Holyfield caught up in foreclosure, and we don’t have much sympathy

By: HousingWire staff
June 6, 2008 9:07 AM CST

Unless his financial fortunes change, there won’t be a split decision on the future of former heavyweight boxing champ Evander Holyfield’s suburban Atlanta mansion. The Associated Press reported yesterday that Holyfield’s residence is set to be auctioned off on July 1:

Maybe now we know why former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield wants to keep fighting at age 45. The “Real Deal” appears real broke.

His $10 million estate in suburban Atlanta is under foreclosure, the mother of one of his children is suing for unpaid child support, and a Utah consulting company has gone to court claiming the boxer failed to pay back more than a half million dollars for landscaping.

A legal notice that ran Wednesday in a small local newspaper said Holyfield’s estate will be auctioned off “at public outcry to the highest bidder for cash” at the Fayette County courthouse on July 1. The 54,000-square-foot home — located on Evander Holyfield Highway — has 109 rooms, including 17 bathrooms, three kitchens and a bowling alley.

That might be the REO listing of the century, from our perspective. After all, there is no way an investor jumps in on this one.

And we can’t help but wonder: who needs a house with a bowling alley in it? 109 rooms? We’d always heard boxers tended to be extravagant degenerates, but this takes the cake. Dude hasn’t even paid child support to his kids, apparently, either.

It’s worth noting that Holyfield raked in $34 million for his now-infamous fight with ear-hungry Mike Tyson in 1997. Even after taxes, that’s a whole lot of money to blow through.

We might be persuaded to have some sympathy if he were old. Maybe if he’d broken his neck, too.