Evander Holyfield wants to fight Mike Tyson for the third time and believes it will happen very soon. The 58-year-old former heavyweight boxing champion recently spoke to TMZ about the possible fight and believes a deal will be done after Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. battled to a draw late last month. Holyfield said the fight will happen in 2021.
“We’ve definitely had conversations, and it looks like it’s gonna happen,” Holyfield said to TMZ. “I’m a very confident person, so I think it’s gonna happen. Let’s do it, baby. Simple as that, let’s do it.” Holyfield and Tyson have met in the ring twice before. In 1996, Holyfield defeated Tyson via TKO in the 11th round. In 1997, Tyson was disqualified after biting Holyfield’s ear in the third round. Holyfield hasn’t competed in a sanctioned fight since 2011 when he defeated Brian Nielsen by TKO.
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Shortly after the Tyson-Jones fight, Holyfield issued a challenge to Tyson. “My side tried to make the fight happen and we got nothing but excuses,” Holyfield said in a news release last week. “Now I can see why he wanted a tuneup fight before thinking about fighting me. No more excuses. This is the fight that must happen for both our legacies. Saturday night you said you were ready to fight me, so sign the contract and get in the ring, Tyson. The world is waiting and it’s on you now. I’m ready.”
Tyson has said he wants to fight again and would love to get back in the ring with the Atlanta native. But one thing needs to happen. “Maybe Evander needs to talk to me because every time my business associates talk to his business associates, it doesn’t turn out well,” Tyson said. “So, I don’t know. If you could see what we made tonight, if these guys really care about the welfare of Evander, they would have had this fight with Evander. Maybe we’ll do another, but whoever he’s with, whoever is handling him is totally wrong.”
Holyfield is the only boxer in history to win the undisputed championship in two different weight classes. He’s also the only four-time world heavyweight champion in boxing history. Tyson, 54, was the undisputed heavyweight champion from 1987 to 1990. He won his first heavyweight title at just 20 years old.
