Evander Holyfield is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed champion at cruiserweight in the late 1980s and at heavyweight in the early 1990s, and is the only boxer in history to win the undisputed championship in two weight classes in the three belt era. Nicknamed "the Real Deal", Holyfield is the only four-time world heavyweight champion, having held the unified WBA, WBC, and 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.
Boxing in the 1980s was filled with important fights, events and personalities that shaped the sport. Boxing in the 1980s was shaped by many different situations, such as the continuous corporate battles between the different world sanctioning organizations, the void left by Muhammad Ali as the sport's ambassador and consequent search for a new boxing hero, the continuous presence of Don King as the sport's most famous promoter, the surge of rival promoters as Bob Arum, Butch Lewis and Murad Muhammad, and major rule changes. In 1986, Mike Tyson emerged as a fresh new face in the heavyweight division, which had seen a decline in champion quality level after Ali's retirement and, later on, after longtime WBC ruler Larry Holmes' prime. In addition, the IBF and WBO began operating.
During the 1970s, boxing was characterized by dominating champions and history-making rivalries. The decade had many superstars, who also had fierce rivals. Alexis Argüello, for example, who won the world Featherweight and Jr. Lightweight titles in the '70s, had to overcome Alfredo Escalera twice before the decade was over.
During the 1960s, boxing, like mostly everything else around the world, went through changing times. Notable was the emergence of a young boxer named Cassius Clay, who would, in his own words shock the world, declare himself against war, and change his name to Muhammad Ali.
During the 1950s, a couple of relatively new developments changed the world: World War II had only been over for five years when the 1950s began, and television was beginning to make a major impact internationally. In boxing, changes connected to these developments could be seen too, as boxers who fought at the 1940s conflict returned to their homes and many of them were back in the ring. Television producers were in love with sports, which provided the viewer with an opportunity to observe sporting events live, and boxing was not the exception to the rule; many television networks began to feature fights live during the weekends, and the Gillette Friday Night Fights proved to be one of the most popular boxing television series in American history.
Boxing in the 1940s in many ways reflected worldwide events that affected other endeavors as well.
Henry Durand Tillman is an American former professional boxer. He won a Gold at the 1984 Olympics as a Heavyweight. He scored notable wins over Cruiserweight Champions Uriah Grant and Tyrone Booze.
Tony Tubbs is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 2006, and held the WBA heavyweight title from 1985 to 1986.
Mike McCallum is a Jamaican former professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 1997. He held world championships in three weight classes, including the WBA super welterweight title from 1984 to 1988, the WBA middleweight title from 1989 to 1991, and the WBC light heavyweight title from 1994 to 1995.
Andrew Maynard is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2000. As an amateur boxer, he won the gold medal in the Light Heavyweight division at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
Jean-François Bergeron is a Canadian former professional boxer. As an amateur, he represented his native country at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.
Robert Dale Brown, known as Dale Brown, is a Canadian former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2007. As an amateur he represented Canada in the light heavyweight division at the 1992 Summer Olympics, losing to the eventual gold medallist Torsten May in the round of 16.
Adam Braidwood is a Canadian professional boxer, actor, martial artist and retired professional football defensive end.
Yoan Pablo Hernández Suárez is a Cuban-German professional boxer. He is a former unified cruiserweight world champion, having held the IBF and Ring magazine titles between 2011 and 2015, as well as the WBA interim cruiserweight title in 2011. He is the half-brother of Yoel Romero, a freestyle wrestler and mixed martial artist.
Timothy Edward Lee Hague was a Canadian mixed martial artist and boxer who competed in the heavyweight division, most recently for Absolute Championship Berkut. He became a professional fighter in 2006, and formerly competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, World Series of Fighting and King of the Cage, where he went 11–0 and was the King of the Cage Canada Heavyweight Champion. On June 16, 2017, he suffered a brain hemorrhage after being knocked out in a boxing match against Adam Braidwood in Edmonton, Alberta. He died on June 18, 2017.
Ryan Ford is a Canadian professional boxer and mixed martial artist. A professional competitor since 2007, Ford has also formerly competed for Bellator, the WSOF, the MFC, TFC, and the AFC.
Mike Tyson vs. Alex Stewart, billed as The Hard Way Back, was a professional boxing match contested on December 8, 1990. It was Tyson's second fight since losing the undisputed world heavyweight championship earlier in the year.
Joe Frazier vs. George Foreman, billed as The Sunshine Showdown, was a professional boxing match in Kingston, Jamaica contested on January 22, 1973, for the WBA, WBC and The Ring heavyweight championships.
Bakhodir Jalolov also known as Bakhodir Dzhalolov, is an Uzbekistani professional boxer who won a bronze medal at the 2015 World Championships, and gold at the 2019 and 2023 World Championships and 2020 Summer Olympics. He also competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and acted as Uzbekistan's flag bearer at the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games.
Boxing on ABC refers to a series of boxing events that have been televised on the American Broadcasting Company. Many of these events aired under the Wide World of Sports banner which began on April 11, 1964 when challenger Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, defeated champion Sonny Liston in the seventh round. ABC's final boxing card occurred on June 17, 2000.
