Old Man Holyfield

Evander Holyfield is set to fight Sherman Williams in November. A victory in that fight could set up a title bout for Holyfield in 2011. Holyfield has had a long, memorable career, emphasis on long. The man will be 48 in October.

Forty-eight.

He has decided he wants to retire as a unified champion (holding the WBA, WBC, and IBF belts). To achieve such a dream would be remarkable. Holyfield would have to beat the current champions, in their prime. This could make him the best heavyweight of all time. Too bad he'll be just like all of the greats, Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, etc; being the best in the world, but not being able to retire with dignity.

Boxing, not unlike the other major sports, sees their heroes crumble into human form and look pathetic. In one of Ali's final fights, Larry Holmes destroyed him. Ali was beaten to a pulp, but his stubbornness and pride would not let him go down. Holmes even went to the hospital after the fight to apologize to Ali, for bringing down such a legend. Ali, of course told him he'd get revenge in the rematch.

Holyfield isn't the boxer that Ali was, but in his prime, he was one of the best in the world, when Mike Tyson wasn't biting his ear off. That ear biting incident though was in 1997. His prime has come and gone. In fact, winning now, and unifying the belts would be bad for boxing. I am not saying unifying the belts would be wrong. That should and needs to happen. Boxing needs an undisputed champion, but having an old man beat the young whippersnappers to achieve that would be terrible. Who would be boxing's future if Holyfield just beat all of them. Sure it would be a testament to a fantastic boxer, but you're telling me there is no 25-year old beast that can take on a man who is old enough to be his father?

Boxing needs a fresh young, American heavyweight to regain interest. It needs to be a young'n that unifies the belt, that the country can get behind and take down the Russians, Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, Nikolai Valuev, and Alexander Povetkin. Boxing sees Ultimate Fighting growing at an insane pace. Most kids now would surely rather be an ultimate fighter than a boxer. Not only does it sound more badass, ultimate fighting is actually now more legitamite. The UFC is like the MLB of ultimate fighting, while the rest of the circuits out there are the minor leagues. Boxing has not one top league, it has three, so the champion of each claims to be the best, without proof of beating the rest.

Plus, the dirty money surrounding boxing is rampant. The best fighters don't fight each other until they absolutely have to. Instead, they beef up their resume winning good matches, not great ones. There is no reason that Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather have not fought yet. Mayweather considers himself the best fighter ever. Ever. He needs to beat Pacquiao to prove it, so he should be pushing hard for the fight, instead he seems resistant as not to ruin his legacy.

Pacquiao and Mayweather bring the most drama now, but boxing's most illustrious fight is the heavyweight. There are no headliners now though in the heavyweight class. The Russians have dominated that category, and as Americans, we lose interest in anything we can't win. Until the next great, American heavyweight comes along, we will have to settle for watching Holyfield most likely get pummeled and reminisce about his glory days battling Tyson. While those days were memorable, they offer little for the future of boxing, which right now, looks bleak.