Evander Holyfield Interview

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Evander Holyfield Interview

Q: What is your typical training routine when you are preparing for a professional fight?

Evander Holyfield:  When I prepare for a fight conditioning is the most important thing, because I fear I could get injured. Being in the best shape you could be in, you must push yourself and go back to the basic things; the running, working on the hand pads working on your timing, etc. And once you get into great shape, you start working on the things that are necessary and required to beat your opponent.

Q: How important is nutrition to you and in any athlete’s programme?

Evander Holyfield: It’s very important. I realise that’s your energy source, the nutrition part is like gas. If you have cheap gas you’ll get worn out, on the other hand you get more out of your body with proper nutrition; that has a lot to do with your endurance and your body. The proteins and the carbohydrates, and knowing that there’s different type of vitamins all play a vital role. For a long period of time I had a lot of people telling me about nutrition and how it allows your body to stand up and takes a lot of stress out, so I understand. I realise the supplements and nutrition is a big part. I think it contributes to 30 percent of your overall performance.

Q: When you were training with Mr. Olympia Lee Haney what kind of training regime did he put you through?

Evander Holyfield: Lee didn’t do that much, he let other people play a major role who pretty much knew about the different things. He had this guy named “Doctor Squat”, who was really explosive, who showed me some things that allowed me to be explosive. The big thing with the bodybuilder’s workout’s is that it’s totally different, so you can’t get too caught up in the wrong things which could hinder yourself performance.  But he was fortunate enough to get other people who knew about explosive power to help me, which allowed me to hit harder when I got tired.

Q: Do you feel proper weight training could accelerate any athlete’s performance?

Holyfield: Weight training is something that can be used with anything.  You have to have a flexible programme too and able to have a good stretching programme, which allows your bones to stay stronger , your ligaments and joints, etc. Flexibility allows you take in oxygen too when you don’t have any strength left in you.

Q: What was your hardest fight in your career and why?

Evander Holyfield: The fight I think about the most is when I fought Dwight Muhammad Quawi, this was back in 1986. This was my first championship fight, a 15 round fight. The reason why it was so difficult was- for one thing- in my professional career I never passed 8 rounds and I had to go 15, against a guy who was very skilful and very determined. It was a battle from the first round to the 15^th round.

Q:  Do you feel it was very unprofessional of Tyson to resort to biting tactics when you fought him?

Evander Holyfield: Well, it was definitely unprofessional. It’s not allowed in no sports to bite anyone. It was shocking, shocking for a guy of his calibre to do something like that. It’s something you cannot prepare for.

Q: No that you’re in your mid 40s has your training regime changed and what advice would you give to someone in their 40s who are pursuing combat sports?

Evander Holyfield: You definitely have to make changes and modifying the training as you get older is the appropriate thing to do. Of course I’ve always made adjustments. You run into people with more knowledge on how to become better, at 19, 21, 25, then you hit 30 then 46; there’s a lot of adjustments you have to make because your body doesn’t recover as fast as it used to. But your mental condition is a lot stronger than when you were young.

Q: Would you say boxing is beneficial to anyone looking for an enjoyable hobby and to keep fit?

Evander Holyfield: For me it’s something that I’ll probably do for the rest of my life, not so much sparring and hitting, but to hitting the bag and jump rope and doing different drills. It’s great and it’s realistic! I’ve been doing this for 30 years and I haven’t been in a street fight since I was 13 years old. So when you’re confident you don’t have to fight to prove how good you are. And I think the workout programme is very entertaining and challenging. You only get out of it what you put into it. You can always work harder than others.

Q: Who are you fighting next and who would you like to fight in the near future?

Evander Holyfield: There’s some talk about me fighting Latimer.

Q: You’re autobiography was released in paperback not long ago...

Evander Holyfield:  In the book it shows what it took to become who I am.  I didn’t come this way overnight and there were a lot of trials and errors, a lot of different things you do to become who you are. It’s not an overnight thing and I became who I am by not quitting.

Q: Any future projects you want to pursue?

Evander Holyfield: My goal is to be the heavyweight champion of the world again, have my own boxing company and hopefully to train a lot of good fighters all around the world. I want to be part of the game forever. I’m getting my own promotion company and hopefully I’ll promote a lot of good fighters.

By Fiaz Rafiq