Text and photo by Zhenyu Li

As a boxing scribe for some of the mainstream media outlets both in and outside of China, I have had the opportunity to meet a lot of world-class athletes, but none greater than four-time Heavyweight Champion of the World – and my personal role model – Mr. Evander Holyfield.

I had the honor of sitting down with The Holy One in his hotel room in Beijing before the Olympics put on its finishing touches. We talked about his impression about Beijing the city, the Opening Ceremonies, his trip to China and much more.

City Weekend (CW): Mr. Holyfield, I've been reading and writing about you since 1996. Could you please tell me a bit more about yourself? Any exclusive interesting stories, both in and outside the ring, that you can share with our readers?

Evander Holyfield (EH): Well, you know, I don't think there's anything about me that hasn't been said. I came up poor. My life story is to try to inspire people.

CW: You just made a comment in the lift about the Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremonies. What did you say?

EH: Yeah. Generally speaking, it was beautiful. You can see the theme, how the scroll rose up; it let you know the tradition of how China started to the way it is today.

The only negative thing about the opening ceremony is that it was simply a little too long. If it lasts too long, you'll loose focus on a lot of different things. But I am just one person. And I understand why it was long. This is China's first Olympics. The country overcame (a lot of difficulties) to be what it is today.

But I think in general, they did a beautiful job, a good job. It was amazing.

CW: I know you've been to Beijing before, so what's your impression about the new Beijing?

EH: You know, when I came here for the first time, I was SO impressed, from the country being Communist to what people have said and stuff like that. When I got here, everybody looked so peaceful, everything looked good -- the infrastructures, the highways, the hospitality of the people I met. And I was like, Wow, I think this is a different kind of world.

I was thinking that, back in our country, the things that you hear when you talk about Communism are about controlling you and how you don’t have rights. But when I got here, the majority of people I saw were having a good time, so I’m going to judge by what I've seen. The fact is that everything I saw was good.

CW: Talk about your trip to China this time.

EH: You know, I was invited by the Olympic sponsor McDonald’s as a special guest. I went to the Shaolin Monastery to try to discover some of the young talents. You know, I have my own promotional company. I hope I could make contribution to China's boxing enterprise.

Zhenyu Li, a member of the International Boxing Research Organization, is a bilingual boxing columnist who joined the CW team as our special Olympic correspondent. He also writes for Maxboxing.com, TheSweetScience.com and SecondsOut.com etc.