Evander holyfield vs sonny liston biography

Holyfield had more experience with world class opponents. His last win was a late round stoppage of Chuck Wepner. Liston would probably not reach the final bell in round 12 even if the bout were 12 rounds, against either Holyfield, Rocky Marciano, the Klitschkos, Anthony Joshua or Deontay Wilder. Evander Holyfield is four time heavyweight champion, the only such.

He is also the first fighter to hold a title in three decades. Evander Holyfield utilized a more complex defense. In addition to well places headbutts, Evander Holyfield could roll with punches, slip, block, clinch, and move. He would cut angles to avoid danger.. By this time, Holyfield had been Ring Magazine's number-one contender for two years and had yet to receive a shot at Tyson's Heavyweight title.

Undisputed heavyweight champion Main articles: Buster Douglas vs. George Foreman , Evander Holyfield vs. Bert Cooper , and Evander Holyfield vs. Larry Holmes Holyfield had been promised a title shot against Tyson in Before that fight could occur, in what many consider to be the biggest upset in boxing history, relatively unknown boxer, year-old, lb.

Buster Douglas defeated the year-old, lb. Mike Tyson in 10 rounds in Tokyo to become the new undisputed heavyweight champion. Instead of fighting Tyson, Holyfield was Douglas's first title defense. They met on October 25, Douglas came into the fight at lb. In the third round Douglas tried to start a combination with a big right uppercut.

Holyfield countered with a straight right hand and Douglas went down for the count. Holyfield was the new undefeated, undisputed heavyweight champion of the World. At the time of the knockout, Holyfield was ahead on all three judges' scorecards, all seeing it 20—18 for Holyfield. In his first defense, he beat former and future world champion George Foreman by unanimous decision.

The fight was billed as a "Battle for the Ages", a reference to the age difference between the young undefeated champion 28 years old and the much older George Foreman 42 years old. Holyfield weighed in at pounds and Foreman weighed in at pounds. Foreman lost the fight by a unanimous decision, but surprised many by lasting the whole 12 rounds against a much younger opponent, even staggering Holyfield a few times and knocking him off balance in the seventh round.

Then a deal was signed for him to defend his crown against Mike Tyson in November Tyson delayed the fight, claiming he was injured in training, but was then convicted for the rape of Desiree Washington and sentenced to six years in prison, so the fight did not happen at that time. They fought in Holyfield won by a TKO in 11 and a rematch in Holyfield won by disqualification in three, after Tyson bit both of his ears.

Holyfield made his next defense in Atlanta against late replacement in Bert Cooper over Francesco Damiani who suffered a foot injury in training days before the fight, Cooper surprised Holyfield with a very good effort. Holyfield scored the first knockdown of the fight against Cooper with a powerful shot to the body, but Cooper returned the favor with a good right hand that sent Holyfield against the ropes; while not an actual knockdown, referee Mills Lane gave Holyfield a standing eight-count.

Having suffered the first technical knockdown of his professional career, Holyfield regained his composure quickly and administered a beating that left Cooper still on his feet, but unable to defend himself. Holyfield landed brutal power shots, culminated by repeated vicious uppercuts that snapped Cooper's head back. Referee Mills Lane stopped the bout in the seventh.

In his first fight of , he faced 42 year old former world heavyweight champion Larry Holmes , and had just pulled off an upset against Ray Mercer. During the bout, Holyfield suffered the first scar of his career with a gash opening up over his eye, the result of Holmes' elbow. The fight ended with a unanimous decision in favor of Holyfield. Holyfield—Bowe rivalry Main articles: Evander Holyfield vs.

Riddick Bowe , Evander Holyfield vs. Evander Holyfield II In the beginning of a trilogy of bouts with the year-old Riddick Bowe , who had won a silver medal in the Olympics, in the super heavyweight division, he suffered his first defeat when Bowe won the undisputed title by a round unanimous decision in Las Vegas. Round ten of that bout was named the "Round of the Year" by The Ring.

Holyfield was knocked down in round He made the mistake of getting into a slugfest with the younger, bigger and stronger Bowe, leading to his defeat. He began by beating Alex Stewart in a rematch, but this time over the round unanimous distance. Then came the rematch with Bowe on November 6, In what is considered by many sporting historians as one of the most bizarre moments in boxing's history, during round seven the crowd got off their feet and many people started to run for cover and yell.

Evander holyfield vs sonny liston biography

Holyfield took his eyes off Bowe for one moment and then told Bowe to look up to the skies. What they saw was a man in a parachute flying dangerously close to them. The man almost entered the ring, but his parachute had gotten entangled in the lights and he landed on the ropes and apron of the ring, and he was then pulled into the crowd, where he was beaten by members of Bowe's entourage.

Bowe's pregnant wife, Judy, fainted and had to be taken to the hospital from the arena. Twenty minutes later, calm was restored and Holyfield went on to recover his world heavyweight titles with a close 12 round majority decision. The man who parachuted down to the middle of the ring became known as The Fan Man and the fight itself became known as the Fan Man Fight.

Holyfield vs. Moorer, Holyfield vs. Michael Moorer , Evander Holyfield vs. Older Holyfield was a much smarter tactician but could still drop decisions or get beat up. Liston was highly dominant at his best and really only Ali managed to make him look bad. Number three: who did better in their era? Holyfield really fought in 3 different eras across two divisions and stayed active way longer than he should have.