Boxing legend, Evander Holyfield, has had his say on the current heavyweight division – and believes one man stands alone at the top.
Holyfield is regarded as one of boxing’s all time greats, and has his name etched into the sport’s history as the only man to be undisputed at both Cruiserweight and Heavyweight.
One fighter trying to replicate that feat is Oleksandr Usyk.
After capturing all the belts at 200lbs, the Ukrainian moved up to boxing’s blue-ribbon division and became unified champion by beating Anthony Joshua in 2021. Having successfully defended his belts against ‘AJ’ in the rematch, Usyk just needs to add the WBC strap to join ‘The Real Deal’ in that exclusive club.
However, the person standing in his way is Tyson Fury, and Holyfield believes the undefeated lineal king is the best around right now.
Speaking to All Out Fighting, the former two-weight world champion said:
“Right now the best is Tyson Fury.
He’s the guy that nobody beat him. We’re talking about a heavyweight champion and he was champion first so until somebody come and knock him out then you can’t say you took that title from him.”
Holyfield was also full of praise for Usyk and revealed a conversation they shared about becoming undisputed at heavyweight.
“I like Usyk because when I met him he knew everything about me and he told me ‘I’m going to do exactly what you did. You became cruiserweight undisputed champion and then same at heavyweight – I’m going to do it to.’ I was like ‘wow’. That shows me he knows what it takes to do it.”
Hopefully fans won’t have to wait long to find out who the true number one in the division is, with Saudi Arabia confirming a ‘premium offer’ to make the fight in December will be sent to ‘The Gypsy King’ soon.