By James Slater: Reports are coming in from Denmark of how living legend and former four-time heavyweight ruler Evander Holyfield has come through his latest fight: this one with fellow geriatric Brian Nielsen. “The Real Deal,” now 48-years-old and coming off that less than impressive No-Contest with journeyman Sherman “The Tank” Williams, scored a knockdown over 46-year-old Nielsen in the 3rd-round, before getting the TKO win at two-mins and 49 seconds of the 11th.
Holyfield, who came in at a solid 226-pounds, is now 44-10-2(29). Danish hero Nielsen, who worked hard to come in at career-low 238, is now 64-3(43) and presumably headed back into retirement.
According to reports, Holyfield, as expected considering how Nielsen was having his first fight since 2002, was way sharper and was landing the better shots. That said, “Super Brian” was never overly hurt in the fight, even though he was systematically broken down over the nearly completed 11-rounds. The stoppage seemed premature to some, as Holyfield’s combos, though fast, never appeared to have Nielsen in bad shape. After the fight, the loser said he felt he was hit by some head-butts by Holyfield.
Despite how good or bad he looked tonight, however, Evander rolls on; still in pursuit of that hugely unlikely world title shot. Some fifteen, maybe even 20 years removed from his prime, the former Olympic bronze medallist and cruiserweight champ remains hopeful he will somehow get a shot at one of the Klitschkos or at David Haye. Neither scenario looks anywhere close to possible, seeing as how all three champions are busy for the coming months; to say nothing of the fact that the Klitschko’s have openly said they will not fight Holyfield “out of respect.”
It’s sad for many, seeing their hero creak his way through “freak show” fights the kind he engaged in tonight. Still, it’s Evander’s life and he is free to do with it what he wants. And, at the very least, Holyfield looked better tonight than he did against Williams last time out.
The warrior who turns the age of 49 this year has now had three fights since his last decent effort – the close, controversial points loss to then WBA boss Nikolai Valuev in December of 2008 – winning two, engaging in a No-Contest in the other.
Where and how will the Evander Holyfield story end?