those paying Triller for the pay-per-view card at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel Casino on Saturday, September 11, 2021, the two exhibition bouts exposed the folly of sanctioning older out-of-shape fighters. Undisciplined and untrained, Evander Holyfield was like Muhammad Ali against Larry Holmes in 1980, a good-looking Rolex with the guts missing. The seemingly real Rolex got exposed as soon as the bell rang. David Haye’s earlier bout was a bit better.
The unanswered question preceding the five-bout show was whether Holyfield versus Vitor Belfort, and David Haye versus Joe Fornier, were actual eight-round bouts with three-minute rounds, or eight-round exhibition bouts with two-minute rounds. They turned out to be eight-round exhibitions. Holyfield, age 58, 44-10-2 with 29 knockouts, Atlanta, Georgia, got dropped and stopped in the first round of the main event by Belfort, age 44, a former UFC Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight champion, 1-0 in boxing, Coconut Creek, Florida by way of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. “You are a patriot!” explained former United States President Donald Trump, calling the card at ringside. You were a fool was more like it.
Holyfield launched a series of right hands. One punch landed. Holyfield then got attacked by Belfort, who dropped Holyfield twice. The first knockdown was ruled a slip. The second was not. Belfort destroyed defenseless old man river, Holyfield, on the ropes, who was too old to defend himself. The ending reflected the ravages of father time. The handwriting was on the wall. Though Belfort had not fought MMA since 2018, and his only previous boxing match was a win in 2006. Belfort was prepared. Holyfield was not, the bottom line. Holyfield fell from a hard rock, and his main event was a quick dollar unreal deal.
It was wrong for Holyfield to sacrifice his soul in humility to save De La Hoya’s so-called show, but he probably saved De La Hoya’s life in the process by sacrificing himself in place of Oscar. “It is what it is,” Holyfield stated on the ring walk on the way back to the dressing room. It isn’t what it is. It’s what you make of it. If you do not train with a proper training camp, you wind up in serious trouble. Holyfield’s children told him not to do it. Holyfield did not listen. Muhammad Ali, if he were alive, would not have approved.
Holyfield’s open workout horrified the critics, as it exposed to all he had nothing left before the brief exhibition. Holyfield claimed the referee stopped the bout too soon. Really? From the viewer’s perspective, referee Burgos waited too long. The still muscular but hollow Holyfield tried to fight on memories. The “real deal” has disintegrated to an unreal deal. Let us all hope Holyfield never puts on the gloves again.
Result: Vitor Belfort Exhibition TKO 1 Evander Holyfield, Heavyweights (1:50)
Referee: Samuel Burgos. Exhibitions Scheduled for eight-round, two minute rounds.
Seminole Hard Rock Casino Undercard Exhibition and Sanctioned Bout Results
Former World Cruiserweight and Heavyweight champion David “Hayemaker” Haye, age 40, 28-4 with 26 knockouts, Bermondsey, London, United Kingdom, dropped challenger and friend Joe Fournier, age 38, 9-0 with nine knockouts, Westbourne Park, London, United Kingdom, in the first round on the way to an easy eight-round exhibition unanimous decision victory. Haye showed no interest in hurting or stopping his businessman boxing friend, and thus appeared to carry Fourier and give a decent show for Triller. It appeared doubtful the current version of Haye would be fit for Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder, Dillian Whyte or any main event heavyweight contender. Best advice to Haye is to go back into retirement and stay there.
Result: Anderson Silva def. Tito Ortiz via KO (1:22 of round 1)
English