Evan Holyfield obliterates Charles Stanford in second round knockout
Undefeated junior middleweight prospect Evan “Yung Holy” Holyfield (8-0, 6 KO’s), son of Hall of Fame inductee Evander Holyfield, kept his record unblemished in his latest dustup. He managed this feat by claiming a second round knockout over Charles Stanford (6-4, 2 KO’s). Yung Holy first captured fan’s imagination with a sixteen-second knockout debut against Nick Winstead. The thrilling win took place on the undercard of Saul Alvarez versus Sergey Kovalev when Alvarez first captured the WBO light heavyweight title back in 2019.
With this bout, Holyfield also returned to his roots fighting at the State Farm Area, in Atlanta, GA. We already knew that he had his father’s looks, but the fans are eager to see if he has that famous Holyfield heart. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t but it clearly will take more than Charles Stanford to answer that question.
Stanford is a former MMA fighter turned boxer with a six-year stint in the business. The 35-year-old Ohio native had won four fights in a row but has suffered back-to-back knockout defeats to prospects Richardson Hitchins and Montana Love. Now his snake-bitten luck continues to sour his professional career. It’s unknown how he will rebound after going back to the drawing board.
SHORT NIGHT OF WORK
The first round held just a bit of adversity for Holyfield who clearly had the better skillset. Despite his more refined moves, Yung Holy was not initially able to keep the hard-charging Stanford at bay. When Stanford got in punching range, he immediately began hammering the taller and slimmer Holyfield’s body. A few of those shots appeared to give Holyfield some pause. Yet, he was able to stay calm and got his jab working like a charm.
By the end of the first round, Yung Holy was belting Stanford in the face with regularity and had him on the back foot. Then, at the top of the second round, he landed a tight, crunching left hook that discombobulated Stanford. Technically, Holyfield landed a follow up right hook, but it was not nearly as impactful and the damage had already been done. This was a fantastic win for Holyfield that came in front of his hometown crowd.
By: Bakari Simpson
