Holyfield to Face The Russian Giant

ESPN’s Dan Rafael reported yesterday that Evander Holyfield will fight The Russian Giant, Nikolai Valuev, on December 20th for Valuev’s WBA heavyweight title. If he wins, Holyfield, who will be 46 years old when the bout goes off, would be the oldest man in history to hold a share of the heavyweight crown, besting George Foreman, who was 45 when he won two belts from Michael Moorer in 1994.↵↵One can’t help but sense an old, recurrent tragedy at work here, one even sadder than Holyfield’s previous dilemma, the fighter’s endemic inability to yield to Father Time. After Evander lost to Sultan Ibragimov last year around this time, it seemed that he was finally ready to move on, to admit that not only had he lost a lot of heat off the fastball, but that in fact he no longer possessed anything even resembling a fastball. Getting schooled and taunted by a fighter of Ibragimov’s pedestrian talents evidently will jar even the most deluded man out of fantasyland (check out the final round after the jump). ↵

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↵You’d think that Ibragimov debacle would be the last straw for Holyfield’s comeback efforts, but as became public knowledge this past summer, the Real Deal is Real Broke. Like many a champion who went before him, he’s squandered his many, many millions, and as recently as August was still fighting off foreclosure on his legendary 54,000 square-foot estate in Atlanta. ↵↵The word on Holyfield’s share of the purse in the Valuev fight is not specific other than to say that it’s definitely less than 750 large, not exactly a huge payday for an athlete of Evander’s stature, and not exactly an amount that is going to stave off financial doom for a man of his prodigious debts. In his comments about taking the bout, Holyfield himself left no doubt that money is a factor in his decision, even though the money is short. “It is the lowest amount I ever made for a championship fight,” he said, “but I am just appreciative I got the opportunity.”↵

↵↵So here we have the next installment in the age-old boxing saga of rags to riches to rags again. Come December, Evander will be in Europe somewhere exposing his long-beaten brain to even further damage from a seven-foot Russian sideshow in what promises to be about as ugly and inconsequential a contest imaginable. What’s more, Holyfield could actually win, so plodding and incompetent is Valuev in the ring. And that to me is the darkest aspect of this dark, dark tale I’m telling. The only thing worse than him taking the bout is him winning it and deciding that he should fight on. If he has to do this, if he needs the money that bad, so be it. But please God, let him lose, and let him lose gently.↵

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