01/14/2025
Evander ""The Real Deal"" Holyfield made his second defense of the unified cruiserweight title with a dominant 4th round KO of ""The Camden Buzzsaw"" Dwight Muhammad Qawi at the Convention Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1987.
Holyfield, a bronze medalist in the 1984 Olympics, won his first world title by narrowly defeating Qawi in a war. He fought four times in the meanwhile, unifying the title against Ricky Parkey, before rematching Qawi.
This time the fight threatened to turn into another war, but the things began leaning Holyfield's way when it became clear he'd grown as a fighter. In round 4, a left hook put Qawi down briefly. He got back up and took the fight to Holyfield, but before he could do any damage, Holyfield caught him again, this time with a right hand that put Qawi onto the canvas face-first, and he couldn't beat the count.
""I felt I'm the better fighter coming into this fight,"" Holyfield said. ""Since 1986, I've had four fights.""
