By: Hans Themistode
For months now, former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield whipped his 58-year-old body into fighting shape. The 2017 Hall of Fame inductee pursued a third showdown with long-time rival Mike Tyson.
While both sides were hopeful that a deal could be reached, neither could come to an agreement from a financial standpoint. Still, Holyfield continued to train and now, he’ll get his chance to return to the ring. Albeit against an opponent he wasn’t originally expecting.
Former heavyweight contender, Kevin McBride at the age of 47, has decided to end his own decade long retirement to face Holyfield in the ring on Triller pay-per-view. Ryan Kavanaugh, owner of Triller, desperately wanted to match Holyfield with Tyson instead but after surveying the landscape, he’s come to the conclusion that McBride could be the better opponent after all.
“We went through all the heavyweights,” said Kavanaugh during an interview with BoxingScene.com. “Ultimately, who better than the guy who knocked Mike Tyson into retirement.”
Holyfield vs McBride is set to be the co-main event to undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez against mandatory challenger George Kambosos Jr. on June 5th.
Amongst the several names that were floated in the direction of Holyfield, were reportedly Roy Jones Jr. and Shannon Briggs.
For McBride, as previously mentioned by Kavanaugh, his biggest career win came a long-faded Mike Tyson in 2005. The unmotivated former champion stated on the night that he was no longer into the sport that he grew up loving. He also subsequently announced his retirement. While McBride was hoping that the win over Tyson would propel his career to new heights, he would win only two of his next eight contests and was brutally knocked out against Mariusz Wach in July of 2011, his last ring appearance.
Ironically enough, Holyfield would also make his last ring appearance two months earlier. However, in his case, he would end his career on a high note, stopping Brian Nielsen in the tenth-round.
