There were a couple of upsets last night – Martin Bakole’s points victory over the fancied Tony Yoka at heavyweight surprising plenty of people – and Evan Holyfield, son of the great Evander Holyfield, suffered a nasty KO defeat. Fighting in Inglewood in his 10th pro fight, this on the under-card of Sergey Kovalev against Tervel Pulev, the light-middleweight was knocked out quite brutally by part-time fighter, 32 year old Jurmain McDonald.
“Yung Holy” was tagged by a cracking right hand to the head and down he went, flat on his face. To his credit, Holyfield got back and and he even seemed to argue with the referee when the fight was over. Still, Holyfield was gone. McDonald, who works as an electrician, scored the biggest win of his entire boxing career last night, and he improves to 7-5(3). Holyfield loses his unbeaten record in falling to 9-1(6).
https://youtu.be/mCGFLChAS48
So can 24 year old Holyfield bounce back from this, his first setback, or has the son of a legend been brutally exposed? Of course any fighter can get caught, and Holyfield may well be hopping mad with himself today for having left his chin exposed the way he did. Evander Holyfield as we know had a legendary rock of a chin, yet his son doesn’t seem to have inherited this side of his father.
All boxing juniors have it tough as they are under so much pressure to perform to the level of success their fathers did. Holyfield, who began his pro career back in November of 2019, had pretty much won everything with ease, Holyfield having zero trouble in any of his nine previous fights. So again, was last night’s shocker a mere fluke, or has “Yung Holy” had his limitations exposed under the bright lights? A return fight between McDonald and Holyfield would for certain prove interesting.
Let’s see how soon it is before Holyfield gets back on the horse. And big congratulations to hefty underdog McDonald.
On the same card, fellow boxing juniors, Fernando Vargas Jr and Amado Vargas – both sons of “El Feroz” – had better luck, with Vargas Jr scoring a quick KO win over Terrance Jarmon and with Amado Vargas winning a decision over Anel Dudo. Both Vargas’s remain unbeaten.