Evander Holyfield worked out at an automobile dealership Monday afternoon near Las Vegas.
Sadly and finally it has gotten to this point.
Holyfield is obviously chasing the buck, but could this visit to a car dealership make that much difference in the final numbers for a fight that won’t even live up to last Saturday nights Hopkins vs. Jones, Jr. fight at the Mandalay Bay as far as final gross and fan excitement?
I know the last 10 years have been brutal financially and probably emotionally on Holyfield. But it’s also been brutal also just to watch, read and hear about it.
I remember the late great runner Jesse Owens told me almost 30 years ago that to make a living he had to race horses down the stretch at race tracks after returning as an Olympic hero.
That’s the equivalent of Holyfield at a car dealership.
Don’t get me wrong, historically car dealers and maybe beer distributors are the most loyal sponsors that boxing has.
But that is at the beginning of a career, not at the end.
Aren’t there laws on the books yet that protect ourselves, our true heroes and just regular folks from themselves?
I remember we all turned on the state of New York when it suspended Holyfield after a loss to Larry Donald. That’s looking like a smarter idea every time I have to write one of these columns.
Just as Roy Jones, Jr. has now lost six of his last eleven fights, Holyfield’s record, while not pedestrian, has sunk to 42-10-2 (27 KO’s). He’s 5-6-1 in his last 12 fights but Canastota, NY and the International Boxing Hall of Fame will, and deservedly so, make him a first ballot enshrinee.
It was after Holyfield’s rematch with Lennox Lewis in 1999 that we knew all was not well in Atlanta. Holyfield got a gift draw in their first fight, setting up the nonsensical rematch that paid him about $15 million and he looked old and awful and ready to call it a day.
After a rest he went on his “John Ruiz Tour,” fighting Ruiz three times in 17 months and mustering only a 1-1-1 record.
Today, 10 fights post Ruiz, two losses in a row, 5-5 in his last 10 against hand-picked opponents, and he’s not getting younger or speaking any better. He’s an old 47 and if he doesn’t call it a day, the Association of Boxing Commissions should to justify it’s existence in America.
