Evander Holyfield vs Vitor Belfort
September 11, 2021 11:00 pm EDT
Evander Holyfield and Vitor Belfort fight Saturday in a boxing match at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Holyfield enters this fight with a 44-10-2 record that includes 29 knockouts. Belfort enters this fight with a 26-14 MMA record that includes 18 knockouts.
Holyfield has split last six fights and is coming off a May (2011) win over Brian Nielsen. Holyfield is considered one of the best boxers of all time, as he’s the only four-time world heavyweight champion and the first boxer to hold world titles in three different decades. Holyfield won a bronze medal in the 1984 Olympics, beat Mike Tyson twice and his bouts against Buster Douglas and George Foreman produced a million or more PPV buys. Holyfield is now 58 years old, stands at 6’2” and has a 77.5-inch reach with an orthodox stance. He’s taking this fight on extremely short notice after Oscar De La Hoya tested positive for COVID. However, Holyfield has to be in some sort of shape after he was scheduled to face Kevin McBride back in June. This is clearly a money grab for Holyfield, who has had serious financial issues since retiring from the sport, despite making over a half billion dollars in his career. Usually things don’t end well for aging fighters who can’t leave the sport alone for whatever reason. This will be Holyfield’s first career fight in Florida.
Belfort has split last 10 fights and is coming off a May (2018) loss to Lyoto Machida. Belfort retired from MMA after his fight at UFC 224 and this will be just his second boxing match. Belfort beat Josemario Neves in a first round knockout back in 2006. Belfort has black belts in BJJ and Judo, but he was mainly a striker throughout his MMA career, producing 18 knockouts and seeing 25 of his 41 fights overall end in knockouts. He’s now 44 years old, stands at 6’0” and has a 74-inch reach. Belfort is a tricky southpaw who landed 46 percent of his strikes during his UFC days. Belfort has the background and the skillset to be a decent boxer if that’s the route he took, but at 44 years old, this feels like a one and done for the Brazilian. This will be Belfort’s first career fight in Florida.
There’s conflicting reports about this fight being sanctioned, so that’s the reason you’re not seeing betting lines at the moment. You usually don’t get lines for an exhibition, as there’s no official winner outside of a knockout. The bottom line is these are two old fighters who wouldn’t be in the ring if they didn’t have financial issues. Belfort is younger and probably the faster fighter at this stage, but he also has limited pure boxing experience. As old as Holyfield is and the fact he hasn’t fought in a decade, he was still a world class boxer and that IQ doesn’t go away. Holyfield should do enough to protect himself, land a few shots on the outside and I’d side with him to win if this is a sanctioned fight.
Give me Holyfield in a victory.
