Knowing When to Hang It Up

Sugar Ray Leonard, Mike Tyson, even the legendary Muhammad Ali, great boxers aren’t always great decision makers when it comes to closing out their career. Enter the 46-year old Evander Holyfield, past the point of wondering whether his best days are behind him, yet still taking shots to the head even at an advanced age. Yes, Holyfield’s head is notoriously hard, just ask the aforementioned Tyson, who was so frustrated by headbutts he turned The Real Deal’s right ear into a real meal. However, in his advanced age, perhaps even more prevailing is Holyfield’s hardheadedness in regards to calling it quits and leaving the ring in graceful manner.Already owning the Heavyweight title a record 4 times, not only is a 5^th unlikely, but unnecessary. Holyfield has nothing left to prove. The man who has gone toe to toe and gotten the better of the likes of George Foreman, Larry Holmes and Riddick Bowe, quite simply has no business slumming around with fighters like Sherman “Tank” Williams well into his 4^th decade, much less looking overmatched.While Holyfield’s resilient spirit and sheer longevity is certainly impressive, his cumulative record suddenly looks more ordinary with 10 losses (would be 11 were the Williams fight continued), looming large in the left column. In fact, since his trilogy of fights against John Ruiz from 2000 to 2001 and subsequent victory over Hasim Rahman, Holyfield has compiled a remarkably average record of 5 Wins and 5 Losses in his last 10 Decisions. After three consecutive losses, concluding with a 2004 defeat to Larry McDonald, the New York State Athletic Commission went so far as to ban Holyfield from competition in the state, citing “diminishing skills,” which the fighter attributed to a shoulder injury rather than diminishing skills.Though Holyfield would take some time off before stringing together 4 straight wins and earn a WBO title shot against Sultan Imbragimov, an unsuccessful bid, now almost a full 10 years since his last relevance, the only question remaining is, “Why?”Look no further than Ali to see the physical toll taking punch after punch can have on the body. Holyfield will go down as a great fighter, just as he would have had he hung up his gloves after his 1999 loss to Lennox Lewis. Only now, a generation of onlookers will know Holyfield as a washed up has-been not The Warrior fans remember from his prime.