Evander Holyfield: Real-Deal Success

Well, it was actually, you know, your beginning is so important, you know, because I knew my mother loved me and my mother will always, you know, she kept me from being a quitter. If it, you know, weren’t for my mother, I would’ve been just like the neighborhood, meaning that a lot of times we as people, we want to do what everybody else do. If everybody else work hard, we’ll work hard. But a lot of times when people are not working hard and being distracted, you tend to get distracted too, but I had a mother that kept me on that path because, you know, she learned from her mistakes and, you know, and she didn’t want me to make the same mistake that she made. And she knew that what my life would be if she allowed me to do other things that everybody else did.

It was important to her. This is the way that you’re going to be. I’m your mother. I’m not everybody else’s mother, but I’m your mother and I’m gonna make sure you do this. So that foundation was very firm. So she was a great role model for you like many of the martial arts instructors are out there for the kids that they teach. Mr. Holyfield, one year I was at the Battle of Atlanta with some of the executives from Coca-Cola as well as the great gospel singer Melba Moore. And you are at the table right next to us. I noticed that you were watching the martial arts show very closely that evening and you really seemed to enjoy it. Are you a fan of the martial arts?

Well, yes. Yes, I am. Because, you know, martial arts have a lot to do with discipline. And, you know, and to be successful in anything you have to be, you have to have the discipline down. And, you know, and I understand. I understand most so then a lot of other people because you know I came from a very disciplined family where that really really really worked really really worked hard and trying to be the very best they could be. And there’s a lot of discipline in martial arts. You know we’ve just completed an extensive interview on negotiation with your good friend and fellow martial artist Jim Thomas. Sir… If you want to achieve success in business, how important is it to have a guy like Jim Thomas on your team?

[04:36] Well, well, it is. I’m going, you know, life’s about trying to find people that both people find the common thread. I mean, that Jim is a guy that very distant came from an athletic background. A lot of times when you find people, a lot of times when they don’t come from an athletic background, not all, but a lot of them who don’t, they become a little indie sometimes. But when a person comes from a background where they know what’s working hard and they’re not insecure, they know how you only get you only get things out of life and what you put into it. And it tends to be easy for people who grew up in sports and all that. Then if they get knowledge, they know how to apply that knowledge, they apply that knowledge just as they did in sports.

And with Jim, he’s very aggressive, but he but he’s not reckless. He’d know where to pull back and all this. And what that was forced to do, you don’t come by him being in martial art himself. He knew that a big part of his martial art was to pull back. If you’re doing, you know, you’re supposed to strike with four fourths, you have to be able to restrain yourself a lot of time when you are actually helping somebody else, helping somebody else out, and you teaching them. Of course, if you hit them too hard, then they ain’t gonna learn. They gonna say, wow, I’m gonna get hurt. And you know, so it, you know, with Jim, and his away-doing thing was great. You know, it’s just good to have people who, way around it. You know, one thing is to be highly educated.

Another thing is being able to not take advantage when you can’t take advantage, but being able to do things in a more of a subtle way. Jim mentioned to me that often when he was negotiating with Don King, he had to use a lot of self-control. Would you agree with that?

Well, you actually, not just with D’Arquis, but with a lot of people, a lot of people, when D’Arquis may test people, but most of the other people, because, you know, his way of lifestyle. And I’m sure with Don, he was, he would test it a lot. And, you know, and being able to not, I’ve been crawled on inside, you know, when someone that can get you, if someone on purpose tried to get you anger, and they get you anger, then they win it, because that was their purpose, to get you anger. And, you know, with Jim, he learned how to, you know, I guess in life, you know, people do business in different ways, and everybody trying to pull you over. and their way of thinking to win is to their advantage and Jim was able to understand that sometime this is what Don King would do.

[08:04] Yep, Jim is a master in more ways than one. You know, martial arts instructors are coaches among many things. Your first coach was Carter Morgan. What was the greatest impact that Mr. Morgan had on you as a youth?

Well, for one thing is that Mr. Morgan, I guess he was able to show me that he, you know, I’m looking at things now as an adult, but you know, as a kid, it was quite different, you know, when a person talking about faith, when they talk about, you know, my coaches always tell me, you are good. And I’ll be kind of disappointed in my performance because I didn’t win. Now, as a child, you think good is you winning every match. But my coach told me, when I didn’t do well, I didn’t do as well as I wanted because he said I did well. But it’s obvious that I didn’t do as well as I wanted to because I thought doing well is to win each and every time. And every time that I would fall short, you know, I would cry and I would threaten to leave.

And, but, you know, with my mama, my mama says she didn’t raise her quitter. And with him. And he said, I just like practice. You know, a lot of times when you practice, you don’t do as well, but you continue. Eventually you’ll do well. So here’s a man that encourage me so many times airtime a shortcoming and I have a shortcoming that they do it well if I like he would think about giving up he would think about this you know like a kid strategy they make a bad part of the paper they throw it a covered up with the word that you’re a skip doorway he could have told me away a lot of time but he chose not to mister kathleen yeah he’s so with me and he and he even before I became the person that I am today.

I heard him tell many of people, this man gonna be the best fighter in the world. Out of the South, they gonna be nobody better than him. This man said, there’s so many times I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed because at the time that he would tell of them, that how good I was gonna be and what I was gonna become. I was an amateur fighter and I wasn’t winning the tournament. I was giving my all but I wasn’t winning the tournament. But eventually when I came 19 out of the Southeast, when you heard the name Evander Holyfield, he said, oh, I ain’t getting that weak of a vision. But you know, at the time that he said that, I was 11 and 12. In one of his songs, your friend LL Cool J says, man made the money never made the man.

Now that you’ve achieved financial freedom, do you agree with this and why?

Well, I agree with that quote because you have to be more than what money is. Like, you know, you ask the individual, you produce money because of your hard work. See, if money made you, then that means that somebody can buy you and you won’t even want to work no more. But if you control money, then this is the part that says certain things I won’t do for money. I’m not going to get out here and get on the table just because I got a nice body for some money. It’s just certain things I won’t do for money. I would say, no, thank you. I think people get kind of upset because I don’t do the autograph and they say, wow, I pay you. I say, no, I don’t do that. I say, because I reserve my right to be able to tell you that, you know, right now at this time, it’s not a good time for me to sign your autograph.

[12:17] But if you sign one person autographs, hundreds of people will, they autograph sign at that time when it could be inconvenient for other people to around me. Like if I go to the ball game or the movies and other people there watch the movie. They’re not there to have people standing all up in front of them. And so for me to think about myself that I want to sign autograph there, these people can’t see the movie or they can’t see the event. And so I have to have time where that I will sign, I have time where that I don’t sign. And if you will start then somebody gonna get upset. Well, why you ain’t signed for my son?

So, you know, with me, you know, I tell them, I said, you know, I can’t do it at this time. Oh, I pay you guys to know. And I have people invite me to have a pay sign. They said, well, we’ll give you $50,000 coming to sign. I said, that ain’t what I do. That sheds an entirely different perspective on fame. You know, you’re the only four-time world heavyweight boxing champion in history but your record is not perfect however, Evander Holyfield has never really lost a fight because Evander Holyfield has never quit a fight please talk to us about why a champion should never quit well, well, you see one thing that people they look at perfect in a sense, a not-making mistake. But that ain’t the sense of how we’re brought up what perfect is.

Perfect is the point aimed at whether you’ll go, if you reach that goal, then you was perfect, because you got where you’re supposed to be. And, you know, the reason why you don’t quit, because if you quit, you won’t get where you’re supposed to be. And so, you know, that’s where everybody have to each and every time set goals for themselves to where they can see that they are moving. You know, my whole thing is that, you know, I was told that I could be the headway champ of the world, but I was told that at the age of eight. And, you know, I wasn’t told that at 28. I wanted at 28, but I was told that at eight. And at eight years old, I weighed 65 pounds. But my coach told me I would always weigh 65 pounds.

And my coach asked, well, I’m eight. He said, you won’t always be eight either. So, but he told me, if you listen and follow direction and not quit, you’ll be the heavyweight champ of the world. Now, you know, of course, the age ain’t in my hands. If I live, I’m gonna get there. I’m gonna get older. Of course, it’s not E-proper that my momma gained a little weight to. But the things that I had something to do with is listening. And I had something to do with Father Erikson. I had something to do with not quit. So these three things pointed right back to yourself. What personal that you have to do. And every time I thought about quitting, I knew if I quit, I wasn’t going to be the head weight champ of the world.

Because it’s not like somebody just gonna give me the belt and say you are here You have to go in there perform And so you have to train you have to prepare yourself for what you gonna be And you know, I was fortunate enough to have good people They helped me to become the headway champ of the world. Yes, sir You know, you always look like you’re in phenomenal condition. People say he looks like he’s chiseled out of stone. And I understand that Tim Hallmark was a great trainer for you. What are some of the training principles you’d recommend for martial artists that helped you to break through new barriers and get in the best condition in your life?

[16:21] Well, I’m, you know, of course, you know, flexibility is always important because that allows you to I have more stamina than the joys of the people, because a lot of times when people, when you increase in strength, sometimes your flexibility, you lose flexibility as well. And so, you know, you always have to have good coaches. I’m honest and true about, I’m only as good as the people I associate myself with. And I tell people, I say, you know, with coaches and trainers and stuff, it’s very important. Now, if you know more than your coach and you know more than your trainer, then you probably got the wrong coach and the wrong trainer. And because you have to give them, you have to have someone that you can trust in and they will, and a point of trust in them, then you trust them to have you to do something that you don’t even know yet.

I see. And that’s why a lot of people, a lot of people fall short at them. They want somebody going to tell them to do what they know to do. But if you have somebody who’s going to take you to a high level, that means they’re going to take you at some things that you’ve never done and the things that are difficult because you’ve never done them before and it is tiring and you feel like, you feel like, man, they just working me too hard. This ain’t all worth it, but, you know, but the point of it, if you trust him, you realize you do that. And, you know, cause I wanted a guy that would, a guy like Tim Hallmark, he was, he was, he the one that kind of broke the barriers of the old time box.

The old time box, they used to just run and they went a little ways. They, you know, they’re certain, they would taboo to do certain things. With this guy, he went to college and he had degrees in conditioning. So with all that knowledge he had, and I wanted to win so bad, look man, I believe that you’re good, anything that you asked me to do, I would do. And I did what he asked me to do, and I stayed. kind of upset a lot because he worked me so hard. It was my first tighter fight. You talk about a guy that, you know, I wasn’t really known for a great condition of fighting the amateur. In the third round, I would always run out of gas. Now, as a professional, I had never been over eight rounds, and as soon as I get past that fourth round, you know, I’m dragging a little bit, but this guy got me in such great shape.

I went from eight-round and fought a 15-round fight and did so great. Now, I felt like I was going to die after, but I fought 15 hard rounds, and I realized, well, God, this is how I feel. I’m going to do what He asked me to do, and I’m going to make it. And that’s just the reason why I stand today as the only guy that ever been a full time mid-way champ of the world. Can you give us one example of just one thing that Tim Hallmark had you do that was just different?

Well, he had me swimming. Swimming? He had me swimming with a float in between my leg and had me… I had a best zone of punching in the water, the deep waters. I think you know, actually when you punch in a water, deep water, you have a life that’s on. But it makes you look like you know, most people are concerned about what somebody else think about this. If you were to walk up, you’d think I was drowning. You’d think, him, say, God, don’t worry, I’m going to get in there and save this, because you’re punching in the water and you’re going full force and no trouble on your shoulders and all this. And it’s just like, It’s just a lot of different things. We did. We, you know, we did prometri here at me, had me jumping up and down, box jumping and all this out.

[20:43] He had there. I’m like, you know, when people say, wow, this guy’s shaped, you know, ball thing. With no doubt about my mind. If that, if I didn’t have Mr. Hallmark, I probably would have did all that. I would have pushed myself. to that level. That’s great. You know, martial arts and boxing are actually very similar. It’s not so much about the battle, but the warrior’s journey. Is winning everything, Vander, or does the journey gift us with something bigger than another victory in the ring?

Your thoughts about the journey? Well, you know, the journey is, you know, a lot of, you know, People own it. You know the thing that you move to in life is a discipline thing in this journey that you learn but winning When it is it’s an ultimate thing that you try to achieve to allow you to keep going Now all the time when people said you know when it’s not everything then why do it?

I’m sure you’ll go guys to your to win it is the prize Man, I won. I did again you know, because each and every time in life, you know what?

The whole big thing is get to the point where you can win each and every time. But each win will show you something that you achieve. And sometimes, you know, fall in short, show you something. Because it has something to do with what life really is about. If you stop. than the life will catch up with you. And even when you’re on the top, there’s always people gunning for you. So you have to actually have to work harder when you’re a winner than when you are not winning. When you are not winning, don’t nobody pay attention to you. When you win, everybody’s eyes are on you. They’re trying to figure out what makes this man so special. Why can he do this?

Because the question was asked to me, how did Joe Louis was able to be the champion for 14 years?

And these, now and today, the fight is only, you could stay champion for two or three years. So Joe Louis had to be better. And you know, with me, I said no, I said the difference is that people can watch your own television, they can rewind it and back. I should think they can study you a little bit more. I said back in the day they didn’t they had fights on radio. So people heard. But hearing and seeing is two different things. I said I could pick up more. I see you doing something. I could figure out how you’re doing it. More so than leaving just to my imagination. Now on that note over the years you’ve done extremely well with comeback fights. If you didn’t succeed the first time you succeeded in the rematch. Is that because of the technology you just described?

Well, yeah, it’s because of technology, because you can find out what did you do wrong. You can see what this other guy is doing and you can go back and make adjustments. So so life is about life is about making adjustments. Beautiful. I’m talking to you. No one, you know, just think about, you know, if your father came up and he did all these things and he realized that he was wrong. And he tell you, son, I don’t want you to be like me. I did this, and this, and this what happened to me. Now, if you don’t do this, your life, you got a better chance. Because that’s what my mother told me. My mother told me, she said, look, these are the mistakes that I’ve made, son. Let’s work on it now. Let’s not give it a habit making these mistakes, because these mistakes are going to cause you to fail.

[24:38] This is reason why it’s good for coaches, parents, whoever teaches or whatever to be able to be honest with kids. Yes, I’ve made mistakes, but reason why I know this right because I’ve made this mistake and I’m trying to keep you from making this mistake. If you don’t make this mistake, you’ll be better. That’s just the truth right there. What was more challenging for you to master?

Boxing? or living a spiritual life? Well, you know, both of them is a journey. Both of them have a difficulty. Meaning that, of course, spiritual life is all your whole life. But, you know, boxing is an event. I do this, it’s just like, I just get up in the morning, I run, I do this, and all that. Then after that, then… I’m not thinking about boxing no more. I’m all right. The spiritual life is you’re tested every minute. Every minute I’m to miss how you, I’m to, in a point of you saying hello to somebody, do you talk to a person?

You got to, in spiritual life you got to learn how to handle people who’s not right. If I don’t feel like, I don’t feel like going to the gym, I just don’t go to the gym. But a spiritual life is not about what you feel. You have a duty. You have a duty to show love to everybody, even the people who like you, even the people that don’t like you. When you have people on purpose trying to trip you up, you still have to treat them nice. Like you said, you have to sometimes give up your right for somebody else wrong. and be able to be able to be able to show the word of God, be able to show the love of God, because, you know, some of the big things that that elevated me in the game of boxing was some of the spiritual principle things that I’d done, meaning that when I was in the Olympics, I got disqualified for something that I didn’t do.

But because I didn’t have a temper tantrum and go off and all this. I end up with one of the biggest contract coming out of the Olympics. That’s right. I’m from the, even in the Tyson fight, when Tyson bit my ear, because I forgave him and all this, it made me stand so, so much bigger. Now that didn’t have nothing to do with boxing, that didn’t have something to do with spiritual principle. You have to forgive. Did it hurt?

Yes, it hurt. Yes, what am I able to, yes, it was. But I still had to forgive it. So is the principle is the principle of the Word of God. It’s what allow me to Overcome anything that happened to me whether they did it on purpose or not That shows the power of being a principle centered individual, you know Everybody listening to this interview is a fighter within their own respect martial arts discipline you fought the best in the world. In your opinion, what’s the difference between a good fighter and a great fighter?

[28:06] Well, a good fighter would do all the things that he was taught. A great fighter would go beyond that point. A great fighter, a great fighter, he’ll come to a point, he’ll come to a point when he said, well, I’m willing to make the judgment that’s necessary to succeed. Meaning that it’s times when I fought guys that was of course bigger, and the media and everybody who, what you would call had common sense or had, they went to school and got a great education. They said, well, why would you put yourself in a situation that you could get hurt by Mike Tyson?

He’s a vicious guy. He don’t do this to everybody. Great fighters, great fighters don’t mind. [inaudible] I could probably lose against this guy because he’s a little bit more quicker. Or this guy may be a little bit more stronger. You’ll find that in an aspect that somebody better deal with something. But you have to find out where you better deal with that and use that and make him fight against which you better act because everybody got some kind of advantage. And the point is that God is no prospective person, so everybody got something. That’s real good. Now you have to learn how not to get in somebody else’s lane, stay in your lane, where that you can use what you have, because, you know, it’s, you know, in boxing, I never was the shortest person. I never was the tallest person.

I didn’t have the longest arm, but I didn’t have the shortest arm either. I didn’t, I wasn’t the fastest one and I wasn’t the slowest one. And I didn’t hit harder than everybody, but I hit harder than some people. So that was nothing that I could actually complain about, because the fact is I have to learn how to use what’s been given to me, what God has blessed me with, use it to my advantage. And I learned to minimize my mistakes. If I can minimize my mistakes, it’s a great chance that I can win. And that’s what people don’t understand. Because when people get fatigued they start making mistakes. So when you start making mistakes, then you start beating yourself. So eventually you put yourself in a position where you happen to other guy out. He trying to win in a way and now you happen to him because you’re making all these mistakes.

So that’s the difference between great fighters. Great fighters are not afraid to take chances. Yeah, they got heart. and a lot of people are going to be in the big thing with me people are hard to work how you get that got first I’ve got to go to go when it comes out you know the principal of what the word about say talk about faith if you if you fear if you feel full did you can’t get where you need to be in the nanny and sport and sport the person who gets in a better position first is the one that probably gonna win. And so, you know, so if it got bigger than you think you get better, he gonna, you can get hurt. Then you ain’t gonna win. Cause you ain’t gonna get where you need to get because, cause the guy that feel that, the guy that feel that he can hurt you, he gonna make you feel that whatever position you get in, he gonna hurt you.

[32:08] So you gonna stay away from it, which you gonna, you may not get hurt but you ain’t gonna win. Yeah, I hear ya, I hear ya. I’ll tell ya, truer words have never been spoken, that was very, very well put. Being successful has helped you to give back to underprivileged kids. What are some of the ways you’re making a positive difference in the lives of kids across America these days?

Well, I, you know, for one thing, you know, I learned that everything starts at home. And I think a lot of people miss that point, meaning that if you have family, you have kids and stuff, it’s important for you to raise your kids properly. When someone else won’t have to do your job, then once you get your house in line, then you start trying to figure out how you can volunteer to help somebody in these communities that you are already in. Then branch out. Now, I started the Holyfield Foundation. I hold a foundation and reason why I start that cause I grew up as a very poor kid. If it wasn’t for Mr. Morgan, who worked at the boys club, camping me with my clothes and being able to pay for me to go to the different tournaments and stuff like that, buy my equipment, I wouldn’t be the person that I am.

So at 1991, After I became the headway champion of the world, I started to hold a fair foundation to be able to give somebody else opportunity that someone gave me. And you know, now we got about 30 kids in colleges and stuff that we’ve been, that we have put in and we’ve built enough. community center to help these young people and be at the very best. See, one thing in life, you cannot make nobody successful, but you can give them an opportunity. And what Mr. Morgan and these people, these coaches have done for me in life, they gave them an opportunity to be the person that I am. Now, if I didn’t become this person, it would have been on me because I was given an opportunity. And so many people have sponsored me. My first sponsor was this guy by the name of Ken Sanders.

He sponsored me. That was my first sponsor. But it was so many, so many parents helped me. I chipped in for me to go to a little different trip to Alabama, Tennessee, and things like that. The boys club, really, I’m talking from the time I was six years old to the time I was 21, I went to the boys club. The boys club helped me. They put me on the right path. So I saw the foundation where I could not just look for one person to help, but as men as people that, you know, my pocketbook or I could raise money to be able to help. And we, you know, and now today, because my popularity, it allowed me to go to different country. I go to China, India, I go all the different places and I speak about this global peace initiative that I’m a part of this global group that we fly out to places and care about us and things like this.

And I realized that just as the Word of God said, let your light so shine that people can see your good work and praise the Lord. So, can someone help me?

So, I’m always going to different countries and things like this. Help raise some money to give someone else a better life.