Evander Holyfield has been trying to set up a third fight against Mike Tyson for several months now, but it does not sound like the bout is going to happen. According to Holyfield’s camp, Tyson recently backed out on the original deal.
Holyfield’s manager Kris Lawrence said in a press release on Monday that he thought the fight agreement was a “done deal” before Tyson’s people began declining all offers.
“We were negotiating in good faith all along and it appears we just ended up wasting our time,” Lawrence said.
According to Holyfield’s camp, Tyson refused to agree to a guaranteed $25 million payout and his “demands recently became untenable.” TMZ reports that Holyfield says he spoke with Tyson on the phone early in negotiations and the two legends agreed to a 50-50 profit split. Tyson apparently decided after the fact that he wanted a bigger cut of the money.
Holyfield still wants the fight, and Monday’s release was likely an attempt to apply pressure to Tyson’s camp. Tyson said on his podcast last week that he would be returning to the ring for a huge event on May 29 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, so talks must have fallen apart in recent days.
Tyson and Holyfield fought twice in a pair of infamous bouts during the 1990s. Holyfield won the first fight via 11th-round TKO. He won the second fight after Tyson was disqualified for biting Tyson’s ear.
There has been talk of Holyfield and Tyson fighting a third time for over a decade. It initially looked like the price tag Holyfield attached to the fight could become a problem, but he’s insisting it’s Tyson who wants more money.
