Is Evander Holyfield coming back to fight again?

Death is the number one certainty of life. Taxes, not so much; you might know that our current President has indicated he’s done well in not making that offering to the IRS part of his annual To Do list.

Death, taxes, and boxers coming back, or talking about coming back.

On Monday, we heard Oscar De La Hoya tell the masses that he’s been training for five months, and, at age 44, having not gloved up since 2008, he wants to fight one more time. He called out MMAer Conor McGregor, who is 0-1 in a boxing ring after being stopped by and collaborating on a mega million dollar promotion by/with Floyd Mayweather.

Oscar, on the Tattoo and the Crew radio show, on the Dash Radio network, said that he feels strong and fast and thinks he could stop McGregor within two rounds. So far, no response from Conor or his UFC boss, Dana White…

But most come back back once after hanging up the mitts and all of them contemplate it. And no, it doesn’t necessarily stop once you hit 40, or even 50. Hell, last week Larry Holmes put it out that he wants to fight one...more...time, take on fellow AARPer George Foreman.

Evander Holyfield is 55, and last stepped into a ring in 2011, beating Brian Nielsen. He would have fought after that, in that time frame, but no meaningful fight was offered, so he retired. He joined us at Everlast, for the “Talkbox” podcast, and I discussed the comeback lure to a pugilist.

“If you trained for six months, right now, could you beat some of the top 50 heavyweights?” I asked Holy, who is now promoting, and has a show Saturday in Queens, New York.

“Not for sure,” he said. “Some of the reflexes are not there,” he said.

When he answered, his eyes didn’t light up, he didn’t sit straighter in his chair, he didn’t lean in and get into sell-me-a-car mode, as “they” do when they are looking to sell the idea of a comeback. Oscar told us he’s better than ever, but Holyfield’s competitive fire isn’t ablaze anymore.

My three cents: I’ve seen Oscar catch a ton of flak on Twitter. People wonder why he crapped on Mayweather vs McGregor but now wants a slice of the action. Part of that might have to do with the fact that I don’t think he much cares for “Money” personally…

But me, I tend to say live and let live. No, I’d not be keen to Larry Holmes in short shorts again. Foreman told me when I texted him about the Holmes offer, thanks but no thanks. He said he was talking fighting again because the boxer versus the karate guy construction, him against Steven Seagal, that had some novelty to it.

Not so, he said, the old boxer versus the old boxer. Holmes is 68, last gloved up in 2002. Foreman is 68, last fought in 1997. But he told me his fire to compete is still there. Holmes, it obviously hasn’t gone from ember to ash for him. Oscar still wants to smash Father Time below the belt. It is part of getting older, testing ourselves, seeing if we can match past exploits. Live and let live, I say, for the most part. But Holyfield, I think it’s a safe bet that he’s been there, and done that, and won’t try to do it again.

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