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| Date | March 11, 1989 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Caesars Palace, Paradise, Nevada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBC Continental Americas heavyweight title | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Holyfield won by 10th round TKO | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Michael Dokes vs. Evander Holyfield , billed as "A Date with Destiny", was a professional boxing match contested on March 11, 1989 for the WBC Continental Americas heavyweight title. [2]
On December 9, 1988, Evander Holyfield had easily defeated Pinklon Thomas via referee technical decision while on the same card Michael Dokes outpointed Rocky Sekorski to earn a unanimous decision victory. This officially set up a match between Holyfield and Dokes [3] which was billed as "A Date with Destiny" as the winner was all but guaranteed a title shot against undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. Holyfield had had two fights as a heavyweight, easily winning both fights, though Dokes was seen as a step up in competition. Dokes had been a former WBA heavyweight champion, but issues with drug abuse forced him out of boxing in 1985. In late 1987 Dokes launched a successful comeback, going a perfect 8–0 and winning the WBC continental Americas heavyweight title along the way. Despite his success in the heavyweight division, where Holyfield had fought only twice, Dokes was instilled as massive 9–1 underdog though by the night of the fight the odds had fallen to 3–1. [4]
Dokes and Holyfield would engage in a fierce, back-and-forth fight in which both fighters would land big shots and hurt one another. Dokes charged at Holyfield from the opening bell and used a tactic of attacking with body shots while Holyfield tried to effectively counter-punch. Dokes would take charge in the third round, landing several clean power punches to Holyfield's head. In round six, Holyfield began taking control and opened up a cut above Dokes' left eye, which would hinder him the rest of the bout. In round 10, Holyfield landed consecutive left hooks that sent Dokes staggering into the ropes with Holyfield following with a hard right to Dokes head, referee Richard Steele then stepped in to stop the fight as Dokes fell to his knees. Holyfield was named the winner technical knockout at 1:41 of the round. [5]
Though the victory made Holyfield the number one ranked heavyweight by both the WBA and WBC and a match with Tyson was presumed to be next, Tyson's promoter Don King announced plans for Tyson to instead face Dokes rather than Holyfield. [6] The proposed Tyson–Dokes bout never came to fruition as Dokes and his adviser Marty Cohen refused King's proposed 1.1 million dollar purse instead insisting on no less than 3 million dollars, King refused to budge to Dokes' demands and instead agreed to a deal with Donovan "Razor" Ruddock. [7] With a Tyson match not in the cards for 1989, Holyfield instead agreed to face Brazilian prospect Adílson Rodrigues in the first defense of his Continental Americas heavyweight title. [8] Holyfield would make quick work of Rodrigues, knocking him out in the second round.
Confirmed bouts: [9]
| Weight Class | Weight | vs. | Method | Round | Time | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavyweight | 200+ lb | Evander Holyfield | def. | Michael Dokes (c) | TKO | 10/12 | Note 1 | |
| Lightweight | 135 lb | John Duplessis | def. | Miguel Medina | KO | 4/10 | ||
| Super Lightweight | 140 lb | Romallis Ellis | def. | Hernan Cortez | TKO | 4/4 | ||
| Welterweight | 147 lb | Nick Ruda | def | Everett Ryan | TKO | 1/4 |
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 United States | Showtime |
Evander Holyfield is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed champion in the cruiserweight division in the late 1980s and at heavyweight in the early 1990s, and was the only boxer in history to win the undisputed championship in two weight classes in the "three-belt era", a feat later surpassed by Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue and Oleksandr Usyk, who became two-weight undisputed champions in the four-belt era. Nicknamed "the Real Deal", Holyfield is the only four-time world heavyweight champion, having held the unified World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC), and International Boxing Federation (IBF) titles from 1990 to 1992, the WBA and IBF titles again from 1993 to 1994, the WBA title a third time from 1996 to 1999; the IBF title a third time from 1997 to 1999 and the WBA title for a fourth time from 2000 to 2001.
Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield, billed as Finally, was a professional boxing match fought between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson for the WBA heavyweight championship on November 9, 1996, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada. The bout was Tyson's first defence of the WBA title that he had won from Bruce Seldon on September 7 of that year.
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Riddick Bowe vs. Michael Dokes, billed as The Homecoming, was a professional boxing match contested on February 6, 1993 for the WBA and IBF heavyweight championships. The fight emanated from Madison Square Garden in New York, New York.
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Evander Holyfield vs. Carlos De León was a professional boxing match contested for the undisputed cruiserweight championship. The bout took place on April 9, 1988 at Caesars Palace in Paradise, Nevada.
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Evander Holyfield vs. Pinklon Thomas, billed as The Countdown Continues..., was a professional boxing match contested on December 9, 1988.
Evander Holyfield vs. Adílson Rodrigues was a professional boxing match contested on July 15, 1989 for the WBC continental Americas heavyweight title.
Evander Holyfield vs. Alex Stewart, billed as Undefeated was a professional boxing match contested on November 4, 1989 for the WBC continental Americas heavyweight title.
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