Nicknamed "the Real Deal", Evander Holyfield is an American professional boxer born on
October 19, 1962, in the mill town of Atmore, Alabama. He reigned as the undisputed champion
at cruiserweight in the late 1980s and at heavyweight in the early 1990s, and remains
the only boxer in history to win the undisputed championship in two weight classes, as well
as the only four-time world heavyweight champion. He retired from professional boxing in 2014,
and is ranked in the list of greatest fighters of all time by multiple media outlets.
The youngest of nine children, Holyfield was much younger than his other siblings and was
born from a different father. The family moved to Atlanta, Georgia where he was raised in
the crime-ridden Bowen Homes Housing Projects. He began boxing when he was seven years old,
and by the age of 13, he qualified to compete in his first Junior Olympics. By age 15, Holyfield
became the Southeastern Regional Champion, winning this tournament and the Best Boxer
Award.
Evander has been married three times in his life and has a total of 11 children.
His first marriage was to Paulette Bowen from 1985 to 1991. Together they have 3 children:
Evander Holyfield Jr., Evette Holyfield and Ewin Holyfield.
In 1994, Evander met his doctor second wife Janice Itson and married her two years later.
The pair went through a very messy divorce case in 2000. They had a son named Elijah-Esaias Holyfield.
In 2003, Holyfield married for the third time
to former nurse Candi Calvana Smith. Their marriage lasted for 9 year before divorcing
in 2012. They have 2 children: Eli and Eve Holyfield.
Evander has always been known to be a lover of women and he continued with this habit
after his marriage. He has 5 other children from his love affair named Ebonne, Emani,
Eden, Eleazer and Elijah Jedediah.
After he took home the bronze medal in the Light Heavyweight division at the 1984 Summer
Olympics, Evander Holyfield made his debut as a professional at the age of 21. He was
nicknamed "The Real Deal". It was in 1985 that he moved up to the cruiserweight division,
where he won his first title the following year with his win over Dwight Muhammad Qawi
for the WBA Cruiserweight belt. Next, he defeated Ricky Parkey and Carlos De Leon to fetch the
Lineal, IBF and WBC titles and eventually become the Undisputed Cruiserweight Champion.
In 1988, he achieved his first win as a heavyweight, as he defeated Buster Douglas for The Ring,
Lineal, WBC, WBA and IBF titles in 1990. As for Evander's other victories over notable
fighters are those against George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Riddick Bowe, Ray Mercer, Mike
Tyson (two times), Michael Moorer, John Ruiz, Michael Dokes and Hasim Rahman. What's more,
Evander Holyfield is the only four-time World Heavyweight Champion. He turned out the winner
of the WBA, WBC and IBF titles in 1990, the WBA and IBF titles in 1993, as well as WBA
titles in 1996 and 2000. Holyfield won in a now-infamous 1997 match
against Mike Tyson in which Tyson was disqualified for biting off part of Holyfield's ear during
the fight. Evander announced his retirement in June 2014, and he is currently the boxing
advisor to Zhang Zhilei, who is a heavyweight prospect.
Just like Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield somehow managed to blow through a fortune that at
one time peaked above $200 million. During his career Holyfield earned an estimated $230
million in prize money alone. Unfortunately all that money was gone by 2008 when his 109
room Atlanta mansion was lost to foreclosure and later sold at public auction for $7.5
million. Unfortunately, Evander owed a bank more than twice that amount for the house's
mortgage. As of January 2013, he also owed several hundred thousand dollars in back taxes
to the IRS. Most of Holyfield's prized possessions have been sold at auction over the years to
cover a number of debts and obligations, including his Olympic bronze medal, 20 pairs of fight
gloves, championship rings, belts and 25 match robes and shorts.
As of January 2021, Evander Holyfield has a net worth of $1 million. This is way much
less than most people could expect as he earned over $513 million during his time as a professional
boxer. His fortune was drained by frivolous spending, multiple failed business ventures,
constant child support payments, and his three divorces, among other things. Holyfield was
even declared bankrupt in 2012.
Evander appeared once in an episode of children animated series Phineas and Ferb. In the episode,
he is an animated character but the producers wanted to make the most of Holyfield's ear,
so his animated character was only given half an ear.
In 2005, Holyfield came in fifth place on ABC's Dancing with the Stars with his partner
Edyta Sliwinska. In 2017, a statue of Evander Holyfield designed
by sculptor Brian Hanlon was commissioned by the city of Atlanta for installation in
Downtown Atlanta. However, as of 2019, the statue remains in storage.