In the past few days, legendary boxer Evander Holyfield has been weighing in with his opinion on several boxing matters.

The American decided that he felt Anthony Joshua would defeat his countryman Deontay Wilder if the two met in a unification fight.

He also believes that Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez ran from Gennady Golovkin during their super fight in Las Vegas, claiming that the Kazakh fighter should have won.

Holyfield's career in the heavyweight division was incredibly successful, defending the undisputed heavyweight crown on three separate occasions and fighting the best the world had to offer.

However, the most famous moment of his career came courtesy of Mike Tyson when he chose to bite a chunk of Holyfield's ear off in the ring, leading to his inevitable disqualification.

He also fought the likes of Lennox Lewis and Michael Moorer, but one bout he did not get the chance to have was with Ukrainian boxer Vitali Klitschko.

The brother of Wladimir was at the peak of his powers during Holyfield's time in the game but the two never met in the four-cornered ring.

THE REASON

What was the reason? Well, that has finally been revealed as Klitschko bumped into the American at a WBC convention in Baku.

Holyfield was asked by a reporter what would have happened if the two had met to which he replied: "I don't know".

Then, Klitschko stepped in and clear everything up, saying: "I love Evander. He’s my hero. One day Evander come to me and tells me – Vitali we have to fight. No. You my legend. You my hero. I will never be fighting against my hero because I love him.

"He’s my example. I was child and looking at his fight and always wanted to be the same as Evander.”

A video of their encounter can be seen below.

VIDEO

So, there you have it, Klitschko simply didn't want to fight his hero.

The two fighters were renowned for their respectful manner in the ring, rarely taking part in the boring trash talk which has now become synonymous with the sport.

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