EVANDER HOLYFIELD blasted the referee for stopping his comeback early – even though Donald Trump believes his pal has ‘lost a lot’ after he was defeated by Vitor Belfort.
The 58-year-old former five-time world champion pulled on the gloves again as a late replacement for Covid-hit Oscar De La Hoya.
But the legend’s comeback was over in less than two minutes.
The fight started cagey with the ‘Real Deal’ edging the jab out before Belfort starting to come forward and had Holyfield on shaky legs.
The ex-boxer swung and missed as he slipped through the ropes as things started looking bad for him.
Holyfield then looked to be on skates whenever the former UFC champ threw a punch and was soon dropped by a left hand.
Belfort then came forward as Holyfield tucked up and the referee quite rightly stopped the fight.
But the American was adamant the official stepped in too quickly to call it off.
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Holyfield said: “I thought it was a bad call.
“I don’t think the referee should have stopped the fight that quick.”
Former US President Trump was the special guest on commentary during the Triller event.
And after Holyfield got stopped he admitted: “You could see right from the beginning, he was not the same fighter.
“That left jab was very slow. He’s lost a lot.”
Holyfield was not the only one to feel the verbal bard of Trump as the ex-American leader even took aim at David Haye.
The 40-year-old Brit returned to the ring with an easy win over Joe Fournier.
He won each of the eight rounds – including a 10-8 round in the first after flooring his opponent.
It seemed to be a fairly soft knockdown, and Trump was rather unmoved by the bout in general.
And after taking several shots at current president Joe Biden, he then summed up the Haye fight up perfectly when he said: “Right now, the audience likes politics better.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
