Evander Holyfield has named the hardest hitter he came up against in his famous 57 fight career.
‘The Real Deal’ is highly regarded in the sport for cleaning out the cruiserweight division before doing the same at heavyweight, beating the likes of Mike Tyson and Buster Douglas as he went.
Despite going on to lose by stoppage in his career to both Riddick Bowe and James Toney, Holyfield picked his decision victory over George Foreman as the bout in which he was hit hardest.
In a clip shared by ES News, Holyfield revealed with a smile that he was worried Foreman had done him some permanent damage.
“The guy that hit me the hardest was George Foreman.
He hit me one time in the eleventh round, and I came back to the corner and I said ‘did he knock all my teeth out?'”
Holyfield fought ‘Big George’ over twelve rounds to a unanimous decision, deepening his undefeated record at the time and continuing to rule the heavyweight division after doing the same in the 200lb ranks.
At the time, the fight was the highest-grossing boxing event in history and its seventh round was named best of the year by Ring Magazine.
Foreman wasn’t done though. He fought until he was 48 years old, retiring three years after knocking out Michael Moorer to become a two-time world champion two decades on from his first title victory over Muhammad Ali, breaking a few records in the process and cementing his legacy as a heavyweight great.
As for Holyfield, he would compete for another 20 years and be involved of some of the sport’s most memorable fights.
His legacy as undisputed champion in the top two weight classes is currently being emulated by Oleksandr Usyk, who is just one fight away from the honour.