Where did Jeff go?
He’s moved to a new location. Check him out on the new blogging platform and let him know what you think.
Home > Jeff Schultz > Archives > 2008 > June > 06
Friday, June 6, 2008
Difficult times for Evander Holyfield
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The first question could have been about the reports of foreclosure, or the unpaid child support, or the defaulted loan for landscaping. But the seeming implausibility of all that and, yes, admittedly a close relationship with Evander Holyfield, prompted me to go in another direction Friday.
First question: Are you OK?
“I’m fine,” he said. “Everything’s great. “The thing, I just don’t want to react to all of this stuff because, in the end, people will believe what they want to believe. I realize the situation I’m in. But the whole thing is, I’m not broke — I’m just not liquid.”
Holyfield will be the first to tell you: He is a flawed man. That puts him in the majority. For as long as has been disciplined in his professional life, he has strayed personally. He is proud and he is stubborn, traits that have worked for him in the ring and against him out of it.
Sometimes he listens to the right people. Too often he listens to the wrong ones.
But now there are money issues — significant but not the type that project him living on the curb outside of his Fayette County mansion. Holyfield finds himself being characterized as just another boxing cartoon. It is one thing to be lampooned for an unlikely pursuit of heavyweight titles at the age of 45. It’s another to be characterized as reckless, irresponsible or, worst of all, a bad father.
“I do feel kind of sad because things have always been positive, and now everybody wants to jump on me like I’m the worse person in the world and I went out and blew all my money,” he said.
“When things first hit the paper, people started calling me. But I can’t talk about everything and, like I said, people will believe what they want to believe. But everything will turn out OK.”
The numbers are staggering. He has grossed over $248 million in his career in ring purses. During one six-fight stretch (1996-99), he earned $107 million. What happens to that kind of money?
He denied his dream home would be foreclosed on, saying only: “Everything is all right with the house now.” He will never move. He considers that home part of his legacy. But it’s a drain. When he built it, he told me it cost $1.2 million a year just to live in — as in water, power and lawn edging. That was in 1997.
There have been three marriages, including a costly divorce from his second wife, Janice. They were married for those aforementioned six fights and $107 million. They didn’t have a prenuptial agreement because Holyfield proposed and married on a whim, flying home one weekend in the middle of training in Houston for a fight against Mike Tyson. When Holyfield’s attorneys and financial advisers found out about it, they flipped.
Holyfield has 11 children, two with his third wife, Candi. It’s believed his child support payments run at least $500,000 annually. But his children have always been important to him. It follows that any suggestions to the contrary cut deep. It was the only time we spoke Friday when he got emotional.
“I have always taken care of my children,” he said. “It’s just one of the mothers who’s saying something because she thinks it will embarrass me.”
There also have been losses in failed business ventures, particularly a gospel television station. The flip side: a significant income drop. He has fought only six times in the past 56 months. The last significant payday: $5 million in 2003 for a loss to James Toney.
There may not be another big payday. But Holyfield reiterated that’s not why he is fighting. He is competing for titles, not paychecks. He could not get a big-money fight now, regardless.
“This [money problems] isn’t the reason I’m fighting,” he said. “I’ve been telling people that my goal was to be undisputed champion. I told them in 1992. I told them in 1996, after I beat Tyson. People ask, ‘Why fight? Why, why, why?’ But that’s always been me. That’s what made me and allowed me to be my very best. I always set goals. This is my goal. I haven’t changed. My character hasn’t changed.”
The financial picture has changed, he admits. Just not to the degree people believe.
“This is not a situation,” he said, “where Evander did something so wrong, he’s going away and he’s not coming back.”
