Evander Holyfield has revealed his regret for going ahead with a rematch against a certain heavyweight rival.
‘The Real Deal’ rose to prominence during the late 80’s, where he went on to become the undisputed cruiserweight champion after defeated Carlos De Leon in 1988.
Holyfield went on to repeat this incredible feat at heavyweight, becoming the first man in boxing history to do so. He knocked out James ‘Buster’ Douglas in October 1990 to capture the WBC, WBA and IBF titles, going on to make three defences of his crown which included victories over Larry Holmes and George Foreman.
He suffered the first defeat of his career in the first of three showdowns against Riddick Bowe in November 1992. Holyfield avenged this defeat just one year later, however would only reclaim the WBA and IBF heavyweight titles after Bowe vacated the WBC crown shortly after.
Holyfield and Bowe met in a highly anticipated trilogy contest in November 1995, although ‘The Real Deal’ once spoke out and revealed his regret for going through with this fight after he fell ill just a couple of weeks prior.
“The doctor told me ‘Evander, you don’t want to go in like that.’ I started saying you don’t understand that’s 9 million dollars. I had never pulled out of a fight a day in my life. I had already trained 10 weeks and only had 3 more weeks.
I was looking at all the fighters and said I want to be the fighter that did everything right. I want to do the very best that I could. Doing the very best I could but I got tore up that time. I said ‘I’m never doing that again’, if I’m sick again I’m out of there.”
Bowe knocked Holyfield out in the eighth round of their third and final meeting, putting an end to their bitter rivalry once and for all.
