The Boxing History Blog

Evander Holyfield After his first stoppage defeat at the hands of Riddick Bowe in November 1995, Holyfield returned to the ring on the same bill as the Lennox Lewis Vs Ray Mercer bout on 10th May 1996. Bobby Czyz, born in Orange New York in 1962, was Holyfield's opponent. He turned professional as a middleweight, beating Hank Whitmore in the first round on 24th April 1980. Czyz lost his unbeaten record via a ten-round unanimous decision to Mustafa Hamsho. After his next contest he campaigned as a super-middleweight in 1983, then in 1984 moved up again to light-heavyweight. In 1986 he challenged the undefeated IBF light-heavyweight champion Slobodan Kacar, knocking him out in the fifth round to take the belt. He made three successful defences, before retiring in nine rounds to 'Prince' Charles Williams in October 1987. He dropped to 32-3 when he lost his next bout to Dennis Andries. Two wins later he lost to WBA light-heavyweight champion Vigil Hill by ...

Evander Holyfield Evander Holyfield sporting his 1984  Olympic Bronze Medal Born in Atmore, Alabama on 19th October 1962, Evander Holyfield's hometown became Atlanta, Georgia. Holyfield took up boxing and in 1984 took the National Golden Gloves light-heavyweight title. He also represented USA in the Los Angeles Olympic Games, where he picked up a bronze medal. Holyfield probably threw the punch of the entire tournament, catching New Zealand's Kevin Barry in the semifinal with a left hook. Barry stumbled to the canvas, regained his feet but was still on wobbly legs. The Yugoslavian referee deemed the punch a foul as Holyfield landed it when he called break, and disqualified the American. Holyfield claimed he never heard the command and the US team filed a complaint. They said the punch was thrown before the break call, deeming the punch legal, the noise level of the crowd so high that their man couldn't of heard the command and Barry was in the process of ...

Mike Tyson Finally With Mike Tyson's easy win over WBA champion Bruce Seldon, the world was looking forward to Tyson squaring off against WBC top contender Lennox Lewis. Don King had already paid Lewis $4,000,000 step aside money so the Seldon contest could go ahead, as a New Jersey court ruled earlier in the year that Lewis must be faced before the WBA champion. As the two camps couldn't agree on a deal for the fight, the World Boxing Council, following the court ruling, stripped Tyson of the WBC belt on 24th September 1996. "We are disappointed and surprised that Tyson decided to give up the title instead of fighting Lennox," said Lewis' promotor Dino Duva. Now as WBA champion, Tyson put his belt on the line against Evander Holyfield. The bout was billed as Finally, as these two were originally pencilled in to face off in June 1990, but James 'Buster' Douglas put pay to that in Tokyo. The pair were also due to meet for Holyfield...

Mike Tyson Mike Tyson with his mentor Cus D'Amato Introduction - Heavyweights In Despair 15th February 1978 saw Leon Spinks beat Muhammad Ali to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. The rematch saw him being stripped of the WBC version of the crown for not facing mandatory contender Ken Norton, who they installed as their champion. Ali won the return with Spinks and retired, leaving the WBA championship vacant. Whilst Norton lost his WBC title to Larry Holmes on the 09th June 1978 in his first defence, Holmes was able to hold on to that title. The vacant WBA belt was contested between John Tate and Gerrie Coetzee on the 20th October 1979, in Coetzee's home country of South Africa. Tate took the crown via a fifteen round unanimous decision. In March 1980 Tate lost his championship when Mike Weaver stopped him in the fifteenth round. October of the same year saw Holmes make his eighth defence, beating Muhammad Ali in the tenth round in w...

The last time these two fought was in the 1988 Olympic Super-heavyweight final, where Lewis; who was representing Canada; took gold with a second-round stoppage of the American Bowe. Both men turned professional, with Lewis taking his original British roots under the promoter Frank Maloney. Even though Lewis was born in London and didn't up sticks until he was twelve years old, the public took time to warm to this man claiming to be British with a Canadian accent. Lewis turned pro on 27th June 1989 against Al Malcolm, who he stopped in the second round. Bowe turned professional with Rock Newman's promotional outfit, under the tutelage of the great trainer Eddie Futch. On 06th March 1989 he defeated future danger-man Lionel Butler (who had a record of 0-1-0) in two rounds of his professional bow. Both Lewis and Bowe stayed unbeaten in their first twelve months in the paid ranks. You could say arguably Bowe was the more impressive of the two as Lewis struggled to win ...