Evander Holyfield Reveals Mike Tyson Inspired Him to Step Back into the Ring at 58

Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson continue to push each other out of their comfort zones after all these years. Holyfield, who had made his boxing comeback during the pandemic at 58 has now claimed that he had done so after being inspired by ‘Iron Mike’.

Back in the day, the pair were sworn rivals as Holyfield was the only fighter to ever beat ‘Iron’ twice. He was quite literally Tyson’s kryptonite as ‘Iron’ could never seem to figure him out. It frustrated Tyson so much that he ended up biting a piece of his ear during a match.

Their relationship has gotten much better since then.

In an interview with Brandon Robinson, ‘The Real Deal’ asserted that his comeback idea came after conversing with Tyson and said,

“The last fight I had, came about coz of the Tyson thing…we both talking about getting in the ring and thought about it and so he fought Roy Jones, so I was looking for somebody to fight.”

However, his return to the boxing ring was not quite as successful as Tyson’s. The referee had to stop the fight a minute into the first round as Vitor Belfort proved too much to handle.

Robinson even asked ‘The Real Deal‘ whether he would be interested in stepping into the ring with Tyson again. Holyfield seemed to welcome that thought.

The former boxing world champ was also present at the final weigh-in before the Paul vs. Tyson fight and predicted an outcome he saw fit.

Holyfield’s prediction falls ‘short’

Despite the 30-year age gap between Paul and Tyson, the boxer backed his former nemesis in an interview with FightHubTv and said,

“You got to come to a conclusion that it gonna be early or it gonna be short…I don’t think he (Paul) can out-box Mike….If he take it, you know he gonna give it.”

However, when asked about how it would feel if Tyson got knocked out by Paul, Holyfield responded with a heavy heart and said that it would be just sadder than anything else.

Thankfully, Tyson didn’t get knocked out but he did lose to Jake by judges’ decision. The heavyweight boxer looked in his element at the beginning of the fight but quickly regressed as the rounds went on. Paul, on the other hand, kept getting better but not to the extent that he could finish the 58-year-old.

Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like Tyson sustained any major damage from the fight and that is the best anyone could have honestly hoped for.