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Becoming Holyfield: A Fighter's Journey
History's only four-time world heavyweight boxing champion and one of America's most admired and beloved athletes reveals the dramatic story of his rise from poverty to the very pinnacle of the toughest sport on earth. Barely able to make it into the heavyweight division and almost always the smaller fighter in the ring, Holyfield spent his professional career proving the naysayers wrong. Along the way he provided some of the twentieth century's most thrilling sports moments, not all of them on purpose. In Becoming Holyfield , he gives us the exciting inside story of defeating Mike Tyson, the self-proclaimed "Baddest Man on Earth," and then getting a piece of his ear bitten off in the rematch. We learn how it felt to become the undisputed champion of the world by knocking out the man who knocked out Tyson, and we find out what it was really like to be in the middle of a title fight and see a motorized parachute fly right into the ring. There is heartbreak to go along with triumph, beginning with Holyfield's loss of an Olympic gold medal because of a highly controversial disqualification and continuing through his short-lived retirement following a misdiagnosed heart condition. Along the way we're treated to glimpses of such colorful figures as Don King and Howard Cosell and we come to understand the extra-ordinary power of love in shaping a young boy's life, and the love he tried to return. Holyfield made more money in the ring than any other fighter in history, and gave away millions to support the dreams of underprivileged kids looking for the same kinds of breaks that allowed him to become a champion. Holyfield's immense popularity cannot be overstated, and it cuts across all ethnicities and socioeconomic classes. The top three highest-grossing sporting events in Las Vegas history were all Holyfield fights, and his highly rated appearances on Dancing with the Stars helped to ensure that show's success. Other fighters may have been bigger, stronger, or more flamboyant, but few could match Evander Holyfield's poise, grace under pressure, or commitment to serve as an inspiration to others.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
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82 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 27, 2017
Was a little disappointed in this book .. I found Evander's narrative a little too syrupy for my liking .. at times I felt bad for the guy as it becomes apparent that on many occasions through his life his good nature has been exploited by scheming women and businessmen using his faith and career to their own advantages .. would have liked to have heard a lot less about his religious beliefs and a lot more about his amazing boxing career which made him one of my all time heroes..
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 18, 2023
RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: “EVANDER’S A GENTLEMAN - AS WELL AS A FOUR TIME HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION!”
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This book makes exceedingly clear the benefit of reading an “AUTHORIZED” biography. Having Evander being quoted real-time in first person, rather than simply having an author present an accumulation of public knowledge information garnered from newspapers, magazines, and other media outlets, presents the reader with an intimate, insightful, personalized, tour through Holyfield’s extremely interesting life. With Evander as your guide, he has the unique ability to lead you through his life in the sequence he feels is best suited to sharing and explaining the nuances of both his professional and personal life. As befits the only “FOUR-TIME-HEAVYWEIGHT-CHAMPION-OF-THE-WORLD” Evander pulls absolutely no punches. Whether regaling in pride about his victorious knockouts, his unbridled love and respect for his Mother, his earnings which broke boxing records that still exist today, or his boxing losses, his business missteps, and his mistakes with women, that led to multiple marriages and engagements, and how he now has a total of eleven children that he loves dearly.
Evander was born to a poor, black, single Mother and was one of nine children, one of whom died of pneumonia shortly after childbirth. One of the first major turning points in young Evander’s life is when he was allowed to go to a Boys Club in Atlanta. Until that time Evander had dreamed of playing football for the Atlanta Falcons. Most of the adult volunteers at the Boys Club were white, and that became a lifelong influence as far as Evander being “color-blind”, even though the notorious Don King called him an “Uncle Tom” years down the road. Evander met a white man there named Carter Morgan who not only taught him to box, but became the most influential person in his life other than his mother. From that point on the reader is taken through his amateur boxing career all the way to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Evander was robbed of his chance for an almost certain Gold-Medal in a decision that to this day is probably the most ridiculed insufferable decision in Olympic boxing history. After an official protest Holyfield was given a bronze medal, but he had never been beaten by a fighter, he was “robbed” by a Yugoslavian judge. While there was a near riot in the stands, Evander just stood there without expression, because that’s the way his Mother raised him. After the Olympics Evander leads you step by step through his professional career and victories and championships, his losses, and his reclaiming the titles. And more important he tells you about the people that surround him outside the ring as well as inside it. He is “UNFLINCHING” in narration of his accomplishments and his mistakes. I’m sure of great interest to most potential readers are the famous fights Evander had with Mike Tyson and it’s all here, including: exacting detail of the excruciating pain Evander felt when Tyson bit both his ears, with one of the bites resulting in the top portion of one of his ear’s actually coming off. After the fight an employee found it on the ground and brought it to Holyfield’s handlers in the locker room in a plastic bag. But you know what? Holyfield said a prayer in the locker room and immediately forgave Tyson!
There is so much more in this all encompassing biography, including Evander signing for the rematch with Tyson and getting a package “of about $34 MILLION IN CASH PLUS $1 MILLION WORTH OF OTHER STUFF.” Research was done that said “IT WAS THE LARGEST AMOUNT EVER PAID FOR A SINGLE PERFORMANCE OF ANYTHING IN ANY FIELD ANYWHERE ON EARTH!” Evander also tries to explain the mystery that is the WBA, WBC, AND IBF boxing organizations on multiple occasions, and due to the nature of the beast, it is still “clear as mud”! I also give Evander credit for openly responding to critics of his faith, including Lennox Lewis regarding Evander’s having kids out of wedlock. As befitting a true champion, Holyfield takes punches as well as delivers them. An excellent performance!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This book makes exceedingly clear the benefit of reading an “AUTHORIZED” biography. Having Evander being quoted real-time in first person, rather than simply having an author present an accumulation of public knowledge information garnered from newspapers, magazines, and other media outlets, presents the reader with an intimate, insightful, personalized, tour through Holyfield’s extremely interesting life. With Evander as your guide, he has the unique ability to lead you through his life in the sequence he feels is best suited to sharing and explaining the nuances of both his professional and personal life. As befits the only “FOUR-TIME-HEAVYWEIGHT-CHAMPION-OF-THE-WORLD” Evander pulls absolutely no punches. Whether regaling in pride about his victorious knockouts, his unbridled love and respect for his Mother, his earnings which broke boxing records that still exist today, or his boxing losses, his business missteps, and his mistakes with women, that led to multiple marriages and engagements, and how he now has a total of eleven children that he loves dearly.
Evander was born to a poor, black, single Mother and was one of nine children, one of whom died of pneumonia shortly after childbirth. One of the first major turning points in young Evander’s life is when he was allowed to go to a Boys Club in Atlanta. Until that time Evander had dreamed of playing football for the Atlanta Falcons. Most of the adult volunteers at the Boys Club were white, and that became a lifelong influence as far as Evander being “color-blind”, even though the notorious Don King called him an “Uncle Tom” years down the road. Evander met a white man there named Carter Morgan who not only taught him to box, but became the most influential person in his life other than his mother. From that point on the reader is taken through his amateur boxing career all the way to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Evander was robbed of his chance for an almost certain Gold-Medal in a decision that to this day is probably the most ridiculed insufferable decision in Olympic boxing history. After an official protest Holyfield was given a bronze medal, but he had never been beaten by a fighter, he was “robbed” by a Yugoslavian judge. While there was a near riot in the stands, Evander just stood there without expression, because that’s the way his Mother raised him. After the Olympics Evander leads you step by step through his professional career and victories and championships, his losses, and his reclaiming the titles. And more important he tells you about the people that surround him outside the ring as well as inside it. He is “UNFLINCHING” in narration of his accomplishments and his mistakes. I’m sure of great interest to most potential readers are the famous fights Evander had with Mike Tyson and it’s all here, including: exacting detail of the excruciating pain Evander felt when Tyson bit both his ears, with one of the bites resulting in the top portion of one of his ear’s actually coming off. After the fight an employee found it on the ground and brought it to Holyfield’s handlers in the locker room in a plastic bag. But you know what? Holyfield said a prayer in the locker room and immediately forgave Tyson!
There is so much more in this all encompassing biography, including Evander signing for the rematch with Tyson and getting a package “of about $34 MILLION IN CASH PLUS $1 MILLION WORTH OF OTHER STUFF.” Research was done that said “IT WAS THE LARGEST AMOUNT EVER PAID FOR A SINGLE PERFORMANCE OF ANYTHING IN ANY FIELD ANYWHERE ON EARTH!” Evander also tries to explain the mystery that is the WBA, WBC, AND IBF boxing organizations on multiple occasions, and due to the nature of the beast, it is still “clear as mud”! I also give Evander credit for openly responding to critics of his faith, including Lennox Lewis regarding Evander’s having kids out of wedlock. As befitting a true champion, Holyfield takes punches as well as delivers them. An excellent performance!
November 27, 2025
This is a very typical boxer's autobiography. It is the twenty-fifth boxing autobiography I have read, and they all have a few things in common. One is that the boxer always feels slighted by everyone he has ever met. Another is that he has a deep, deep-seated need to prove to the world that he is a man. And a third is he can make himself believe anything, no matter how preposterous.
March 12, 2022
Brilliant book to read would 100% recommend best boxing book I've read.
November 24, 2023
3.5234876*
December 12, 2025
A TIMELY READ FOR ME.
A short and sweet memoir from the four time undisputed champ.
Perhaps Jonathan Eig could give us a proper biography in the years to come.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Z
Read
June 7, 2012Barely able to make it into the heavyweight division and almost always the smaller fighter in the ring, Holyfield spent his professional career proving the naysayers wrong. Along the way he provided some of the twentieth century's most thrilling sports moments, not all of them on purpose. In Becoming Holyfield, he gives us the exciting inside story of defeating Mike Tyson, the self-proclaimed "Baddest Man on Earth," and then getting a piece of his ear bitten off in the rematch. We learn how it felt to become the undisputed champion of the world by knocking out the man who knocked out Tyson, and we find out what it was really like to be in the middle of a title fight and see a motorized parachute fly right into the ring.
There is heartbreak to go along with triumph, beginning with Holyfield's loss of an Olympic gold medal because of a highly controversial disqualification and continuing through his short-lived retirement following a misdiagnosed heart condition. Along the way we're treated to glimpses of such colorful figures as Don King and Howard Cosell and we come to understand the extra-ordinary power of love in shaping a young boy's life, and the love he tried to return. Holyfield made more money in the ring than any other fighter in history, and gave away millions to support the dreams of underprivileged kids looking for the same kinds of breaks that allowed him to become a champion.
Holyfield's immense popularity cannot be overstated, and it cuts across all ethnicities and socioeconomic classes. The top three highest-grossing sporting events in Las Vegas history were all Holyfield fights, and his highly rated appearances on Dancing with the Stars helped to ensure that show's success. Other fighters may have been bigger, stronger, or more flamboyant, but few could match Evander Holyfield's poise, grace under pressure, or commitment to serve as an inspiration to others.
There is heartbreak to go along with triumph, beginning with Holyfield's loss of an Olympic gold medal because of a highly controversial disqualification and continuing through his short-lived retirement following a misdiagnosed heart condition. Along the way we're treated to glimpses of such colorful figures as Don King and Howard Cosell and we come to understand the extra-ordinary power of love in shaping a young boy's life, and the love he tried to return. Holyfield made more money in the ring than any other fighter in history, and gave away millions to support the dreams of underprivileged kids looking for the same kinds of breaks that allowed him to become a champion.
Holyfield's immense popularity cannot be overstated, and it cuts across all ethnicities and socioeconomic classes. The top three highest-grossing sporting events in Las Vegas history were all Holyfield fights, and his highly rated appearances on Dancing with the Stars helped to ensure that show's success. Other fighters may have been bigger, stronger, or more flamboyant, but few could match Evander Holyfield's poise, grace under pressure, or commitment to serve as an inspiration to others.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 7, 2015
Not only is he sexy, but he's thoughtful, smart and passionate. You don't have to be a boxing fan to enjoy the blow by blow descriptions of some of the pivotal fights of his career. Holyfield comes off as a really nice guy. I know it's his story and he's telling it, so of course he comes off as a nice guy. But it's a balanced and thorough telling of the story, including the mistakes that were made and lessons learned.
He gives props to his opponents. Honestly looking at his part and not excusing his losses. Especially his loss to Riddick Bowe because he didn't want to "unfairly shortchange a truly great champion". Holyfield did not want to blame the loss on the fact that he was grieving his beloved brother and fight-team mate's violent death the month before. He had trained and was ready, Bowe was simply the better fighter that day.
The chapter "Hard Lessons" is a primer on managing your money as an individual (as opposed to a team) athlete. All young pro athletes should read it and listen well. It's too bad Holyfield didn't continue to follow his own advice.
He gives props to his opponents. Honestly looking at his part and not excusing his losses. Especially his loss to Riddick Bowe because he didn't want to "unfairly shortchange a truly great champion". Holyfield did not want to blame the loss on the fact that he was grieving his beloved brother and fight-team mate's violent death the month before. He had trained and was ready, Bowe was simply the better fighter that day.
The chapter "Hard Lessons" is a primer on managing your money as an individual (as opposed to a team) athlete. All young pro athletes should read it and listen well. It's too bad Holyfield didn't continue to follow his own advice.
March 25, 2014
A brief skim through his life to date. I thoroughly enjoyed the view into his young life and growth into early adulthood. I was disappointed in the lack of quality when covering his spectacularly successful career as 5 time heavyweight champ. This book could have been so much more compelling if the time and effort into its construction had been invested to ensure a no holds barred account of his triumphs and failures both personally and professionally. As it is I found it readable but largely forgettable. A warrior, a boxing legend with an obvious weakness for women and a strong Christian faith who perhaps, in his private life, try's to second guess gods plan. However, as a fighter his relationship with God is more pure. He has faith and he fights, he fights and has faith.
July 1, 2008
This is an autobiography. I expected Evander to be a more angry person that swears a lot, but you actually come to find that he's a pretty humble guy trying to do the right thing. (Although having 11 kids with some 4 different women and only 2 within wedlock is not exactly the kind of morals I uphold.) He tries to explain how prize fighting is okay, but I don't see how agreeing to beat the pulp out of someone that wants to knock you out makes things okay. Anyway, the story was interesting but not exactly my cup of tea.
October 21, 2009
Contains some good stories and life lessons, but nothing too juicy. The comments on money and trust are wise. It's a decent memoir for a boxer, although I feel like Holyfield's voice didn't always come through the ghostwriting.
February 28, 2016
Honestly, I nearly couldn't get past the second page when he talked about southern racism. I muddled through, though. He's really pulled himself through a tough childhood and succeeded despite it all.
July 2, 2008
Although I am not a fan of Holyfield's, I am impressed with a person who can make a slow climb from the ghetto to public recognition. So far I am impressed with the book. More to come.
Want to read
September 29, 2008*sigh*
i can't imagine i'll like this at all. but, the boy loved it and i've made him read enough of my selections that i couldn't really decline when he put it to me. we'll see.
i can't imagine i'll like this at all. but, the boy loved it and i've made him read enough of my selections that i couldn't really decline when he put it to me. we'll see.
November 19, 2022
Decent book!
December 8, 2012
Getting to know more about his personal life was deeply disappointing.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews