Hall of Famer Evander Holyfield said he doesn’t expect 22-year-old son Evan to live up to his legacy but then set the bar high for the younger Holyfield, a promising middleweight.
“Yung Holy” is 4-0 (3 KOs) since turning pro in November.
“Evan does not have to live up to my legacy, he has to live up to his,” Evander Holyfield told BoxingScene. “That’s what I tell him. He can be better than me, but is he willing to pay the price?
“Evan is a very knowledgeable kid. He had choices to do a lot of things. I told him, ‘Boxing is not for everybody.’ He told me, ‘Dad, I love it.’ Boxing is a tough thing to love, and you have to put the time into it. You need a lot of confidence to step into the ring.”
Evan Holyfield reportedly has taken part in only four official amateur boxing matches but he was a Tae Kwon Do champion and, he claims, he has spent much of the past decade as a gym rat.
He has weighed between 154 and 157½ pounds for his four pro fights but, at 6-foot-2, he could end up at 168 or heavier. His father, who is 6-2½, won the light heavyweight bronze medal in the 1984 Olympics and fought as a cruiserweight and heavyweight as a pro. He has talked about returning to boxing for charitable exhibitions at 57, possibly against former rival Mike Tyson.
The younger Holyfield, promoted by Main Events, is trained by Maurice “Termite” Watkins and works with conditioning coach Tim Hallmark, the elder Holyfield’s longtime teammember. Watkins reportedly was hospitalized with the coronavirus for a month.
“I told [Evan], ‘This is the time you have to work when nothing is happening,’” Evander Holyfield said. “When the curtain comes back up, it will be your time to make a leap. Another fighter’s mentality could be that, ‘This is a time to rest.’ As long as you’re in shape, you can take what they do, but you can give it too?”
He went on: “I know the game of boxing. A trainer is like almost being a father. You owe it to them with time. I can walk in there and say, you need to do this, this and this, because I’ve done it my whole life. I didn’t have anything else growing up.
“I didn’t have a dad who was the heavyweight champion of the world. I did not have a mom with a lot of money. I had to really focus. I gave my all to boxing, because that was the only thing I could do without any help.”
Evan Holyfield said his father is always available to him.
“He’s always there for me through advice,” he said. “We talk a lot, and bounce ideas off each other, all the way down to the business of boxing. If he sees something that I need to improve on, he’ll let me know. He tells me that each generation gets better.
“He wants me to be better than him. I’ve been wanting to chase this myself. It wasn’t a decision I made on a whim. Respect is earned, not given. I have to make a name for myself as my career moves along. I’m really cut for this, and actions speak louder than words. I’ve paid my dues.
“I’m not riding on my father’s name. I’m actually working for my own legacy. I want to be the first father and son tandem in the Hall of Fame. I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”