Holyfield’s last dance?
 By Benny Henderson Jr - A.K.A "Big Dog" (Nov 9, 2006)
You heard the old adage, ‘It ain’t over till the fat lady sings’? Well my neighbor’s girlfriend is belting out a tune and there is nothing lovely about it, the reality is, it’s over! As a fan of Holyfield I must say that I have nothing but all the respect in the world for the fighter – he has proven the critics wrong, electrified the fans, beaten the odds and had some astonishing accomplishments, but when the dinner is done take it out of the dang stove before it burns! And that is exactly what I see going down in the ring on November 10th, Holyfield getting scorched.
When the news came out months back that after a two-year hiatus from the ring Evander Holyfield would be making a comeback I thought to myself…why? Then when it was announced he would be fighting in the Dallas, Texas, which is just a hop, skip and a jump away, naturally being selfish I could care less why he was trying to make it once again in the fight
world. I was a bit more concerned that I was going to get to witness live a legend in the sport, so of course I made my way to the American Airlines Center for the two round roll over Jeremy Bates, a little rusty bit a win is a win, especially when your career depends on it.
So, the whole oh’s and ah’s were over. I saw the man who was a former Olympian, a former undisputed cruiserweight and heavyweight champion, as well as holding the heavyweight title on four separate occasions. He beat Tyson, Foreman, Holmes, Bowe, Moorer and solidified his place in boxing history, so when the smoke cleared, again I wondered why he would want to try to continue on. Love, money, passion, walking out to the ring and hearing the cheering crowd or the feel of your hand raised in victory? When I finally had the chance I asked him why, why would he continue fighting, Evander simply stated in his soft-spoken voice, “I have yet to reach my goal, I want to retire the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.”
Well, I thought to myself, “You can’t knock a guy for trying.” But at what cost? What will it take for Holyfield to come to terms that he isn’t the man he once was? And then they announced his opponent for his second fight back, former heavyweight title challenger Fres Oquendo, 26-3 (16). Will ‘Fast’ Fres be the one who sends Holyfield into retirement? If Holyfield is beaten in this match-up and beaten convincingly (which I believe he will be) will he finally realize that his time is up as a fighter?
Well, probably not, but if you really want to see if you still have what it takes to make it in the heavyweight division then Oquendo would be a good measuring stick. You know the sad thing about this whole ‘Final Chapter’ of Evander Holyfield is that the ending could be a bit of a ruin, so what exactly is Holyfield doing with this continuation of his career?
Nothing positive!
OK, now before you go out and flock me with hate mail please listen to what I have to say on this topic. The ‘nothing positive’ remark is as follows. When exactly did Holyfield go from world champion to former world champion to please call it a day and be happy with what you have done? Although some would say that he never seemed the same after the wars with Bowe, I would say some where around the Tyson debacle to the Lewis bout, around that point I think Holyfield should have called it a day. (And I am taking nothing away from Lewis.)
What has Evander done since that point? Well, he has given a few others in the division a shot at winning a world title. John Ruiz is recognized as the first Latino major world titleholder because of the aging Holyfield, but what has been the biggest plus in Larry Donald’s career besides the fringe titles? Beating Holyfield! (Sorry Larry!) And now with Fres Oquendo, what will this do for his career? OK, a loss is out of the question, if Oquendo is honestly beaten by Holyfield then what else is there to do? So Fres is probably taking the bigger risk here, he wins, well he beat an old and outdated Holyfield, (forget the 15th spot in the WBC’s rankings, beating Bates does not give you contendership status) but there is something to think about. In the years to come when people look at Oquendo’s career they will see that he beat Holyfield, not the scholar’s of boxing but just your average Joe Blow will see this accolade and see the accomplishments of Holyfield and automatically think, well, Fres Oquendo must be one bad man for beating the ‘Real Deal’. Although I am not knocking Fres (I think Oquendo is a very talented fighter), do you think your average boxing fan will remember that Fres should have gotten the nod over Chris Byrd for the IBF title? No, but they will see the name, Holyfield. So what Holyfield is doing is helping build fighters off his name. Who ever heard of the name Jeremy Bates? Not a recognizable name until he got the shot at Evander, I will tell you that much.
So my point is this, I am sorry for writing so much to get here, and again I am sorry for the brutality of this delivery, but…Holyfield is finished! Even if he gets passed Oquendo (I say Fres stops Evander between rounds 8 to 10) what else does he have to offer up in this division besides being a ‘name’ for up-and-coming boxers to build themselves up on? Do you honestly see him beating any of the titleholders of today? Call the division weak all you want, throw out there the fact that George Foreman won the title at age forty-five, but the truth is this could very well be Holyfield’s last rumble in the ring – as it should be.
So again, I respect Evander Holyfield. It has been a blast following his career. I mean you never know, he may upset the critics once again and achieve a fifth world title. But I would brush up on those ‘Dancing with the Stars’ moves, because I hear that chubby chick singing again.
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