Holyfield: “10 days before the third fight with Riddick Bowe, I felt bad. I had hepatitis"

Former world champion in two weight categories Evander Holyfield told about the conditions in which he spent the final 10 days before the third fight against Riddica Bow.

“Everything was great, and then all of a sudden I came home to Atlanta and they put something in my food and I felt sick. I was vomiting. This happened about 10 days before the championship fight. I said to myself, “Listen, you can’t afford to lose this money. Do you want to say that you were in training camp for 12 weeks, and 10 days before the fight you can’t fight and train?

I knew that if I lost that $10 million, I wouldn’t be able to get another fight with that kind of fee. Then the energy either overwhelmed me or left me. I knew that I would go into the fight in this condition. I knew I gave it my all. I was angry when I realized that I had been knocked out, but how can you be angry with yourself if you know about your illness?

I had hepatitis. The doctor told me that I could be suspended. I lost the fight and couldn’t tell anyone that I had hepatitis because I risked being suspended. That's why I didn't say anything about it. “I told Riddick Bowe that it was good for me because I ended up getting the fight with Mike Tyson,” Holyfield said.

Holyfield and Bowe fought three times in 1992, 1993 and 1995. In the last fight of the trilogy, Riddick knocked down Evander twice. After Holyfield's second fall, the referee stopped the fight and recorded an early victory for Bowe.