Evander Holyfield vs Vaughn Bean

In a homecoming bout, Evander Holyfield retained the WBA and IBF heavyweight championships by a unanimous 12-round decision over Vaughn Bean at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on September 19, 1998. Fighting before 41,357 spectators in his home city, Holyfield weighed 217 pounds against Bean’s 231. The champion entered with 35 victories and three defeats, while Bean brought a record of 32 wins and one loss. Brian Garry was the referee.

Holyfield had not fought for ten months, with his previous appearance ending when Michael Moorer retired after eight rounds of their unification contest. A proposed defence against Henry Akinwande had fallen through after the British challenger was diagnosed with hepatitis B, leaving Bean, the IBF’s leading contender, to receive the opportunity. Bean’s record had been compiled largely against modest opposition, but his one defeat had been a close majority decision against Moorer in an earlier IBF title challenge. Even so, he was not expected to extend Holyfield, who had recently defeated Mike Tyson twice and regained a place at the head of the heavyweight division.

The champion began with authority. He advanced behind the jab and caught Bean with heavier combinations during the opening four rounds. Shorter and heavier through the body, Bean was awkward rather than polished. He kept his hands high, moved unpredictably and answered often enough to prevent Holyfield from attacking without caution. Duane Ford gave Bean the third round, although the other two judges preferred Holyfield, whose cleaner punches and command of the ring established the early advantage.

The direction changed in the fifth. Holyfield’s activity dropped sharply, and Bean began to take the initiative. The challenger pressed forward, worked with greater confidence and landed enough solid punches to disturb the champion’s rhythm. Bean also took the sixth on all three official cards. Holyfield appeared sluggish after his long absence, fighting in brief spells and allowing his opponent to remain close. The crowd, which had arrived expecting a commanding homecoming victory, became quieter as Bean showed that he would neither retreat nor be easily discouraged.

Holyfield recovered his control in the seventh and began scoring with the straighter and more accurate blows. He was never at his fluent best, but his experience enabled him to manage the difficult passages. Bean continued to push forward, though much of his work was caught on the champion’s arms or delivered without sufficient balance. Holyfield took the seventh, eighth and ninth rounds on every official card, gradually widening the margin without seriously weakening the challenger. Bean remained competitive and landed his share of heavy punches, but Holyfield generally finished the exchanges and dictated where they occurred.

The principal incident came late in the tenth. Bean had been driving Holyfield towards the ropes when the champion suddenly stepped aside and used his left arm to turn the challenger into them. With Bean off balance and partly caught against the strands, Holyfield landed a right hand to the side of his head and sent him down. Bean rose at seven and survived Holyfield’s attempt to finish matters before the bell. The challenger later complained that he had been struck while down and that the referee should have intervened, but the punch had landed while he was still upright. All three judges scored the round 10–8 for Holyfield.

The knockdown settled any remaining question concerning the verdict, but Bean did not capitulate. Holyfield won the eleventh before the challenger came back strongly in the final round. Bean continued to force the pace and had the better of the last three minutes as the champion appeared tired at the bell. There were no further knockdowns, and neither man was badly marked. Bean had exceeded expectations through durability, awkward movement and a willingness to trade, while Holyfield had looked older and less energetic than in his victories over Tyson and Moorer.

Al DeVito and Leroy Brown each scored the contest 117–110 for Holyfield, while Duane Ford returned a card of 116–111. The decision was beyond dispute, although the breadth of the champion’s victory did not remove the questions raised by his performance. He had won through superior accuracy, experience and the ability to seize the decisive opening in the tenth, but he had not dominated an opponent regarded as considerably below the leading heavyweights. Bean earned respect in defeat, particularly for recovering from the knockdown and finishing strongly. Holyfield retained both championships and moved towards the long-awaited unification contest with WBC champion Lennox Lewis, but his labour against Bean provided an early indication that age and accumulated contests were beginning to reduce his former pace.

This was the first time I wondered whether Evander Holyfield’s comeback was slowing down. After beating Mike Tyson twice and stopping Michael Moorer, he should have handled Vaughn Bean comfortably. Instead, Holyfield looked heavy-legged, inconsistent and old.

Bean’s record was padded with poor opposition, but he was awkward, strong and willing to work whenever Holyfield slowed. From the fifth, Bean crowded him and exposed the champion’s fading output, despite lacking elite technique.

Holyfield still deserved the decision. The tenth-round knockdown was untidy but legal, and Bean never did enough consistently to take the titles. For me, the real story was the warning: Holyfield’s famous engine was misfiring.