Former unified cruiserweight and heavyweight king Evander Holyfield spoke with Radio Rahim of Seconds Out during the prestigious Ring Magazine Awards ceremony in London at the weekend, and “The Real Deal” had some interesting things to say.
Speaking about how he is the only four-time heavyweight champion ever – not undisputed, but Evander did enjoy four runs as heavyweight champ: 1990 to 1992 (undisputed), 1993-1994 (WBA and IBF), 1996 to 1999 (WBA and IBF), and 2000 (WBA) – Holyfield said that he should therefore be ranked as the best heavyweight ever, not Muhammad Ali.
Holyfield is still annoyed at the lack of press, the lack of recognition his achievement of becoming the first-ever four-time heavyweight champion received.
“I’m the only four-time heavyweight champion of the world but they’re still talking about Ali when I broke his record,” Holyfield said. “I’ve been the only four-time heavyweight champion of the world for 24 years. You can’t talk about it til you break somebody’s record and they’ve not even said nothing about me. How do you cut somebody out of history? They keep saying Ali is the best fighter, no I am. He was three times, I’m four.”
What Holyfield did as a heavyweight was truly remarkable, no doubt about it. Evander, giving away so much weight, defeated big men such as Buster Douglas, Riddick Bowe, George Foreman, and plenty of others. And Holyfield upset the odds numerous times whilst competing as a heavyweight. But there is more to being the greatest than number of titles won. It’s WHO you beat to become champion, and who you beat in defending the title that really counts.
And though Holyfield’s resume is chock full of great names, Ali’s resume tops it. Also, there was just one recognised world heavyweight champion during most of Ali’s career, whereas when Holyfield was fighting, he had three belts to shoot for, or four if you count the WBO title.
Holyfield is without doubt an all-time heavyweight great, yet Ali still ranks as the greatest ever. Holyfield’s record should perhaps be given more respect, but does his beating of John Ruiz really deserve all that much respect? Again, it’s who you beat to become champion, not how many belts you pick up during your career.
If we go by which fighter won the most alphabelts during their career, then it’s either Floyd Mayweather or Canelo Alvarez who deserves to go down as the greatest, as each man has won 15 alphabelt world titles (and Canelo is still active so he could win more).
But again, it’s not that simple.
Still, it was good to see Evander so animated, staking his claim to be the greatest. Which was something he never did when he was active.
