On July 12, 1986, Evander met Dwight Qawi at the Omni in Atlanta, Georgia for the WBA Cruiserweight title. I personally was in Long Beach, California at the time, attending airline training classes for an airline I had just been hired for. I was alone in my hotel room that Saturday afternoon, and tuned into the action on ABC’s Wide World of Sports.
I was rooting hard for Evander that warm summer afternoon in 1986, and one of the reasons was my distain for Qawi. I never liked him, and was thrilled when one of my all-time favorites, Michael Spinks, easily outclassed and outboxed him in March of 1983 in Atlantic City. Holyfield was a fresh young fighter, and it was easy to pull for him to become the first of his 1984 Olympic class to win a professional championship.
The fight itself was full of action. In only his twelfth fight as a pro, Evander was taking on a huge challenge. Like him or not, Qawi was tough, rugged and experienced. Holyfield seemed to wilt under the pressure after about five rounds, and had to go into his reserve tank for energy to not only survive the fifteen round distance, but actually win. While there were no knockdowns in the bout, both men traded shots equally, and the exchanges were fast paced and often.
As the judges announced the winner after the fight came to a close, Evander won a narrow split decision victory, but a victory nonetheless. He was now the WBA Cruiserweight Champion of the world, and boxing had a potentially great new young champion.
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