Evander Holyfield is the champ again? At 47 years old?

[DiggityDaggityDo]

WTF?

[exstatman]

WTF is the WBF? Alphabet soup champ, nothing more.

[Extra Innings]

Better than nothing

[ZXCVBNM]

This was a very minor belt, but he could parlay it (as if the word parlay makes sense like this) into another shot somewhere.

[big joe 1212]

[dwaechte]

Boxing is a disaster right now. Has been completely irrelevant for almost 10 years.

[Chi_archie]

crazy

[G's pks]

[fsugolf]

people watching boxing still?

[Vrakas]

boxing needs some new talented fighters in the heavy devisions or it will faze out completely.

[Tree Rollins]

boxing needs some new talented fighters in the heavy devisions or it will faze out completely.

The the new young talent goes MMA now, and it will stay that way.

[polskboy]

all the white boys took over boxing long time ago

[dice]

ESPN Classic showed the 1991 Holyfield-Foreman fight. Holyfield was way too fast for Foreman. Foreman was at least 40 years old during that fight. Evander was in his late 20s.

[Pabinator]

So I actually watched this fight & I must say it was entertaining (or maybe atleast compared to the disaster I seen last week that was roy vs b hop) Holyfield is still physically looks good although you can tell his boxing skills are not what they were.

But the fight was decent, little strategy & he came back after losing a few of the first rounds.

Cant believe I watched it

[Bill Dozer]

ESPN Classic showed the 1991 Holyfield-Foreman fight. Holyfield was way too fast for Foreman. Foreman was at least 40 years old during that fight. Evander was in his late 20s.

Right. There must be 100 boxers in their 20s who could run circles around both those guys. Is the sport that far gone that they can't do better than 2 punching bags? It seems that the problem isn't the actual physical sport but the inability for a fighter to come in and climb the ranks when politics keeps rotating the same old men around. Potential and new blood is one of the most exciting things in every sport. Who can come in next with a higher ceiling than the last superstar? Look at the NBA. People are less interested in fundamentally sound vets in favor of rookies that who will likely do nothing because of the possibility they can do something more.

Disclaimer: zero knowledge of boxing.

[1UP]

This was a very minor belt, but he could parlay it (as if the word parlay makes sense like this) into another shot somewhere.

If the WBF belt was worth anything, Evander Holyfield and Francois Botha wouldn't have been the #1 contenders for it.

Nobody of value in that division will pay WBF fees to take Holyfield's belt in 2010. You try to unify the belts; David Haye, Wlad, and then Vitali are the one's you chase.

[exstatman]

Part of it is marketability. People in their 30's and 40's who can afford to buy a PPV might go for a name they know, the 20 somethings will go for MMA.

[Jock Ross]

This is a joke.. After watching the Mayweather/Mosely HBO previews I'm just hoping Mayweather gets beat.. That guy is an absolute jerkoff.

[Reload]

They've been trying to get -any- belt on Holyfield again for a few years now.

[JuicedUp]

[Ian]

Right. There must be 100 boxers in their 20s who could run circles around both those guys. Is the sport that far gone that they can't do better than 2 punching bags?

The bolded emphasis is mine. There is no "they" in boxing. Holyfield and Botha are just two old guys trying to pick up another paycheck. No boxers, fans, or big time promoters see any significance in this fight, and it has no relevance on the heavyweight scene in general.

[siabdo23]

he is trying to get killed in the ring..he should enjoy his retirement

[M@ximo]

Boxing is a disaster right now. Has been completely irrelevant for almost 10 years.

i agree....

[Pabinator]

I wouldnt say they've been trying, he actually won the fight against the big russian guy, but they gave it to the russian because he was in his home country a couple years ago. But Holyfield did win that fight and was actually robbed

[davidnc76]

Holyfield is playing with fire. One shot to the head could make this guy a vegetable.

[cky312]

Boxing has a huge demographic problem IMO, if for any reason this drew buys would be because of the old timers that use to watch Holyfield when he was young. And with MMA taking a huge share of the younger demographic, combined with the so called boxing management structure. They seem relatively set to be on a steady decline.

Another problem is heavyweight was always the weight class that got the casual fans' attention, and without a fairly marketable one it's really hard for boxing to do anything really. Heavyweight has always been the class that the casual public get enamored with (see Brock and his limited skill set, but yet still buys TONS of PPV's). The talent has been, and always will be, deepest with the lighter weight classes in combat sports. But the problem yet will always be, trying to get the public to watch those weight classes (other than the elites)