Rejuvenated Holyfield is still no match
October 23, 1996
Well, it is the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Mike Tyson is going to fight Evander Holyfield.
We all have the opportunity to see the bout for the abnormally large pay-per-view charge on the night of the fight, or you can do what I plan to do and see the whole fight on a sports briefs segment on ESPN.
OK, maybe I am underestimating Holyfield, but in all honesty, does he even have a prayer? I don’t think so. Tyson has hardly had to fight more than a minute in each of his fights since his release from the “Big House,” but despite the briefness of the displays of Tyson’s post lock up talents, they still have been displays.
They are displays of an awesome force with unrelenting punishment administered on any and every opponent. Perhaps the fight that provided the most evidence that Tyson still possesses the ability to destroy, was the Frank Bruno fight.
Although the Bruno fight was short, it was sweet. Tyson connected on enough punches to completely pummel Bruno. The Bruno fight is also what leads me to believe Holyfield is in for a long night after a short fight.
Bruno is a huge, extremely toned, long armed, heavy weight champion (despite what Tyson made it look like). Physically he looked to be a match for Tyson, if not have a bit of an edge. But, we are talking about Mike Tyson. He is a killing machine.
This is the same guy who put another boxer in the hospital with one punch outside the ring. The same guy who beat Peter McNeely to a pulp in one round.
OK, bad example, but he did beat Seldon pretty bad. Just wait, I’ll come up with a good one.
Oh, I know how about that time he fought the sensational, always-in-perfect-shape Buster “Fat Daddy” Douglas.
All right, enough joking, even though Tyson has not had a hard fight in I don’t know how long, he will still whup up on Holyfield. If Holyfield was in his prime, this might actually be a fight worth paying to watch, but instead Holyfield has already retired once due to a serious heart condition.
Of course he claims to be completely healthy after a visit to some type of mystical faith healer. I don’t know about anyone else, but unless God himself paid me a visit and told me to fight Mike Tyson, I wouldn’t even think about it.
And even if that did happen, the chances of me jumping in the ring (even with Holyfield’s body) are slim to none.
Holyfield has got to consider his health above all else. Who is to say that one punch from Tyson to Holyfield’s chest wont send him into cardiac arrest?
They would have to have Tyson hit Holyfield again just to revive him.
Holyfield doesn’t need the money, and he can’t honestly think he has a chance. I don’t see the point, and I don’t see a real chance of a good fight either.
So I’ll be watching it a week later on HBO, when it is replayed for free.
Brandon Belisle is a junior in journalismand mass communication from Plainfield, Ill.