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In twilight of career, Holyfield fighting fights of his life
For now, they might as well just sit back and enjoy his remarkable ride into heavyweight greatness.
The fighter who only a year ago was given no chance against Mike Tyson, showed Saturday night that his wins against Tyson were no fluke. He came back from Tyson's biting to give Michael Moorer a beating and add the IBF title to the WBA heavyweight crown he already owned.
Now, only Lennox Lewis and the undisputed heavyweight title stand between Holyfield and retirement from a sport he is suddenly and strangely dominating at the advanced fighting age of 35.
"They say, 'Why are you still here, you have nothing to prove,"' Holyfield said. "But I do want it. I've fought every fighter in my era. Lennox Lewis is the only fighter I haven't fought. I look forward to a fight with Lennox Lewis."
Lewis was ringside Saturday to watch Holyfield knock Moorer down five times before the fight was finally stopped with Moorer sitting on his stool in the corner after barely surviving the eighth round.
In the most action-packed heavyweight title fight in years, Holyfield put on a masterful performance against a fighter who simply refused to quit. In doing so, he brought himself in line for the one fight he wants before calling it quits in a career that has earned him some $170 million.
With Lewis, the WBC champion, holding the last piece of the crown, Holyfield said unification of the title "is the only thing driving me in boxing now."
"If the fight can be made, I'll be there," Holyfield said.
Lewis said he was just as ready for a unification fight which could take place in the spring if various promoters can get together to make the match.
"I'm the best heavyweight in the world," Lewis said. "Evander Holyfield might want to say he is, but he hasn't fought Lennox Lewis so how can he say that? Finally, I will get my opportunity to prove to everyone what I have been saying for so long."
Lewis may claim to be the best heavyweight, but it has been Holyfield proving it in the ring. He did it by administering a few beatings and taking one biting.
Holyfield stopped Tyson in their first fight and was on his way to doing it again when Tyson bit both his ears in their bizarre rematch. Then, against Moorer, a lefty who beat him three years ago, Holyfield turned the fight around with a fifth-round knockdown and kept putting Moorer down every time he got back up.
"A lot of people didn't think this fight would be interesting," Holyfield said. "A champion shows who he is by what he does. I hit him with a lot of good shots. He got back up and fought even harder. He showed he has heart. He showed the game of boxing is a great sport."
Many in the announced crowd of 13,200 Saturday night couldn't agree more. The crowd roared as the two boxers stood in toe-to-toe exchanges, and roared again as Holyfield hit Moorer with hard shots that dropped him to the canvas.
Moorer had actually looked to be the stronger and sharper fighter early, winning the first two rounds. He rocked Holyfield late in the first round with a right hook that sent him staggering toward the ropes and was getting the best of the early exchanges.
But after a straight right hand sent Moorer crumpling to his knees in the fifth round, the outcome of the fight seemed decided. Moorer kept getting up and fighting back again, but Holyfield put him down twice more in the seventh round and two more times in the eighth.
The final knockdown sent Moorer sprawling on his back under the ropes near his corner. Still, he got back up as the bell sounded to end the round and even argued with the ring doctor when he told referee Mitch Halpern to stop the fight between rounds.
"The doc stopped it. I could have continued," Moorer said.
It was a show of courage and will from a fighter whose will to fight had been questioned after a string of lackluster performances. But Moorer picked the wrong fighter to show that against, a fighter who lived up to the "Warrior" etched across the front of his trunks.
Moorer, the once reluctant warrior, was up against the ultimate warrior.
"I went out there and fought my heart out," Moorer said. "I was going to keep getting up."
While Moorer suggested a rematch that would be the third fight between the two, Holyfield's devastating performance left him with little to prove against a fighter who gave him so much trouble when they first met in April 1994.
After that fight,Holyfield was hospitalized with what was diagnosed as a heart problem and he retired shortly thereafter, before beginning a comeback.
Just a little more than a year ago, Holyfield was still considered damaged goods, and was a 20-1 underdo against Tyson. Nevada boxing regulators made him undergo a battery of tests at the Mayo Clinic before even allowing him to fight, and some boxing observers feared for his health against the fearsome Tyson.
That now seems an eternity ago for the deeply religious fighter whose crusade back to the top is the kind of stuff inspirational movies are made about.
"People are going to say, 'Why did this man fight so well at the end?"' Holyfield said.
It's a question Holyfield hopes people ask at least one more time.