Well this will certainly go down in the arena of the surreal… Of all the fights I have imagined writing about, this is certainly not one I ever saw coming. It was weird enough to imagine Oscar De La Hoya coming out of retirement to fight an aged, but certainly dangerous Vitor Belfort. Then De La Hoya gets covid and out of the shadows comes the absolute legend of Heavyweight boxing to step in and save the card.
You can’t make this stuff up, the story writes itself. For Evander Holyfield, net worth can’t be the driving force behind such a late come back. You have to hand it to him though, it takes some serious huevos to get in the ring with Vitor Belfort at any age, let alone a month before your 59th birthday.
I have to say, this fight is way more exciting for me than the original match up. When we last saw Oscar De La Hoya in the ring it was on the other end of an absolute shellacking at the hands of Manny Pacquiao… It was sad to watch that fight for me.
My late pop Perry and I watched it together and he was pissed at Pac Man for not just putting De La Hoya away and instead just brutalizing him until Golden Boy’s corner threw in the towel.
Holyfield on the other hand is 2-0-1 in his last three fights and makes for a compelling Rocky 6 esque storyline with his return. Who honestly would have thought they would be watching a Holyfield fight in 2021?
So what to make of all of this? Here is a fact, on February 7th of 1997 Vitor Belfort defeated two opponents on the same night to win the UFC Heavyweight tournament. A few months later Evander Holyfield, ear and all was facing off against Mike Tyson for their rematch. One has to wonder what would have happened if these two faced off way back then.
But here we are in the pandemic Twilight Zone waiting for the two to lock horns at Triller Fight Club: Legends 2. I honestly have zero idea what to expect out of this fight. Belfort has one professional boxing bout on record, a KO of Josemario Neves way back in 2006. Holyfield has two TKO wins in his last 3 fights and certainly can’t be counted out of this fight even at 58 years old.
One thing is for sure, I am legitimately excited to see this fight and I am not sure why.
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