After his win over Michael Moorer in November of 1997 that unified the WBA and IBF belts, Evander stayed dormant until September of 1998. He traveled back home to Atlanta, Georgia to take on the unheralded Vaughn Bean. Holyfield looked mediocre in the unanimous decision victory, but the fight he had his eyes on was Lennox Lewis in the spring of 1999.
Lennox won his bout over Zeljko Mavrovic in September as well, and didn’t look great himself. It’s hard for an elite fighter to get motivated to train for such opponents, especially with the huge Holyfield bout set. With the two set up bouts out of the way, heavyweight boxing had a huge fight for the first time in years.
The unification fight was set for March 13, 1999 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Prior to the bout, it was public news that Evander had gotten another woman pregnant while his wife was pregnant at the same time. Lennox called him a hypocrite, since Evander publicly professed to being a Christian. I was embarrassed and ashamed of Holyfield myself, as were many other Christians as well.
In his anger, Evander suddenly said he heard from God and that he would knock Lewis out in the third round of their fight. I thought it was a joke, and I remember my brother asking me if he thought Holyfield’s ‘Prophecy’ would come true. I told him “Absolutely not! That’s not how the Lord works.””
The ‘Prophecy’ became as big as the fight it seemed, and as I ordered the pay-per-view card that Saturday night, I was sure of one thing. No matter who won the fight, it would not end with Evander knocking out Lennox Lewis in the third round.
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