According to Evander Holyfield, there have been discussions with Mike Tyson’s team with respect to a potential exhibition clash.
The two former undisputed heavyweight champions were heated rivals during their respective careers.
They first collided in 1996, with Holyfield pulled off a huge upset when he stopped Tyson in the eleventh round. The rematch is more famous than the first, with Tyson getting disqualified in the third round for biting off a piece of Holyfield’s ear.
The two boxers have become very friendly over the years.
In the last few weeks, both of them have expressed the desire to return to the ring for exhibition fights.
Tyson, 53-years-old, released several viral training clips, showcasing his speed and power – and proclaimed “I’m Back” at the end of the most recent video. It didn’t take long before Holyfield, 57-years-old, started releasing training clips of his own.
“His people have been talking to my people and we haven’t yet got a solid deal together but it’s coming that way,” Holyfield told The 3 Point Conversation podcast.
“If it happens, then that’s no problem. The thing is, he was doing something and I was doing something. When I told people about it, they saw me working out and they kind of put two and two together. They must be coming together to do this like this. But the fact of the matter is, I don’t mind if we do do something like this.”
Holyfield says financial gain is not his main motivation for returning to the ring.
“Well the point of the comeback – somebody just made up the names themselves – I’d been telling people that I wanted to start doing exhibitions. Meaning that with my foundation, the Holyfield Foundation, I wanted to help the kids,” Holyfield said.
“I wanted to come back and be able to show the kids that if you take care of your body at a young age, if you don’t get bad habits, you don’t gotta put them down. Then at an old age you ain’t got to be worried about what type of person you’re going to be or if somebody is going to have to help you.”