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In November, he finally met Mike Tyson in the ring, knocking him out in the eleventh round. In a 1997 rematch, still considered one of the most bizarre fights in history, Tyson bit Holyfield on one of his ears and lost a point. After biting Holyfield on the other ear, Tyson was disqualified.
By 1999, WBC World Champion Lennox Lewis was ready to take on Holyfield. Their March match was declared a draw after twelve rounds. A rematch eight months later went to Lewis, with Holyfield losing by a unanimous decision.
When Lewis was stripped of the WBA belt in 2000 for failing to defend his WBA title against top-rated contender John Ruiz, the WBA declared the title vacant and ordered Ruiz and Holyfield to meet for the world title belt. In August of the same year, Holyfield won on a 12 round unanimous decision and made history by becoming the first boxer in history to be the world heavyweight champion four times. When Holyfield defeated Ruiz in their first bout, Ruiz asked for a rematch, and Holyfield gave it to him. After the second bout, won by Ruiz, Holyfield asked for a rematch which Ruiz did not oppose. The third bout was declared a draw and Ruiz retained the title.
Next, Holyfield won a June 2002 match-up against Hasim Rahman. Six months later, he fought Chris Byrd, losing in a unanimous decision.
In his last bout, on October 4, 2003, Holyfield lost in the ninth, against James Toney.
After suffering defeats in 2003 and 2004, Evander took a break in 2005 to have his shoulders surgically repaired. Also in 2005 Evander became the first athlete to compete on the television hit for ABC, Dancing With The Stars. He showed the world that he has the moves outside of the ring too, placing fifth on the show.
After thoroughly rehabbing his shoulders and dazzling America on Dancing With The Stars, Evander returned to the ring in 2006.
Jeremy Bates was suffered a 2nd round TKO at the hands of Evander on August 18, 2006 in Dallas, Texas.
In November of 2006 Evander defeated, the WBO Latino Heavyweight Champion, "Fast" Fres Oquendo with a unanimous decision in San Antonio. Evander knocked Oquendo down in the first round and hurt him in the sixth.
Evander would travel to Corpus Christi, TX to pick up his 3rd win in a row against the native New Yorker, Vinny Maddalone. This fight was a TKO referee stoppage in the 3rd round as Evander was hitting Vinny with devastating combinations.
On June 30, 2007 Evander's quest to regain the World Heavyweight Championship would take him back to Texas. This time the city was El Paso and his opponent was ring veteran and Houston Native, Lou Savarese (46-7-0 with 38 KO's.) After putting on an entertaining fight that saw both men land some heavy shots, Evander Holyfield won a unanimous 10-round decision for his fourth victory in a row. The Real Deal knocked the big Texan down in the fourth and ninth rounds. The left hook that Evander landed at the end of the ninth round nearly ended the fight, but the tough Savarese made his way to his feet and answered the bell for the tenth and final round.
Evander's current record is 42 wins (27 KO's) 8 losses and 2 draws. As he continues his quest for his fifth World Heavy Weight Title keep checking www.evanderholyfield.com to see when and where the The Real Deal will be fighting next.
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