Evander Holyfield is extremely broke
How broke you say? Well let just suggest for a second that you make something really low like $2000 US a month. Guess what! You have more money than one of the most accomplished boxers of all time! Congratulations to you!
Like a lot of athletes, Evander didn't exactly go to business school on his way to becoming the heavyweight champion of the world in boxing. In fact, he was one of the guys that was even more irresponsible with his money than MC Hammer. Basically, when Holyfield was making a certain amount of money per year, let's say $20 million, he was spending $30 million.
src
When he was approached by Triller as a last-minute replacement for De La Hoya at that horrible pay per view about a week ago, I had my suspicions that this was just a desperate money grab on the part of Evander. We all know that Tyson squandered $300 million but I don't think most people paid much attention to other boxers who have made the same stupid financial mistakes as Iron Mike. Aside from going to prison, Evander has actually lived a far more irresponsible life.
src
When Holyfield was on top of the world he did what a lot of idiots do and bought an absurdly huge house, mostly on credit, the affordability of which was based on how much money he was making at the time. The home he purchased is still the largest private residence in the entire state of Georgia. It has 109 rooms including a dining hall that could accommodate more than 100 people and a movie theater with over 120 seats.
Although the exact numbers can only be speculated about, it is estimated that simple upkeep and property taxes were over a million dollars a year for this palace.
For me, having a place this huge would simply be annoying. Can you imagine not being able to find your car keys or you put your phone on silent and now you cant find it? I have an apartment with 3 rooms and I regularly lose my damn mind trying to find my keys. Imagine having to walk 200 meters to go to your preferred bedroom at night. It's just ridiculous that anyone would own a home this size.
src
I would like to imagine that Evander greeted guests by coming down these stairs like a princess any time someone visited
As lavish and crazy as all of this is, it isn't actually this house, which Holyfield at one point owed $14 million on it but was forced to foreclose at $7 million to a bank auction, it was the other aspects of his lifestyle that caused his financial ruin.
Apparently, Holyfield loved gambling and was also terrible at it. The losses he incurred with mostly sports betting is unknown, but let's just say that it is more money than around 50 normal Americans could probably make in their entire lives. He also has 11 children with 5 different women and child support payments when you are worth a ton of money on paper was probably an amount that was more than his fists and once-tough-chin could possibly bring in.
When you consider that the "ear-biting" fight against Mike Tyson alone brought the man $35 million it just boggles the mind how someone is capable of squandering all of that... but that is precisely what Evander did.
This being broke aspect of the ex champ is not new news either, he delcared bankruptcy all the way back in 2012 to avoid going to prison for inability to make child support payments. I would imagine he doesn't have the greatest relationship with his kids, because one of his daughters sued him for $300,000 shortly after her 18th birthday even though she was very aware of the fact that her dad didn't have any money to give her.
I think Evander was fishing for sympathy when he said this in an interview 9 years ago
"I've had no money to pay lawyers and had to fight on my own in court and that ain't easy."
While Triller hasn't exactly been forthcoming in how much Holyfield was paid for his embarrassing loss to Vitor Belfort, industry experts are guessing it was around $5 million.
The bad news for "The Real Deal" Holyfield is that he was so easily dispatched by a guy with almost no boxing experience that the superfight between him and Tyson has kind of lost all of its steam. I'm not suggesting that it couldn't happen, but based on the way that Evander performed at his pathetic last showing, I don't think that it should happen.
src
Money: making friends of enemies since..... forever
But you know, boxing audiences that get involved in this Triller nonsense are all idiots these days and it will probably still happen but I hope they at least have Evander fight someone a bit lower in the retirement home first. Maybe Joe Biden can give alternative commentary instead of Trump when that happens. I would definitely pay money to hear that.
Wow, Sports guys will be so irresponsible!!!
Very well said about having 200+ rooms house when we don't need that much, but it's all a matter of prestige for such high profile athletes, isn't it?
This incident brings to my memory of a great Cricketer Chris Cairns who once had a lavish life and had to clean the cars to earn for his daily bread.
If you might have read, Cairns recently underwent heart surgery in Australia and his case is very similar to Evander Holyfield.
Good one.
How does the saying go? "What comes up, also comes down"
I guess it's better to have a not so lavish life, but keep on saving for the hard days, right?
Very true,
I mean, we have to spend the money for our daily needs and that's something we can't avoid.
But when we spend more than what we earn, then there is something wrong, isn't it?
In case of Holyfield, it seems like he use to earn 20 million and use to spend 30 million.
It would be interesting to see a showcase on boxers, MMA fighters, or just athletes in general who have managed their finances responsibly. I remember years ago when they were talking about MC Hammer's horrific downfall and they cut to a piece about LL Cool J, who has always lived a responsible financial life fearing that his career could end at any moment because "that's how the industry works." He was at that time doing very well but still drove a Honda Accord.... that was leased.
It's funny because this is always what Dana White says about Forest Griffin, owning a toyota or honda 😄 and living a low key life.
Interesting to note that he is also the only one that got hired by him after the show to work at the Institute.
Hahaha that was freaking hilarious. How about getting a gps tracker on your key?
I would pay a lot of money to watch Biden rambling and shitting on himself in the commentary box of a triller fight.
I like the line from Forrest Gump where something along the lines of "mama said that a man only needs so much money and the rest is just for showin' off".... this is the case with really anyone who lives in a monstrous mansion like this. I've stayed in hotels that were smaller.
I am with you on this bro
I always see it like this:
Only a psychopath will own a million of something. Would you need a million shoes?
I don't understand why most sports person hardly think of the end in sight. Imagine Alex Song too. I think they think the money would always come which makes them spend it without a thought. I like what modern day sports people are doing now... They are more investment oriented now because they understand that their careers are shorter compared to how long they'd live.
I was unaware of this and if true, this is good news. I"m sure a lot of them still get duped into bad investments though. I don't remember the average span of a pro athlete's career just in a general sense because we tend to focus on the Tom Brady's or Christiano Ronaldo's who just keep going and going. I want to say the average career of an NFL player is under 5 years.
5 years is too short for them to keep blowing all their money away. You are right, it's a short span and they eventually get duped in investments. I know quite a lot of the football guys who have other investments apart from football and maybe not so much of the NFL guys.
It's always good if they think with the future in mind.
Congratulations @sports.guy55! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Your next target is to reach 900 upvotes.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
Check out the last post from @hivebuzz:
I never thought Holyfield will get vanquished easily in that fight. I wish him luck going forward.
I thought he was gonna be find until I saw the warm-up routine that all boxers do when the invite the press to watch them work out. Holyfield looked tired and slow when boxing against a bag. When Triller offered him $5 million he kind of had to take it though but I don't know if he will ever recover from being beaten so quickly and convincingly by someone who isn't even a boxer.
I just hope this defeat will serve as a wake-up call to him, I don't want to see him beaten again like that.
I liked this post.
Unfortunately, not all athletes have good advice to manage their income; and many think that money will never run out or that they will simply never get old.
I have seen these bankruptcy cases more often in boxing, in which athletes with a low academic profile do not even know how much they earn per fight. The demon of Fame and Money hehe.
Greetings
No this is absurd and knew about his poor finances as it has been well documented years ago. You would think he had enough to retire on for life yet he has nothing to fall back on. I think there are lessons to be learned as he should have had a financial advisor or a close friend to control what he could spend. No brains is all I can say and got swept up in the celebrity lifestyle which he so much wanted to be a part of.
I would say that most of these guys aren't even aware of how much money they actually have at any given point. Sometimes their financial advisors are precisely the reason why they end up not having money and then of course there is the slew of hanger-on's that are gonna come out of the woodwork in droves once you start to have a little bit of money.
It's tragic sure, but how can someone be completely unaware about the rate in which they are tearing through there cash, even if it is a HUGE pile of cash to begin with.
The fight was an obvious money grab. I often wonder why those closest to these athletes at their peak don't help them with better financial advice; some even actively swindle them. I don't know if I should feel sorry for someone that lived so irresponsibly. I do hope he bounces back though and has learnt his lesson...well, he's a little too old to do otherwise
While I haven't watched all of it, the TV show Ballers that stars the Rock as an agent of sorts showcases exactly this. I know it is a fictional show, but it may as well be a documentary.
Saya tidak pernah berpikir Holyfield akan dikalahkan dengan mudah dalam pertarungan itu. Saya berharap dia beruntung ke depan.
Why is it that boxers manage their money so poorly? There are so many cases of boxers going bankrupt. A pity
I think what happens is that people who don't actually give a shit about them get their claws into them and intentionally ruin their careers for their own benefit. There are a bunch of Mike Tyson stories about how he was doing great until Don King got a hold of him. Prior to that he had a team that supported him when he was basically homeless. I don't remember his main trainer's name but he actually kind of adopted Mike in his teens. Once that guy died, everything started to go downhill and Mike can't even talk about him without getting tears in his eyes and a crack in his voice.
Well I don't make that kind of money in a month, it's too much for me XD
Yeah i thought after I wrote this that it might be a bit insulting to the international or non-USA audience in a way. That was not my intention of course. $2000 a month in the United States and other countries similar to it would likely mean that you would need to live very poorly or perhaps be on government assistance if you have kids. I realize that it would be a great wage elsewhere :)
It is pretty sad. At least Tyson's back on his feet and probably doing well by the looks of his business investments. Holyfield is just sinking lower and lower.
Great write up man! I knew of his financial problems but putting it in perspective on the 2000 a month makes it kind of mind blowing. Hopefully he'll put some of that $5M in Bitcoin. That should help keep him fairly stable :)
based on his financial history I would imagine that as soon as he makes any money at all it is out the door pronto... no chance to invest in anything. It's tragic but you know, he only has himself to blame.