After the easy wins with both the James Toney and Lennox Lewis bouts, I was more energized than ever to fly to Vegas on May 20 to bet on Evander Holyfield in his comeback fight against Ray Mercer. Evander hadn’t fought in over a year, when he lost his heavyweight titles to Michael Moorer. After the fight, it was told that ‘The Real Deal’ had a bad heart, and would have to retire from boxing. After months had passed, it was revealed that Evander had suffered a bad shoulder injury before the Moorer bout, but fought anyway with the pain. He was also severely dehydrated after the twelve round bout, and was administered large amounts of morphine, which caused him to suffer the same effects as if he had a bad heart. With full medical clearance to perform, Holyfield signed to fight Ray Mercer on May 20, 1995 at Atlantic City Convention Hall.
When I checked into the Flamingo Hilton on the strip, I immediately checked the sportsbooks in both the Flamingo and at Caesar’s to check on the odds for the fight. I was upset to see that the odds were 7-1 in favor of Holyfield, so I held off on placing my $28,000 wager on Evander. I vividly recall overhearing two guys talking about how good Mercer looked at the weigh-in, but I knew that the odds would come down during the course of the day, since it was only like 1 in the afternoon, and the main event took place at 8 p.m. Vegas time.
After getting something to eat, I went back at about 5 p.m., and sure enough, the odds had dropped to 4-1. I immediately dropped 28 grand on Evander to net me a nice $7,000 payday, and went off to eat dinner at the Flamingo buffet. I wasn’t in the mood to lose money on slot machines, so I went up to my room to watch TV until fight time.
I strolled across the street to watch the bout on the big screens at the Caesar’s Palace sportsbook. I stood up and was customarily nervous as usual as the first round began. After about two rounds, I made the huge mistake of telling some guy next to me how much I had bet on the bout. He incessantly pestered me for the next four rounds, constantly asking him if I thought Evander was winning. The action was close, in fact too close for my own comfort. Mercer had gotten into supreme condition, and was boxing well as the fifth round came to an end. Finally, after another tight sixth round, and more of this pest annoying me, I made a quick dash back to my hotel room at the Flamingo.
As I passed the fountains that Robbie Knievel had successfully jumped six years earlier, the mist was hitting my face. There was no recovering from a Holyfield loss, and my stomach became knotted in nerves with each step I made back to my room.
I immediately called my brother, who was a huge Holyfield fan as well, and as soon as I heard his voice, I knew something good had happened. He told me that Evander had put Mercer on the floor in the eighth, had won the ninth big, and I listened on the phone as he gave me a description of the tenth round on the phone.
When the decision was read, it was unanimous for Evander, and I yelled in excitement. Another 7 grand in the bank, and not long went back out into the casino and on the strip, had something to eat, played a few slots, and enjoyed the night. I always tell people Vegas in the greatest place in the world when you win, but when you lose big, it’s the loneliest place on the planet.
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