Boxing legend Evander Holyfield will be the special guest at the IBA Champions Night tournament, which will take place in Baku on July 10.
As İdman.Biz reports, the arrival of the former undisputed cruiserweight and heavyweight world champion is expected to be the biggest media highlight of the evening. Holyfield is widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers in history. He remains the only four-time heavyweight world champion, while his legendary rivalry with Mike Tyson occupies a special place in boxing history. Their second bout in 1997 produced one of the sport's most infamous moments, when Tyson bit off part of Holyfield's right ear and was later disqualified.
This will not be the American's first visit to Azerbaijan's capital. Holyfield last came to Baku in 2017 to attend the 55th Annual WBC Convention, held from October 1 to 6. The event brought together numerous boxing stars, including Kostya Tszyu, Naseem Hamed, Erik Morales, Vitali Klitschko and Gennadiy Golovkin.
This time, Holyfield will attend the IBA Champions Night professional boxing event. According to the Azerbaijan Boxing Federation, the tournament will be held for the first time at Sea Breeze Resort and will begin at 7:00 p.m.
The event will feature six bouts involving top boxers from several countries, with Azerbaijani fighters competing in five of them.
World champion Subhan Mammadov (47.6 kg) will face Richard Gard of the Philippines. World Championship medallists Sarkhan Aliyev (70 kg) and Saidjamshid Jafarov (72.6 kg) will take on Nurtas Aybenov of Kazakhstan and Nikolay Veselov of Belarus, respectively.
European Games bronze medallist Tayfur Aliyev (60 kg) will meet Khurshidbek Rasuljonov of Uzbekistan, while World Cup semifinalist Nabi Iskandarov (70 kg) will face Hikmet Karayev of Russia. Each of these contests is scheduled for six rounds.
Another bout on the card will see Russia's Cheerav Ashalayev take on Belarusian Mikhail Dolgolevets in the 76.2 kg division. That contest is scheduled for eight rounds.
