The Joe Rogan Experience - JRE MMA Show #80 with Evander Holyfield

Episode Date: October 7, 2019

Joe sits down with former boxer Evander Holyfield, who was the undisputed champion at cruiserweight in the late 1980s and at heavyweight in the early 1990s, and remains the only boxer in history to win the undisputed championship in two weight classes.

Boom and we're live. What's up champ? How are you? I'm great. How you doing? I'm great man. It's a pleasure to meet you. I've been a fan forever. Oh good. I've seen every single fight you've ever had. So for me it's a it's an honor to have you in here man as a giant boxing fan all the way back to Dwight Cowie. Saw you fighting the Olympics. Saw everything. Yeah, you did. Everything, man. You did. Yeah, for real. And I understand you're going to do an exhibition now. Well, yeah. I'm preparing for one. And, you know, me going over to Japan and being able to go over there and see the typhoon, whatever that. Tsunami? Tsunami.

Yeah. And the point is in the tsunami, going over there and helping people. And I figured, why not do an exhibition? Right. So it's like a benefit for the tsunami victims? Yes. You look great. You're in great shape still.

Well, thank you. You never got out of shape. Well, art of the game. Yeah. Easier to maintain than rebuild. Easier to maintain than rebuild, yeah. But now at your age, when was the last time you had a fight? Was it 2011?

Is that what it was? Yeah, 2011. So it's been like eight years, which is you were thinking of competing like deep into your 50s, though. Well, yeah. The thing is is that I'm always trying to stay in shape, but I really didn't want to get hit again. Right, right, right.

Like that. But exhibition, I could do an exhibition. Who is the exhibition against? I don't know yet. I'm thinking about, you know, I wanted to be ready at both because me and him are buddies. Now, you can do it with somebody you're friends with because they know that they're not going to hit you too hard if you don't hit them too hard. Right. So it'll be more of a sparring sort of a deal.

Yes. Now, how often are you training now? Well, you know, I'm always training. I shout a box. Well, you know, I'm always trained. I shout a box. I don't hit the bag, but I'm ready to do it now because I'm actually going to be performing. I want to look good, but I don't want to get in a doggy-doggy fight.

Right. You don't want to get into a war. Right. You just want to have like a little exhibition sparring match, just a little, just combinations, not hit each other too hard, that kind of deal? Well, yeah. We can hit hard to the body, but not the head. Right, right, right. Now, at this stage of your life, you know, it's been a while since you competed.

Are you worried that those competitive juices might get fired up again? Wow. And you might want to actually fight again? if juices might get fired up again and you might want to actually fight again? I don't think I will ever go back in because I did everything I wanted to do. I feel that I got as far as I wanted to get. And, you know, I'm the only four-time heavyweight champ in the world. Ever. But I still ain't got no reason to be mad with nobody about anything.

I think I had a great career. You had an unbelievable career. Yes. Only four-time heavyweight champion of the world ever. I mean, I can remember way back in the day when you were moving up from cruiserweight to heavyweight. And it was one of the rare times where we were watching. Back in those days, and folks who don don't know it was kind of taboo for boxers to lift weights yeah it was and uh it was mackie shillstone that got you ready for that

right no no it's tim hallmark yeah tim hallmark mackie shillstone got uh sphinx ready yeah and uh i came after that and and the point of coming out to Maggie Shieldstone, everybody thought about the weight. But Tim Hallmark would talk about flexibility, all the things you had to do when you lift weights. Right. Yeah. Because everybody used to think before that that if you lifted weights, it made you stiff. Yeah. Yeah.

And Tim was able to – he did everything with me to show me that that's just a myth. Condition is about heart rate and all this. And then when you lift weight, you just got to do more. It seemed like back then the problem was when people would lift weights, they would get sore. And then they would go to the gym and they wouldn't perform as well. And so everybody would say, oh, weights are making you stiff. They didn't allow themselves to get through a full program with a real strength and conditioning guy like Tim Hallmark or Mackie Shillstone.

They were the first guys really to bulk guys up. It's all about confidence and someone taking it to another level. And I think that at that time, people just kind of, in this level, this is all we know, and this is the only far we can go. Because you have to work harder if you lift weight. You're going to have to work harder. Right. You know, with me, I was able to bring a ballet teacher in there. I had ballet, too.

Did you really? Yeah. That's the reason why I was able to still be flexible and being able to be quick and all that. And, you know, I did all that. But I ain't let nobody know I was doing ballet. You know. I'd like to see some video of you doing ballet. Is there any out there?

No, we did not. No. Did you wear a tutu? No, no, no, no. You know, I got stressed a lot. I mean, you're talking about Miss Kennedy. That's her name. And so I kept her to the day until she ended up slipping, breaking her hip.

Because she was like 70 years old when she was stretching me and had me doing all the splits and all this. But it worked yeah well you were one of the first like supremely conditioned heavyweight boxers you know when you'd see you you were sculpted you know and you would be able to put that output out for the entire 12 rounds i mean you had those incredible fights at riddick bow i know you guys are friends now, but God damn, did you guys have some wars. We had battles. I think the big thing, because he kind of bully. He's a big guy, and he used to always look at me and say,

a good big guy beat a good little guy anytime. And every time we'd go in and practice, I'd bust him up. But, you know, I was four years older than him, but he was bigger. But I was always getting. Yeah. Well, you guys had some crazy fights, but the craziest one was probably the one where the guy landed in the middle of the ring, the guy with the parachute.

What was that guy's – what did he call himself? The fan man. That's right. He had a fan that was powering his parachute, and he literally landed in the ring. That was in an outdoor arena in Vegas. Is that what it was? It sure was.

And he helped the fight up about 30 minutes. That was crazy. Oh, yeah, because at that time I had him hurt. Yes. And it yeah. Because at that time, I had him hurt. Yes. And like that, and it saved him. Yeah. Well, you had him hurt, and then everybody got cold. I mean, you cooled off.

I mean, it almost seems like they should have canceled the fight. Well, you know, it was half of the fight. You know, if they canceled the fight, they would have to pay us again. There's a picture up there. Look at that. What was going through your mind when you saw that guy land on the ropes like that? Well, it shocked me then because when he did, the light started like this. And Curtis Mayfield had just got paralyzed.

Same thing. The thing fell down. Oh, lights fell on him. Yeah, yeah. Curtis Mayfield, he got paralyzed that thing fell down. Oh, lights fell on him. Yeah, yeah. Curtis Mayfield, he got paralyzed that way? Yes. Oh, wow. So you thought maybe the lights were about to fall.

Well, yeah, and I was trying to make sure that I could make that quick step, get in or get out. Right, right, right. Yeah. Yeah. So this guy, once you finally realized that it was a guy on a parachute with a fan behind him, how mad were you? I couldn't keep my mind on him. I got to keep my mind on Reddick Bowe. That's enough.

Everybody asks me that, and I'm like, you have to have a one-track mind. You're going to be real good. You're going to be the best. You have to have that one-track mind. Yeah. Yeah, it's not something you can pay attention to. But was it hard to get your mind back into it after the settle and they had to clear the guy out and arrest him

and clean the ring out and everything? No, I stayed focused. My whole thing is that I felt that I won the first half. Now I got this next half. Why did it take a half hour to get that guy out of there? You know, Riddell Bo's wife was there. She was pregnant. She had to leave and all this.

So many things happened because the guy happened to come over, Farrakhan. And so all these people, they don't beat the poor man in the head. They'll knock them out. Like, he got a really good beating for coming in. I hope he did. Yeah, he did. Is he still in jail? No, no, no.

He passed now. Oh, he's gone? Yeah. Oh, well. I guess that's his legacy. Well, you know. You fucked up your fight. That's his legacy.

You're right, but I won. Yes, you did. Yeah. I mean, look, man, you had some incredible fights, but to me, one of my fondest memories is, you know who Kevin James is from the King of Queens TV show? Me and Kevin James were at my house in Encino the night you fought Tyson, the first one, the first fight, when you dropped Tyson. I'll never forget it.

Because back then, then i mean we knew that buster douglas had beaten tyson but we kind of almost thought it was like a fluke but when you were battering tyson and then you put him down and stopped him i'll never forget kevin james jumping off the couch just jumping oh my god we're throwing our arms up in the air i mean that was for sure one of the greatest heavyweight championship victories in the history of the sport it was just an incredible fight because in a lot of people's eyes tyson was like this a bad guy he was like uh people thought of him as like a thug you know and you were thought of as this like really good guy and many people didn't think that you were going

to be able to beat him so when you didn't just beat him but you took it to him you took it to him you know like early on in the fight you could tell that you had decided you were going to push him around and you know once you had stopped him i mean it was that was pandemonium in my house everybody was going crazy they couldn't believe it well you know i know everybody you know you know i, you know, I'm like, you know, I'm a Christian. But the point of the matter, I work hard. I train hard. And, you know, my mama said, ain't too many things that you do well.

So, son, you know, which one is sports you going to do? Because I was a good athlete. But football and boxing was my two best ones. But, you know, I played basketball. I did baseball. I did everything. My mama said, ain't enough time in the day to be the best. At everything.

Yeah, don't say that. So you got to pick one. So when I played football in 10th grade and they put me on the bench, I started crying. And my mother said, you can't quit until the season is over. So I had to play on that game. They finally let me play in the championship game. And they seen how good I was.

And they asked me, was I coming back next year? I said, no, sir. He said, why? I said, my mama said I ain't got to. Like this. My mama told me, you got to bet on yourself or you're going to bet on the coach. So in boxing, you're betting on yourself. Right.

In team sport, you're betting on the coach. You're betting on the coach. You're betting coach you bet on the coach you're betting on the other players and you're betting on the coach letting you play right right whereas in boxing they have to let you fight that's right you may be asking somebody to tag in for you now when did you think that boxing was going to be your career was it right after that it's like around 10th grade oh but yeah yeah you know after 10th grade i realized that you know it don't came down to one one sport yeah that i really do real well and so that's when i i you know i just put everything in it well you were part of that

incredible olympic team too i mean so many great fighters came out of that olympic team right yeah breland pernell whittaker taylor i can tell you all of paul gonzalez 106 steve mccurry 112 19 robert shannon 125 melvin taylor 132, Pennell Williker, 139, Jerry, and 147 with Mark Breeland, 156, Frank Tate, 165, Virgil Hill, 78, me. That's right, Virgil Hill. And then Henry Tillman and Tyrell Biggs. What a team. Yeah. Crazy team. Nine gold medalists, one silver, one bronze. Tyrell Biggs what a team crazy team

nine gold medal, one silver one bronze amazing besides Michael Spinks you were one of the rare guys to move up and be successful as a heavyweight did you just decide

after you beat Dwight Muhammad Kawi who was a cruiserweight champion and you you'd beat, you know, some real good names at that weight class, you just decided that heavyweight was where the real money was at? Well, actually, you know, my goal, I wanted to be heavyweight champion of the world. And the only person I knew is Mike Tyson do it, I could do it. The only person I knew is Mike Tyson do it, I could do it. So when Mike Tyson whooped everybody, you know, people tend to make up excuses. Now, Mike Tyson is a small person. I'm talking about he hit hard, but he's got short arms.

Right. He's got short arms. And so I seen Mike whipping people that's 6'4", 6'5", 6'6". They outweigh him by 20, 30 pounds. He beat the daylights out of them. Right. I figured if Mike could do it, I could do it. So that gave you inspiration. That gave me inspiration. My own thing is that, you know, I actually, you know, for the cruiserweight division, I kind of went through that.

And what's the next goal is to go up. And, you know, and I chose to do it. And a lot of people said, man, you crazy. Well, you know, you have to be a little of that to be in this anyway. Yeah, there's no doubt about that, right? Yeah. So when you first did fight Mike Tyson, was that like something you had always knew was going to happen once he got out of jail?

Well, it was like this. My mama used to tell me, she said, now, let me tell you something about a good fighter. You can't wish him away. They ain't never going nowhere. You got to face it. And so you know what? And, you know, and everybody in everything that I've done,

everybody will always remind me, you didn't beat Mike Tyson. Right. And I'm like, well, you're right. And I said, but it's not like it was my fault. Right. And I just, I said, you know, every time I got ready to fall, something happened. I said, but it wasn was my fault. And I just, I said, you know, every time I got ready to fall and something happened, I said,

but it wasn't my fault. Well, you ain't really the champ until you beat him. It was amazing that he was so popular, especially in my house. I was,

you know, when people get mad at me, they tell me, I can't wait until you fight Mike Tyson. That's crazy. And so, the thing is,

is that, you know, he was that person that I watched everyone in his fight. And I realized you can't make that many mistakes with Mike. Right. When you finally did beat him, do you think when you did fight him and did beat him, do you think that that raised your celebrity and your notoriety to a different level not not really i think that it it let people know that you ain't gotta you ain't gotta be considered a bad person to be good in the ring yeah i'm saying because when you know my own thing i could box and but everybody thought that because i didn't curse a lot or I don't get in trouble that you ain't mean enough

to beat a mean guy. And more so than, I'm a skillful fighter. I took care of my body and I did everything right. In general, I fought a lot of guys who are a lot bigger. But it's an art to the game. It's really an art. It's really an art. It's not just one thing you hit harder. Because you've got to be able to take something to give something. Right. Well, you always could take it.

Yeah. That was a big part of your career when you had an iron chin. I mean, Riddick Bowe was a giant man, and he hit you with some bombs. And those wars that you guys had, you were able to take some incredible punches. With me, I knew that I could take it, but can you take it? And so the whole big thing is, the whole big thing, my whole thing, my whole big thing with Mike is that what Mike had told somebody, everybody got a plan until they get hit.

And he was right. Because, you know, if this guy worried about you hitting him and he ain't worried about getting hit, so he ain't got to worry about it. But I knew if you hit me, I was going to hit you back. And so that was part of the plan,

was to let him know that early. Right. It seems like that was, when you fought him, particularly in the first round, you pressed him. but that was a rare moment to see someone like really pushing mike back and getting mike back on his heels well and all the other game if if you like mike get you back that may be it right right so you had to attack him so the whole big thing the whole big thing with me was things that my mama said.

She said, let me tell you when you know how good you are. When somebody press you with what you're doing, she said, might low the press of other people. But can he handle the press? My mama said, do it back to him. Do it back. If you want to see somebody stop doing something to you, do it to them. All of a sudden, they'll stop. People really don't like what you do to somebody,

and somebody do it again, you get ticked. Right. Like that. So the thing was to we practice just putting pressure, putting pressure, putting pressure. Make him feel the same way that he make other people feel. So that was the game plan going into that fight? That was the game plan, yeah.

Was there anything surprising about that fight? Not to me because I didn't want no surprise because with a surprise you may get knocked out. Right. So the thing is to stay on him and let him think about all those things. and let him think about all those things. Now, once you stopped him in the first fight, the second fight is the fight that's probably the most famous fight because he bit a chunk of your ear off, and I saw it when you were coming in here.

Show everybody that. Well, you know. Did you ever think about getting that fixed? Well, no. You know, that's my identification. If I ain't got my ID, I can show them my ear. That is, right, if you want to get into somewhere. Do you know who I I can show them my ear. That is right. If you want to get into somewhere.

Do you know who I am? Look at my ear. Yeah. That's crazy, man. That was one of the craziest moments when Mills Lane looked at you and you were jumping up in the air and looked at Tyson and realized, holy shit, he bit a chunk out of your fucking ear. Right. Like what? What were you thinking at that time?

Biting him back. I'm serious i was getting ready to bite the daylights out of him and i was gonna bite him in the face i would bite his face i wasn't gonna wait for the ear i was gonna get the fat stuff you know because you know when you're from the ghetto they say if you do something you got to do it worse than what they did right and so you know and i told mike and i'll talk to you i said no i said no i i will pretend it like something, you got to do it worse than what they did. I told Mike in a talk show, I said, no. I pretended like I was hurting real bad. I said, but

I'm going to trip you up and bite you right in your face. Everybody know what I was going to do. I said, but this prophet told us before the fight, he told me, he said, look, he's going to do something in your face area, but you got to stay focused. Because if you don't stay focused, that's the only way he's going to get you. So by him biting me on my ear, and I knew I was getting ready to bite him back.

But my corner person started telling me, keep my mind on the Lord. And because the prophet told me, he said, only way he can get you to get your mind, he going to do something to you. I thought he going to hit me with an elbow, a hip, anything like that. But I never, ever thought in my life he would bite me on the ear. And bite a chunky ear off. And it hurt so bad. And people said, how bad did it hurt?

I said, did you see how high I jumped? No, it was crazy. You just leaped up in the air. Yeah. It hurt so bad. And I said, Dan, I said, Dan, that guy, my corner guy, Tim Hallmark, kept telling me, keep my mind on the Lord. And I ain't want to hear that.

You know. Right. Even though he was saying that, and I was, man, I was still, I was just trying to remember that, get him. I want to bite him. I really wanted to bite him back. All of a sudden,

it hit my mind that they always catch the second person. I'm telling you, anything in life, and I'm the one that people always did something to them. They will always catch me. I'm the only one to get caught all the time

because they always catch me trying to get the get back. So revenge is the Lord. So you don't go get back because you're going to get caught. I was amazed that they didn't stop the fight immediately. Well, they came back and checked, and he asked me, you all right? And I said, yeah, because I at least wanted to hit him. Right.

I really wanted to hit him. I was really upset. But he tried to bite you twice, right? Well, yeah, he bit me twice. He bit you twice. He bit me when we went back in and he thought I was going to be scared. And he seen I caught him with these two shots and he bit me again. Man, and I jumped back and I was just getting ready to kick him in the bowl.

And the bell rung, and I went back to the corner. And, boy, I was so doggone mad that I was really going to get him. And they stopped the fight. And then I got mad because they stopped the fight. Because you were going to get him. I wanted to get him back. Well, it seemed like he thought that you were going to get him. I wanted to get him back. Well, it seemed like he thought that you were going to get him and he was trying to find a way out.

Well, yeah. That's the only thing that made sense. Well, yeah. But the thing is, the only thing that I guess with me and what I stand on is that I was able to forgive him. And that has been the turnaround in my life to tend to make people always wonder about the ear bite. And I said, but I forgave him.

And everybody said, so what's special about that? And I said, but everywhere I go around the world, with the Muslims or whatever, and people say, wow, this guy can forgive. How can you forgive when you're already beating the guy? I said, but, you know, it's what life have to be if you're going to survive with even your brothers and sisters. Because if you don't forgive nobody, you're going to be a mad person.

You're going to find yourself locked up. Right, right. And it's going to haunt you. Yes. Whereas if you forgave him, it took a weight off your shoulders. Yes. Mike and I, we do a lot of things together because the forgiveness part. It's cool to see you two together now.

I mean, when I have seen things that you've done together, I'm like, wow, it's crazy. I mean, when I have seen things that you've done together, I'm like, wow, it's crazy. Like after he bit you, those crazy fights, and to see you together laughing and joking around together, it's pretty interesting. Well, I mean, when you tell people, you know, when you don't choose your parents, you don't choose your neighborhood, you ain't choose your skin color, you ain't choose to be tall or short. But, you know, this is your statue. choose to be tall or short, but, you know, this is your statue. And two people, two people came from the ghetto who boxed. And boxing was the only thing I did real well, okay, and football. But the thing is that after all that, look at how much money we made doing something that we, by doing it properly, we make money. We make money and we can both, you know, raise our family in the way that we want to raise them.

How long did it take after the fight before you forgave him? I think after about, by the time I got into the locker room and everybody started complaining, man, I can't believe he did this, this, this, this. I said, look, I said, did he bite you? They said, no. Okay. I said, he bit me, right? And I said, now I'm going to forgive him.

And you know what? Y'all got to forgive him too. Wow. They said, what you mean, forgive him? I said, he didn't bite you. I said, he bit me. I said, look, I'm going to forgive him. Wow.

So you forgave him in the locker room right after the fight. Yes. Because the thing is, the thing is, I was really mad coming down. And people throwing water and people mad and they upset because they didn't get a chance to see what they really wanted to see. Right. Like this. And so they were mad and they were upset. And I asked, you know, me, I figured, who in control?

God. So I said, Lord, what is this thing all about? He said, forgiving. And I said, who in the world want to forgive? But this is what it is. We're the two very important people that everybody come to see, and they need to know that forgiveness is a big part of life. And so I was able to do that.

So in the point of being able to do that, you know, I realized that it made my life better all over the world. You got a Kleenex? Kleenex? Yeah, sure. That's a very powerful thing, man. It sure that's that's a very powerful thing man it really is that's a very powerful decision and you know it's a very powerful statement you know to for you to forgive him after that I mean that really that probably did a lot of good for a lot of people

to realize man if Evander Holyfield can forgive Mike Tyson after he bit a chunk of his ear off, I mean, that's a strong statement of character right there. Well, you know, the thing is, I didn't know. A little earlier than that, they may not would have got that. They would have got some

if you bit his face. But it's amazing how, what time would do for you. Right, but, but it's amazing how, what time would do for you. Right, right. At one point in time, I'm telling you,

something would have happened. Right. But because they gave me a little time to think about and gave me, and I was like, and you know, and you know what it means

when, when things, things don't go right. I go back to the prayer and say, Lord, what is this all about? And he said, forgiveness.

And, you know, I wouldn't be who I am if it wasn't for forgiveness. Everybody don't fell short somewhere. And like that, so, you know, the whole big thing is, and I talked to, a week after that,

I talked to Mike, we was at the All-Star basketball game in New York. And I looked up, and everybody was streaming. And I wonder what they were streaming about, telling me to watch out. I'm like, watch out for who? I looked up, Mike, and he had this big bear coat like this. And so everybody was telling me and warning me that Mike there. He had a big bear skin coat?

Big fur coat? He had a big fur coat and stuff like that, and he wouldn't do nothing but shake hands. Wow. A week after. A week after. So your ear is probably still sore. No week after. A week after. You know what I'm saying? So your ear is probably still sore. No, no. I wouldn't even.

The thing is, with my ear, my ear is almost like a testimony. Right. And, you know, it's almost like you win a trophy yourself that a person look and say, man, he forgave the guy. So I see that more people, when they see me, they look at my ear. They see me and they smile. Not in anger, they smile and say, he forgave that guy. Wow.

So when you saw Mike, did you guys talk? Yeah, yeah. A week after the fight? Yeah. What did he say to you? Matter of fact, his room was next door to mine and I didn't know. We came out. We come out at the same time.

He looked. He looked. He asked me, is this all good? I said, yeah. So we get on the elevator together. Whoa. And we come down with the door open. Everybody was shocked.

So they were shocked, wondering why we wasn't fighting. Right. It was just you two in the elevator or other people as well? Yeah, that's it. Just you two in the elevator. Yeah. Wow. And so at the shocking part, they said, man, we thought they would be fighting.

And I told the guy, I said, man, I said, you know how much money I got paid in that fight. How much money can you think we're going to fight for free? Was there ever talk about a third fight? Well, I had people mention it. You know, they mentioned it. Right. But, you know, the thing is, is that they wanted to give a lot of money, and they were asking me to try to.

And my own thing is that I kind of feel like it's kind of a bully for you to ask somebody to fight you again when you know you're going to win again. Right. So the whole big thing is I just didn't think that if Mike wanted to do it, I would have done it. But I wasn't going to go and ask. I think you've been a bully when you know you're better than somebody and you want to play them in something that you know you're going to beat them. Right, right. It's a challenge.

It's somebody's challenge. I can come back and beat you. But, you know, just you know know, you feel that you better. And so I think it would be wrong for me to ask it. Right. No, that's amazing. I mean, but that just shows what kind of a person you are. Like it shows what kind of character you have.

And that sort of defines your career, that you are the guy that did always seek the big challenges. Yeah. You know, winning this, you know, the nickname Real Deal, and people ask me, how did you get that name, Real Deal? I said, you know, I thank God for anything that's great, it comes from God at all given time. You know, I had a mom who had a sixth grade education, but she raised me. She raised the four-time headway champ in the world.

She stayed on me all the time. And my brothers and sisters said, Mom, you're going to make a sister to him. You don't let him go out. You don't let him do nothing. My mama said, He's going to be all right. You just wait and see. And when I think about it, she never did give in to what nobody said about me. And I became who I am.

And I'm just so thankful. And the Bible said, all good things come from God. Anything that is good for you, it came from God. It sounds like you rely on your mom, and you relied on your mom a lot for wisdom. Well, that's all I had. That's all I had because my brothers and sisters and stuff, all of them, I don't think all of them liked me a lot. They may like me a little bit. But my mama, I know my mama loved me. They liked me a little bit. But my mama, I know my mama loved me.

They like me a little bit. Yeah, but it's amazing to hear that your mother was right at every stop, at every step. All of her advice all paid out. I mean, she knew there was something special about you. My mama

knew something special about everybody, but you had to do the work. Right. And the art of me is just my mama had a heart attack. My mama had a heart attack, and so my mama would add home with me to make sure that I made it. But, you know, with everybody else, my mama worked 10 to 10 with them. Right, right, right. So I was the youngest one, so she had a heart attack when I was like, when I was about six or seven years old. So I got caught in everything.

So I got more whooping than everybody. So out of all that whooping, the good person showed up. Yeah, you got more advice than everybody, too, though. I sure did. Have you ever thought about doing Mike's show? You know, Mike has a podcast now. I did it. Did you get high with him?

No. I don't have to get high to do it But you know I did it last month Oh okay Is it out already? I haven't seen it I gotta check that episode out

That's incredible What was it like to sit with him at the ranch And hang out with him? Well it was okay The thing is I won't answer the questions, and he kind of eggs me up and says, look, man, I know you're going to do a little bit more than that.

I said, you know, if I did, I forgot it, Mike. I forgot it. You let your past be your past. You got to continue to move forward. He's a different person now. Well, I think he is. Yeah, he's he's a he's a very interesting guy he's a very smart man well yeah he's a lot smarter than what people give him credit a lot now that's what they don't know about yeah i know that yeah no he's very introspective

very smart and very humble you know the way he looks at life now. Like, he doesn't even think about his old days. Like, he doesn't like that guy. He doesn't like who he used to be. It's very interesting when you talk to him. Well, yeah, and your past is your past. That's why you got to leave it alone. Yeah, and he smokes $40,000 worth of weed a month. Well, I guess you have the money.

You don't have to worry about it. Well, you're involved in CBD now right this is what resin sports is yes um how amazing is CBD it's incredible right it's amazing how good it is for your health yes and so many people have you know your kids you're like your kids don't even ask to have the problem and some of them come up with these problems. If you then have this CBD, then your kids probably wouldn't be, wouldn't function as properly as they function. It's amazing.

It's got so much, this stuff got so much, this stuff's got so much benefit, even though if you take advantage of anything, too much of anything, it's not good for you. Right, but I mean, I don't think there's any way you can overdose on CBD, right?

It's all just healthy for you. It's just oils. Well, I know it's oils and it's different things. How much of it do you take a day? For me? Yeah. I rub it on my leg and stuff like that,

and I just now found that they got some oil drops that are really good for you. Now, I didn't know that. Oh, the oil drops? Yeah. Yeah, so that you put on your tongue and all that. Yeah, I love those. See, I didn't know that. Now that I know that, it's taking me some drops.

Yeah, I do both. I take the drops and I rub it on my muscles as well. And they say it's good for your memory and all this and stuff like that. Now, I didn't know that. Now, I'm going to probably remember a lot of stuff for that. Well, you got through a crazy boxing career remarkably well. I mean, your health is there. You look great.

And do you have any injuries or anything that still carries with you after all these years? See, that's the thing. I juiced a lot. I juiced a lot. I mean, the best of the juice and all that I did. I ate very clean with stuff like that. Did you have nutritionists that prepared your meals? I had some people talk about nutrition, but I kind of ate the way that I want,

but I was very disciplined in what food to eat and what not to eat. When you were eating, did you meal plan or did you just eat whatever you wanted to? What was a typical meal for Evander Holyfield? When Evander Holyfield, when you were in your peak condition and you're training for a fight, what would be a typical meal during camp? Well, you know, I juice. I ain't like nothing green, so I have to juice that. I juice the greens. Spinach, kale, that kind of stuff. I so I have to juice that. Juice it, right. I juice the greens.

Spinach, kale, that kind of stuff. I do that. I do that. That's the first thing I put in there. Then I get a chance to eat what I want to eat. So I like steaks, and I like chicken a lot. But the thing is that I like pan apples. I like apples.

I like all this fruit stuff that you cut up, the berries and all that. These are the things that actually kind of, you know, people saying, do you have any tingling in your hand, your feet, anything? I said, well, I don't have anything. I said, do I supposed to? Well, other people do. I said, but what did they do? What did they eat? Right, right.

I really ate real clean, real good. Well, tingling usually is associated with nerve damage, right? A lot of times people have back issues and neck issues from years of fighting. I think even Mike had some neck surgery because of issues that he was having with his neck. But Mike did a lot of bridges, remember, on his neck? He did a lot of bridges, like wrestling-type bridges, where he's bouncing on his neck and rolling around back and forth. That's not necessarily supposed to be the best thing for your neck either.

No, I did that too. Did you do that? You know, I see somebody doing something, and they good. I'm going to try it out. I'm going to try it out. So did you try it out after you saw him do it? No, no, no. But I started doing that as a kid in football practice.

Oh, okay. We rolled on the neck and all this stuff. You kind of felt that you were strong as you can hold your head up and bridge like that. And I did that a lot. How many days did you work? Your typical boxing workout was sparring, hitting the mitts, and then road work. But you would also do strength and conditioning and some serious physical exercise. How did you break up training camp?

How many days a week did you spend doing weightlifting type stuff? And how many days were you doing the other things? With the boxing part, I do that five days a week, and the weight lift three times a week. But I always have three workouts a day. Three? Yeah, three workouts. Because you've got to understand, my conditioning coach,

he was especially in conditioning. So we ain't gonna do all he gonna each and every training he gonna do certain thing what's most important thing was the boxing we get the boxing part out first then then what what type of run we gonna do we just. We ain't just run five miles. You know, we're going to sprint sometime. He'd come up with these different methods that you have three workouts a day, but you're tired.

But you probably didn't work number 15 minutes, but you're tired. That's a tough 15 minutes. Right. That's a tough 15 minutes. Right. So he had these things that allowed me to understand that whenever I get tired, this is when you know how good a shape you're into, what you do when you're tired. Right, right. So it's a thinking program more so than, oh, I tired myself out, and your knees hurt and your ankle, and you can't do nothing the next day.

You get tired out. The 15-minute window over you, you got all this energy. So everything was about recovering. Everything about recovery, right. So he was basically shocking your system with a bunch of different kinds of workouts and then allowing you to recover. And do you think if CBD was around back then, you would have probably used it a lot, huh? I'm not for sure.

I'm not for sure because the whole thing with me is understanding what do it do for me. Right. Now, I'm not – I wasn't the type of person that concerned about you. Now, I got to understand what's going to happen, what it's going to do for me. Right. If it makes you do this, but is it going to make me do this?

Yes, see, if it's going to make me do it, it's going to make me feel good, it's going to make me be confident, and I'm going to have to depend on this the rest of my life if I start. Right. I remember when the Pan American game in 1983. So they got the cap practice to pop everybody's neck and put them in where they can fight good because they want to see everybody win. And I'm the only one who wouldn't do it.

And they said, why? I said, because one wouldn't do it and they said why I said because I don't have any money and they said well we you don't have to pay any money I said yeah but if this feel good I'm going to need it every day and I ain't got no money so

what I'm going to do I said my mama told me don't start nothing you can't pay for so I so I'm the only one. I said, my mama told me don't start nothing you can't pay for. So I'm the only one that didn't go to the, doing the chiropractor work or nothing because I didn't want nothing that I can't afford to do.

Right, right. And so, of course, when after, you know, when I turned pro, coming from pro, I was able to afford it. And I go to chiropractor all the time now.

But why get something new that you can't pay for? Then you're going to make up an excuse to why you didn't do good today because ain't how nobody crack my neck. Ain't how nobody do this. Anything that is done, you got to be able to afford to do it. Was it hard for you to retire? No. I just wanted to know that I did the very best.

What I didn't want to do, I didn't want to retire and then come back. Because, you know, I don't, you know, you do it. I have a time. Do it right. My mom would do it right. And when you stop, make sure it's over. Yeah. And so, you know, and I think after one of my last fight, my last fight, I met the Klitschko brothers.

And I asked them why they didn't want to fight. They said, you know, Emanuel Stewart told us, you don't need to fight him. Like this and like that. And they chose not to fight because Emanuel Stewart told them, you don't need to fight him. Like this and like that. And they chose not to fight him because Emanuel Stewart told them. But I guess the most positive thing about the whole situation, when I was coming back from Russia, I seen a table of Ali. And Ali, when he lost against Larry Hall, he was trying to be four times. And he said, why ain't you just be happy for three?

He said, why did I have to go four? When I seen that, I said, why would I have to be five? I said, I'm on the top. Why not? I'm the best that I've ever been. I broke Ali's record. Why don't I just rest and be thankful? And I chose to because the fact of the matter,

records are meant to be broken. Somebody's going to break it eventually. Long Boston continues to go because you're looking for it to improve, the game to improve. That's a great attitude that I wish more boxers would have because for fighters, many times the highs of being a champion and winning big championship fights on television, under the bright lights, those highs are so high that after they get off and they retire,

they just miss it. They miss it so bad. And we've seen everybody, all the greats from Larry Holmes to Sugar Ray Leonard, all the greats come back. Except Hagler. Hagler never came back. And Andre Ward says he's not going to come back either. But Hagler, to me, was one of the most impressive

because he just, after that Sugar Ray Leonard fight, he went, we're good. I'm done. That's it. I'm telling you, it was amazing. The talking about, you know, I'm here. It was amazing. Amazing. The fact is, you know, you're accustomed to people. You know, you don't have to talk when you're a good fighter.

You know what? Right. Because everybody asks me, they say, why you ain't never said nothing? I say, because I didn't have to say nothing. When people look at it, they start talking about how good I am. So I don't have to say nothing well that was a big part of you was your humility but confidence you were always a humble man but always a very confident man and as a fighter that's a very admirable quality like you

didn't have a lot of haters or detractors when you the champ, people just appreciated who you were as a man. Yeah, but all that goes to credit my mom. My mom used to tell me when she said, zip the lip up. Zip them up now. You're talking a little too much. Talk a little too much. Zip it up.

Yeah, you were never a guy that bragged. When you see these guys like Floyd Mayweather, he gets so much attention. Obviously, he's an incredible boxer, maybe one of the best boxers, if not the best of all time. But just always talks crazy amounts of shit. But that has also got him a crazy amount of money and a crazy amount of attention.

But you never went that route. Well, you know, because the fact is it wasn't about money. I'm telling you, the love that you have and that you can account to, say, anytime somebody asks me something, it's not just me. Yeah, my mama, I can always account to these people that this boys club, like, you know, I tell people, I can always account to these people, this boys club. I tell people, I say, now, I started going to the boys club at the age of six years old. I said, now, I didn't choose my neighborhood that I chose to live in.

I said, but everybody in that neighborhood told me, you ain't going to be nothing. I'm talking about as a kid. You growing up and you were telling you ain't going to be nothing. You ain't going to be nothing. I'm talking about as a kid. You're growing up and you were telling them you ain't going to be nothing. You ain't going to be nothing. And so going to that boy's, the boy's club started talking about goals. What do you want to be? I'm talking, you know, now, I was that kid.

I can't lie and say they always asked me, what do you want to be? So, yeah, all I just, I want to be great. They say, and what? I say, well, if you don't do nothing, you got to find out what you want to be great in. So they let you play basketball, let you play baseball, all these different things every day. You're in age groups, six, seven, eight years old.

We could do all these different things, wood shop. You know, they wouldn't let you do what you want to do. You had to, you know, you had a group of people. You had to, at different hours, different time, you go to these different things. Make sure that you learn to see all the different things that you could be. But if, you know, if you never was in class and had rules to tell you to do what you want to do, you may not ever become nothing. I became who I am because I went to that boys club and they wanted me to learn all these different things. You'll find that you ain't going to be great in

everything, but at least you know when to be quiet, when to talk, when not to, because you're not going to be the greatest one in all the things that you do do you have any regrets when you look back on your your championship career not not at all nothing not at all my whole thing is that you know i'm i'm a lot better than what i even dreamed of or whatever thought about and like this But all these things that I wanted to be, you know what? The ultimate thing I wanted to do was make my mama proud. I wanted my mama to be proud of me because my mama cried so much about what you should have did.

And I just wanted to be one of the ones that I did what my mama said, and she was proud of me and all that. And eventually it became that way. Well, how could she not be proud of you? Well, you know. Four-time heavyweight champion. I mean, you're, when I came back from the Olympics, now, I kind of had that ego a little bit because I had done something that nobody else done in my family. So I bought my mom a house,

but she didn't want the house that I wanted to give her. Now, I want to put her in a nice neighborhood. She didn't want to be in a nice neighborhood. She said, I want to be by the bus stop. She said, I don't want to be depending on when you're going to come pick me up or not. I said, mama, and good, they don't have bus stops

because people, they don't want everybody seeing what they got because people steal. My mama said, but I don't want to depend on you because I don't know when you're going to come over here. I need to be on the bus now. Wow.

So I was kind of upset because I want to buy my mama this nice house for me to talk about. My mama want to get a house that ain't nobody want to talk about. It's a big old, old house. But my mama didn't care about that. My mama care about if everybody come home, everybody got a room. Now I want to give her a three-bedroom. She want to get an

eight-bedroom for nothing. Now her house going to cost $250 on one. On one, it's going to cost $50,000. And so she want to take the $50,000. I'm trying to figure out, I want something I can brag about. I bought my mama. But my mama said, you know, son, she said, son, I love more

than you. I love them too. These my kids just like, I don't love you no more. I love them. Right. And so when my mama told me that, I came to understand that she was thinking about if everybody came home, everybody have a room. Right. But you come in that three-bedroom, and there ain't gonna be enough

room for everybody. What was the size of the house that you built? You built some crazy, gigantic- Yeah, 54,000 square feet. What? Yeah. 54,000 square feet. Yes.

Why did you build a house that big? Well, the thing is, I thought about all the things that I didn't have, and I thought about what I could afford, and I was thinking about generation. I didn't build a house just for the family. Now, for the grandkids. And I figured, you know, I love my kids, and they're going to have some kids, and then they're going to have some kids.

So, you know, you would have a place still for everybody. Oh, so it's practical. Well, you know, to me in West Coast, you only do what you can afford to do. Right. And you could afford to make a 54,000 square foot house. Jesus, how many acres was that thing on? Well, we had 175 acres. When that was done, that must have been crazy.

Yeah, it cost a lot more than it probably would have if I would have thought about it, if I knew what I know today. And then, you know... What was different? Different is, I just got people to do it, and

then didn't have no organization and getting professional people who know how to do it. It just cost, the house cost me a lot more than it should have. It was a famous house because it was so big and so expensive. Yeah, well, yeah, yeah. But, you know, then somebody get it a little cheaper than you. You're kind of mad. Oh, when you sold it, you mean?

Yeah. Yeah. How much did you wind up selling it for? You know, $5 million. And how much did you build it for? $20. Wow. That's a big hit.

Well, yeah, yeah. Somebody got a deal. Well, but, you know, it's part of life. You learn from your mistakes. Who's living in it now? A guy named Rick Ross. Rick Ross, the rapper? Yep.

Really? Yep. That's crazy. Yep. Wow. Good for him. Yeah, and they're doing the movie Coming to America there. Are they really?

Yeah, so I feel like I'd be a part of it, too. You're in that, right? Coming to America there. Are they really? Yeah, so I'll probably be a part of it too. You're in that, right? Coming to America 2, right? Yep. When is that starting to film? Coming up in about a week or two. Is that Eddie Murphy as well? Yes. And Arsenio Hall, is he in that? Yep. Oh, all right, man. That's beautiful.

That's going to be crazy to be in your old house. Yeah. It ain't crazy, but, you know, I get invited over there a lot, and they still call it my house. I only feel better. Well, you designed it, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I did.

Did you put a gym in it? Gym, I put everything. Pretty much I copied off Scarface, the movie Scarface, you know. That's the only movie that I've seen that, you know, people come up in a tough situation and they become all that they are. Right. And so I thought that in one way or another, I'm not that, but I came up a tough way too. Right. And so the thing is that you want your kids to have more than you have and something better.

Well, that's what, I mean, every great champion wants that. They want a house that shows, like, this is where the heavyweight champion of the world lives. And when you've got 175 acres and 54,000 square feet and the way that house looked, that looks like a world championship house. Well, I had a ring that looked like a championship belt, too. Really? Yeah. It shaped like a championship belt. Is there pictures of that online?

I want to see that. How long did it take to build that? A year. Just a year? Yeah. Damn, that's fast. For a house that's 54,000 square feet? Well, you know, but they did. Wow. Do you still live in Atlanta now? No, I live in Fort Lauderdale. What are you doing down there? Well, you know, it's good for tax and all that. Oh yeah, for sure. Florida's got great tax rules.

There it is right now. You can see the house from the roof. That is a crazy spread. Look at the size of your pool. You get lost in that pool. That's just like a championship belt. That's amazing.

Yeah. That is amazing. Now, do you still work in boxing like do you train fighters or anything like that do you work with anybody no i'm i'm part of the promotion part of the promotion i and the final thing is that i i don't exactly want to coach on one person because i don't want to be that adversary that if I'm in your corner they're gonna they're gonna just gonna give it to you and people tend to think that and but you know because I I know I know how it was when when I was getting ready to fight I was getting ready to fight George Foreman and Muhammad Ali came in the ring, and he waved his hand.

So he come and tell me, he said, I'm for you. You know, tell me about you. Then he went and told George Foreman the same thing. Did he really? That's hilarious. He sure did. That's hilarious. Fighting George Foreman must have been a trip, too,

because you're fighting someone from a different generation. You know, he was a legend from Ali's generation yeah it was it was it was like kind of different to me and so I didn't really want to fight George I just wanted to fight Tyson and so my my business manager Shelly Finkel told me he said Evander it's my job as your business manager to tell you the thing about money. He said, you know, I said, well, I want to get the 30. He said, no, I'm going to get you 50 million. I said, how?

He said, if you fight George first, they're going to get you 20. He said, but if you fight Tyson first and get 30, they ain't going to get you 20 to fight him. Right. He said, they don't think you can beat George. I said, man, I said, George is old. He said, yeah, but they believe George is going to knock you out.

That's the only reason why they're going to give you $20 million. They're not giving you $20 million because they think it's an easy fight. Well, George, even though he was old, could still knock people out. When he knocked Michael Moore out, I mean, that was crazy. Of course. He knocked him out after he lost against me. He knocked Michael Moore out because I lost against Michael Moore. Yeah.

Yeah. So it showed you that he didn't give up on his dream. Right. His dream was to be the champ again. Yeah. And he eventually got it. The oldest ever. Yeah. The oldest ever guy to regain the championship. Right. His dream was to be the champ again. Yeah. And he eventually got it. The oldest ever. Yeah.

The oldest ever guy to regain the championship. Yeah. And I kind of say it because I think I'm supposed to be the oldest because, you know, that big old Russian that was. Yes. Valuev. Valuev. I fought him. Yes.

And ESPN, they scored it. They had me 11-1. Mm-hmm. And they get a decision to value well. Yeah. No, I saw that fight. That was a bad decision. Yeah, and it was just sad. You should have won.

How old were you at that time? I was 46. So you were a year older. Yeah. Yeah. And so I constantly tell Tyson, I said, you know, I can tell that we had the best era. I said, because you're the youngest heavyweight champion in the world,

and I'm supposed to be the oldest one. I said, what kind of era was that? He said, you had both of the people. Yeah. The youngest in the era. True. Yeah. Because, you know, at the time, it was amazing.

Tyson did this thing at 20 years old. 20 years old. And I said, because I had a lot of people they would talk about and say, oh, you know what, you know, you were just a great, I said, but I had, I said, Tyson was 20. I said, I ain't going to tell them what I would have been if I would have been somebody at 20. Right.

I said, you know, I said, you're talking about a kid. Right. I said, I said, hey, maybe we championed the world at 28 years old. And everybody said, well, you act so different at 28. At 20 years old, you're going to see something different. A lot more maturity. Yeah. It's a different person.

Yeah, being 20 and winning the heavyweight championship of the world, I don't know who could do that and not go crazy. Well, because the thing is, he was the most photographed person at that time. Yeah. Every time you look up, you see Mike on it. Yeah. You see Mike on it. I'm saying, he just did a lot of incredible stuff, too.

He certainly did. What do you think about today's era of boxing, but particularly the heavyweight division? I mean, it's real exciting right now. I think it's coming back. Yes. I think coming back, you know, Ruiz don't sneak through the picture. And I like that because here's a guy you look at and you may think he can't fight. Right. Fight him.

He can fight. Yeah. Andy Ruiz can throw some combinations. Yeah, sure. And I was telling a friend of mine, I said, they picked the wrong guy. He said, what you talking about, man? That boy, he don't look like he's, I said, he just look like that he can fight. I said, I sparred with him. I said, he the first person I ever sparred that I say, I never want to fight. Really? Yeah. I said, he was that good. Now, at that time, I was 46, so he had to be probably 19.

But that was my first time ever seeing a guy, and I said, I don't want to fight him. I was glad that I retired after 46. He has beautiful combinations. And you look at his body and you say, oh, that's a guy that's overweight. But underneath all that fat, there's an incredible athlete. But that's what I'm saying. So you just can't go by eye on how I look these days.

Because Anthony Joshua looks like a Greek god. He sure did. I mean, he looks like he's carved out of stone. He knocked him down. That guy got up and knocked him down three times. Crazy. And then you got Deontay Wilder, who's one of the craziest heavyweight knockout artists ever. I mean, that guy has preposterous power.

Well, you know, because people ask me about him. I said, well, you know what? I said, only thing I can say, he from Alabama too. I said, I'm from Alabama. Something in the water. I said, but it's his confidence. You know, Deion, he go in, he go in, and he fight his fight. And when he can see that shot, he throw it in.

But he get wild at the end. I said, at least he know the guy hurt though. his fight and and when he can see that shot he throwing it and everybody said but he get wild at the end I said at least he know the guy hurt though I said he don't

get wild before the guy get hurt but he know the guy hurt I said so he can he can take

chance to throwing looping shots like this because the guy hurt I said but at least he's smart enough

to know but I remember the time when he got hurt he got knocked down, and all that. And one thing that he showed, he had confidence. People who don't have confidence, they get hurt. They start trying to run.

Right. When he got hurt, he came forth, and that's the reason why he was able to survive that round. Then the next round, he knocked the guy out. Well, Ortiz and him are going to have a rematch. Yeah, I'm telling you, that's the guy that it was. Ortiz is no joke. He's a dangerous fighter. That's really not going to figure out why you would give another chance.

Which shows his confidence. Confidence. He showed confidence because of the fact that the man. Now, ain't nobody, even after that fight, want to fight Ortiz still. They said, nah. True. I'm going to wish him to go away

yeah because he's a good fighter and he's one of the most most clever fighters out there yes and that's the reason I'm like

okay you did it one time okay you know why let him knock somebody else out and let him

upset somebody before he comes back. And Ortiz is getting old. No one even knows how old he really is because he's from Cuba. There's speculation that he's 50 years old. People don't even know. Right, they don't. But he's an amazing fighter.

He's so skilled out of that Cuban amateur program. I mean, his boxing is just top notch. And he had Deontay in all sorts of trouble. But you're right. Wilder showed that he could overcome adversity and that his power, that's one of the more impressive things about him, his power doesn't go away. He keeps that power deep in the 12th round when he knocked out Tyson Fury, or knocked down Tyson Fury.

In the 12th round, it looked like it was over. Well, that's what I'm saying. I'm thinking, this is what you were talking about, confidence. Yes. And I told him, I said, look, man, I said, you're the only person I know that tall and lighter than me. That's true, right? Yeah.

I'm like, he fight 213. He was 209 when he fought Tyson Fury. 209, the day of the fight 213. He was 209 when he fought Tyson Fury. 209, the day of the fight. Crazy. I said, I'm like, I said, now, that's what you call confidence in all this. Yeah. I said, you know, but he don't worry about it. Right.

I'm like, you know. No, he don't care. See, and that's what, that's why I like certain people to me. With me, everybody said, man, they started talking about this stuff. I said, look, I don't care about that. I can fight, man. Yeah. And you know what?

When he started talking to people and people get scared of him because he said, look, man, I can fight. I know what I can do. Yeah. He know all he got to do is hit you with that big right hand. Or the left hand. I got that one understand because I seen him when he hit this boy, now I'm doing a left hook.

I said, oh man, he got a hook now. Well, that 12th round, it was a right hand and a left hook behind it and snapped Tyson's head back. But I mean, Tyson Fury's incredible too, man.

That guy got up after that. 99% of the people on planet Earth would still be out cold after those two punches. What I try to get people to see, I say, now, the referee isn't supposed to let him get up. Most people, most fighters would get up. Mm-hmm.

But the referee, well, dive on you, jump on you, won't let you get up. Because for you to lay flat like that for four or five seconds, they ain't supposed to do that. Right. Most referees would have called it off right there. Yeah, yeah. Well, thank God he didn't. Well, you know, I'm not for sure because it messed up the whole thing. He would have been the champ.

Yeah, but aren't you excited that he got up and then Tyson Fury wound up winning the rest of the round? Well, wait. Yeah, he did. He did. Tyson Fury wound up winning the rest of the round. Well, wait. Yeah, he did.

He did. But still, when you do the thing right, your job is to be saving the fighter. Right. I see what you're saying. So you think the referee should have probably saved him. Yeah. The referee is supposed to do what he – my own thing because if it was anybody else, they would have did it.

You know what bothers me? What bothers me is the count was more than 10 seconds. Well, that's what I'm saying. That's what bothers me. What bothers me is I think it shouldn't be the referee going one, two. It should be a number. Like there should be like a timer. They do have a timer. They had a timer.

This is how you know. They have a guy with a referee and you're thinking he count two. Right. But he's counting. I want a number, like a digital clock that shows you 10 actual seconds. I think they should have something like that. To leave it up to the referee. Some referees like one, two, three.

Other referees like one, two. And that's not seconds. That's not seconds. It's too subjective. You're right. Because you know what? Because even after that, the referee wears a glove. I look at him. A couple not seconds. That's not seconds. It's too subjective. You're right because, you know what, because even after that, the referee, he wears the gloves out, look at him, look at his eyes.

A couple of seconds. Yeah. When you look at it, he had about 30 seconds. He had 30 seconds. And then they said, oh, he recovered. I said, but, you know, they wouldn't have did that to anybody else. Right. I said, but how about – now, what bothered me was – what bothered me, I said, how do you, I said, if he go in the other country and fight, and the guy doing him like this, they stopping the fight.

Right. A lot of referees would have stopped that fight. I said, they, I said, how is it when somebody can come in your country and you give them the ups? Right, right, right. I said, something is wrong with that. I just think it was because it was such a big fight. Like everybody wanted to see that fight. It was such a huge fight.

Well, you know, even though I'm saying you go in another country, you know, if that fight closed anywhere, you're not getting it. Right, right. You're not getting it. Right. And you can, like, just like, I would hit that guy. The guy didn't even throw no punches. I'm in a round. I remember they asked the guy, I said, how could you win a round when you didn't throw a punch in that round?

The only person who's ever done that is Willie Pepp. Right? Willie Pepp won rounds just by being a slick defensive fighter. But he was so impressive that people gave him the round anyway. Yeah. You know? That fight was a fight that begged for a rematch. Just begged for a rematch.

And it bothers me. It's one of the things that bothers me about boxing sometimes is that these fights, they don't come to fruition. And then if, I mean, he almost lost in his Tyson with that cut in his last fight. I mean, that was a bad cut. They could have stopped that fight.

Yeah, but you know, they stop it when they want to stop it. So you got to understand who's leading this thing off to a point where you've got to get. In the game, with me in the bar game, I just wanted it to be right because I know how important it is for anybody who put their life on the line to be a fighter. And won't you say, it was fair. I did my all.

At least I got my opportunity. Yeah. Well, listen, Evander, I really appreciate your time. I really appreciate you coming in here. And like I said, I've been a giant fan your entire career. So it was an honor to meet you and an honor to have you on here, brother. Thank you very much. Thank you. Evander hollyfield ladies and gentlemen thank you sir bye everybody