Evander Holyfield Interview Transcript

evander holyfield27.09.07 – What is your plan?

EVANDER HOLYFIELD: When I win, I am going to defend the title. My goal is to become undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. With that, I will take all of the things that come with winning. Today I feel great and I am one day closer to fulfilling the goal that I set out to accomplish.

The naysayers have always been a big part of my life. I have always strived to be the best that I could be one step at a time. It is not so much the naysayers, but it is whether I can take the necessary steps to do what I can believe I can do. I have had no problems with my shoulder in the recent victories..

Did you think about going to Russia earlier?

EVANDER HOLYFIELD: The guy from Russia (Ibragimov) is not there – he is training in Florida. We are in the same boat.

What will you do if you win?

EVANDER HOLYFIELD: What if I win? Will I retire? No, I won’t retire either way. When I win, and like I said, my goal is to be the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, and that’s it.

I see this is you’re only your second time fighting abroad…

EVANDER HOLYFIELD: As the heavyweight champion, you would think you would get the opportunity to fight around the world. But all of the heavyweight champions have always fought in the United States. It is unfortunate now that the other countries have stepped up and those guys hold the belts. No I get the opportunity to show the people in Russia to see me fight. I think that’s a blessing.

I was going to fight in China and that didn’t happen. This is just another step that is necessary to be the champ. I haven’t been to Russia before. When I go to a place to fight, I go to focus on the fight. I don’t plan on seeing anything. I may decide to come back later. Right now it is just business.

I may be popular when I go over there to fight, or I may not be. That does not faze me at all.

I am thankful to have this opportunity. I don’t think it is too significant that I happen to be American. Hopefully as Americans, we can learn from out mistakes and straighten up our amateur program. I truly believe that when you stop giving back to the amateur program it will start showing. Our amateurs right now turn professional before they really learn how to fight. They can win the titles, but they can’t hold them because they don’t yet know how to fight the different fighters and learn to make adjustments. That is why the champions are always changing.

How do you feel about getting a title fight this quick?

EVANDER HOLYFIELD: I don’t say it is quick (that I got this opportunity), but I am a patient person. Life is about patience, you work on your craft and the opportunity will come and hopefully make the best of the opportunity.

How did you find out about this fight?

EVANDER HOLYFIELD: I don’t remember the exact day that it happened but I remember how it played out. Ibragimov was going to fight Shannon Briggs and my promoter, Main Events, told me that we have a good chance if Ibragimov wins. Ibragimov won and it looked like it was going to happen, then I was told he was going to fight the WBA champion and that’s what it was. So I went ahead and fought Lou Savarese and I beat him. So then the WBA guy pulled out. So then Ibragimov decided to go ahead and fight. I was the next best opponent, so here I am. I was at home. I just got done fighting Savarese. It was a great time – a week or two after the Savarese fight.

Are you now 100% healthy?

EVANDER HOLYFIELD: I am no longer hindered by the injuries that I had. I am healed from the shoulder surgeries that I had. I didn’t realize at the time what the shoulder has on the all-around boxing mechanics. It took me that long to realize that you can fight through pain but it can affect everything else. But in the losses against Chris Byrd, James Toney and Larry Donald – it affected them. But the recovery took some time and now I am excited about it. I have fast hands a good movement and can punch just as good as the young people. But I am older and smarter and I know how to train and now I will be able to fight a good 12-round fight.

How is training different? Can you possibly learn any more?

EVANDER HOLYFIELD: There is nothing that I can’t learn. The only thing different is that I do things in moderation. I can train like I used to train but it is going to take a little more time to recover. So if I have six weeks to train for a fight I will prepare so that I peak on the proper date, which is the 13th.

I used to train three hard times a days and it would make me feel more confident. Now I can’t drain all of my energy doing that because I don’t want to leave the fight in the gym. I want to have my best fight on the 13th. So I have to make the necessary adjustments in my training to get that.

How do you deal with a southpaw since you have had troubles with them in the past?

EVANDER HOLYFIELD: Well, you get a southpaw to spar against and that is about it. I know what type of personality I have to have and I know I have to throw a lot of punches and use the knowledge that I have, and I do have that and you’ll see that on the 13th.

When I fought Chris Byrd, I was injured with my shoulder. Against Michael Moorer in the first fight, my shoulder was hurt, and you saw what happened in the second. I was able to get to him. I was able to make the adjustments that were necessary for me to win.

What problem do you think Ibragimov will pose?

EVANDER HOLYFIELD: I don’t think there will be a problem. He is a determined fighter that will come to fight. I think that is a plus on both parts for the fans and for me. I’m not looking for an easy fight. I know that we will both come to fight. He just happens to be a guy that is Russian, and he worked hard to become champion, and everyone know I have always worked hard. They don’t give me anything just because I am Evander.

I have on more week of sparring. Alex Gonzalez is my sparring partner. And I leave for Russia on October 6.

KATHY DUVA: We will be live on Pay-per-View beginning at 1 p.m. ET and DirecTV will be doing a rerun every three hours at 4, 7 & 10 p.m. and again at 1 a.m. ET. iNDEMAND is showing live at 1 ET and again at 10 p.m. & 1 a.m. ET. The Dish Network was not interested in the fight and we have gone back with a second request. iNDEMAND was very excited about the fight and told us we HAD to do it on PPV. Suggested retail price is $34.95.

What do your fans tell you?

EVANDER HOLYFIELD: I really don’t focus on what people say. I am willing to get up every morning and train hard to become the best fighter that I can be. That’s what drives me. I am not into what the fans say – it is about 50/50 all the time. I hear what people say, some good and some bad, and that’s it. If I listened to it, my emotions would be going up and down. People believe what they want to believe. I understand that they have a right. And I have a right to work hard. And I have a right to do the things I need to do to stay focused.

KATHY DUVA: We do have the time of day going against us. We have to let the fans know that if they want to see this historic event, they have to get up early on the west coast. They will have to plan their day a little differently. Most people are off work on Saturday afternoon, but we know everybody isn’t. That’s why we are offering a delay, so that people can see it at night. Guys that are now in their late 20’s were teenagers when they fought Mike Tyson and that an iconic event that people will remember for the rest of their lives. This fight will interest them. And people that are older followed Evander throughout hi career. We have the ability to draw from a very wide spectrum of people. And with internet marketing, we are trying to get the younger fans as well.

Do you use your experience against Foreman to your advantage?

EVANDER HOLYFIELD: When I fought George Foreman, George was 42 and I was 29. When George would talk, I was focused on ‘was George saying this because he is trying to start a commotion or is someone telling him to say it.’ I learned a lot from him. I learned he was right. But today, he wouldn’t win. He would do well, but he wouldn’t win. I realized that when that fight was over, we both won. He won with the people. He showed them that he could do it. He fought a very compelling fight.

We have pretty much the same thing here. I am not as big as George, but everyone realized that it was going to take more than just one shot with Evander. Right now, I know that knowledge is power and I have the most knowledge. I have to go in there and take what I know and use it to my advantage.

What will happen when you win?

EVANDER HOLYFIELD: I am the only one to be heavyweight champion 4 times, so that is already there. The way the heavyweight division is right now, it would be an attention grabber to bring people back to watch the heavyweight division. There happens to be this guy who is 44 years old and he goes in, with skill and not one punch power, to go in and do what it takes, would bring people out to watch. And I want to unify the division so there is one champion – and it will take a lot of work to do it.
3100

Do you think it will be easier to get the other champions once you win?

EVANDER HOLYFIELD: I am realistic in life and I think that if a person can make more money, what are they going to do? They are going to shoot for the money. It’s not so much that if Evander wins the WBO, who will want to fight him? If you are the heavyweight champion of the world and this man (Evander) is making money and you’re not? I’ll fight him, because I am not going to let him make all the money. Regardless of what anyone says, when they look at my reign as heavyweight champion of the world and they see how much money I made – they say, ‘what happened?’ Because you didn’t draw anybody. The best has to fight the best. So I don’t think it will be hard at all to become Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World, because everyone will line up to fight me. Why would they fight anyone else? Somebody will lose, but at least everyone will get paid. I could fight this guy and beat the daylights out of him and make $1M, or I could fight him and make $10M – go figure. Whoever becomes Undisputed Heavyweight Champion will make a lot of money.

The common sense thinking of anyone holding a belt would be – “What could this guy do to me?” They might not get hurt, but do they want to lose to a guy that is older? That’s it. The only undefeated one is Ibragimov, so why would they be so embarrassed to make some money?

EVANDER HOLYFIELD: I didn’t see things on the business end. I thought I was in a no-win situation. If I beat this guy, what are they going to say? They are going to say you beat this old man. I remember at the time Shelly Finkel and I said, “No, I want to fight Tyson.” He said, “No, you need to fight George.” He said it is real simple, if you fight Tyson first, no one will want to see you fight George. Fight George first then fight Tyson and you could have two big paydays. I wasn’t thinking about how much money – I was thinking about reputation. I thought if I beat George, they are going to say, ‘You jumped on an old guy.’ So it worked out. That is why you have a manager, so he can think about the business side, so when I’m done boxing I don’t have to go punch a clock for eight hours.