I fought Lennox Lewis and KO’d Mike Tyson but neither had a more powerful punch than ‘Big George’
Evander Holyfield took some huge punches in his stellar career, but one fighter left him reeling.
Holyfield went down as one of the greatest fighters of all-time by the end of his career, where he reigned as undisputed champion at both cruiserweight and heavyweight.
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But, 'The Real Deal' has revealed that no one hit him harder than American star George Foreman.
Holyfield came up against Foreman when he was on the top of his game as reigning undisputed heavyweight world champion, while 'Big George' was in the second stage of his career.
Foreman had initially retired from boxing in 1977, but made a comeback ten years later, as he attempted to become the oldest heavyweight world champion of all time, which led him to fighting Holyfield in 1991.
On this occasion, Holyfield came out on top by unanimous decision, but not before he had felt Foreman's power.
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Years later, Holyfield admitted in an interview with : "The guy that hit me the hardest was George Foreman.
"He hit me one time in the eleventh round, and I came back to the corner and I said ‘did he knock all my teeth out?'”
And while Foreman did not complete his mission of becoming the oldest heavyweight world champion on this occasion, he did manage it three years later when he knocked out Michael Moorer.
To this day, Foreman still holds the record at 46 years and 169 days old.
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As for Holyfield, he was unbeaten at the time of fighting Foreman, but a year later he was knocked out by Riddick Bowe.
He avenged this defeat in 1993, however, and from that point in his career he took on the best fighters of his generation, with mixed results.
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Victories came against fighters such as Mike Tyson, firstly with an eleventh round KO and then again in the infamous 'bite fight' by disqualification, as well as John Ruiz, Hasim Rahman and Ray Mercer.
But Holyfield was beaten by Lennox Lewis, James Toney and Nikolai Valuev among others, retiring with a record of 44-10-2 in 2011.
Despite hanging up his gloves from the professional ranks it was not the end for Holyfield.
The heavyweight star returned for a one-off exhibition bout, which ended in disaster, as he was knocked out in the opening round by Vitor Belfort.
Thankfully he came out safely, and has now seemingly turned his back on the sport for good.
Talks have always been sounded out over a trilogy with famous rival Tyson, but the pair are now friends and it would be nothing beyond money-spinning.
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