A millionaire Australian property developer has offered boxing great Evander Holyfield $NZ1.3 million for an October fight in Melbourne against New Zealand heavyweight boxer Shane Cameron.
The Sunday Star-Times can reveal the four-time world champion says the purse offer tabled by John Fitzgerald - whose corporate website says his development companies turn over $A100m a year - is acceptable.
"Real Deal" Holyfield is now viewing videotapes of Cameron's recent performances before giving a final decision, but the man promoting the contest is confident he will agree to the bout.
Former IBF world super-featherweight champion Barry Michael is to promote Cameron in Australia and says he has secured financial backing from Fitzgerald, whom he describes as a lifelong friend.
"The only real reason this fight can fall over is if Evander doesn't fancy his chances - and if that happens, we will use the money to get another big name," Michael told the Star-Times. "But Evander is the one that we want."
Michael said he had already enlisted support from one of Australia's most influential media executives, former Channel Nine boss Eddie McGuire, who had suggested enlisting the Melbourne Major Events company to stage the fight. Michael has already made a tentative booking with the city's 10,500-capacity Vodafone Arena.
Michael said the ultimate carrot for both fighters would be the prospect of a world title challenge for the winner.
An excited Cameron, who is ranked in the IBF's top 10, said a fight against Holyfield would be career-defining.
"He's a legend: it would certainly be a big step up for me and it would be a make or break fight," Cameron said. "It would definitely be a turning point: beating Holyfield would be all my dreams come true."
Cameron's manager Ken Reinsfield also believes the prospect of securing the fight are good, given that discussions have been held once before about a Cameron-Holyfield clash.
Holyfield - the man who had part of his ear bitten off by bad boy Mike Tyson - held the WBA world title four times, and also held the WBC and IBF versions. He was an undefeated, undisputed world cruiserweight champion before that. The American veteran's long career includes bouts with such famous names as Tyson, Lennox Lewis and George Foreman.
Although now 44, he has fought credible ranked opposition in the past two years and believes he can win the world title for a fifth time. He takes on Lou Savarese on June 30, and this week said: "Age ain't nothing but a number, if you are willing to pay the price."
Reinsfield said the link with Michael came after he acted as commentator for Australian television network Fox at Cameron's last fight in Sydney in March, and was impressed by a ninth-round knockout of Bob Mirovic which Cameron completed with a broken hand.
Reinsfield said a Cameron-Holyfield contest had originally been suggested a year ago by senior IBF official Ray Wheatley. Michael then opened negotiations some months ago with Holyfield's manager Kathy Duva and they had expressed serious interest.
Michael says the fight now rides on their verdict on Cameron's fight show reel, how Holyfield fares against Savarese, and whether Gary Shaw, Cameron's US promoter, agrees to stand aside for this fight. He said Shaw had a long-running dispute with Duva and the Main Events promotional company Holyfield is contracted to.
"I think a Cameron-Holyfield fight would be a real war," Michael said. "Shane would have every chance of beating him and has every chance of becoming heavyweight champion of the world in the not too distant future."
Reinsfield was sanguine. "This is the fight business," he said.
"But the fact they are seriously considering Cameron as an opponent and the fact they have called for tapes and Barry has discussed purse figures with them, means they are serious ... and Holyfield has considered fighting Shane earlier, so he knows who he is."
Cameron said he had idolised Holyfield as a young boxer because of the way he overcame height and weight issues to perform as a heavyweight. Cameron himself has overcome criticism of his own relatively low weight.
"I like the way the guy fights and I've watched a lot of them. He's an awesome fighter and at 44, I take my hat off to him the way he has come off three good wins against a couple of ranked fighters ... one he beat the guy over 12 rounds on unanimous points so he still has the conditioning and he is still injury-free."
Michael said the fight could be a significant earner for Cameron and Holyfield, and believes it could sell heavily as a pay-per-view contest.
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