After his knockout of Michael Dokes in March of 1989, Evander Holyfield’s next venture into the ring was in July, an easy second round KO of Adilson Rodrigues in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. It was his fourth win as a heavyweight, and he was how ranked by all the sanctioning bodies as a contender for the title.
On November 4th, 1989, Evander went to Atlantic City to take on the undefeated Alex ‘The Destroyer’ Stewart. Despite the fact that he was sick with a bad cold, the 212 lb. Holyfield fought hard, and stopped Stewart in the eighth round at the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino.
Evander had a title shot set for June 15th, 1990 with Mike Tyson. Unfortunately, Buster Douglas put a change to those plans, with his knockout of Tyson on February 11th in Tokyo, Japan. An in attendance Holyfield looked disgusted, but told Jim Lampley after the fight that his goal was to win the heavyweight championship, not just fight Mike Tyson. He planned a return to the United States, and fight to stay active.
On June 1st, Evander knocked out an overwhelmed Seamus McDonagh in four rounds in Atlantic City. He now had his eyes set on Buster Douglas, who had no intentions of giving Tyson a rematch. An October date was signed, and Evander kept his march on for a shot at the heavyweight crown.
FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM AT kensoldtimeboxingchat
LISTEN TO MY PODCAST ON SPOTIFY AT kensoldtimeboxingchat
