Undisputed Cruiserweight champion Evander Holyfield made it public that he would move up into the heavyweight division in 1988.. Bulking up to 200 pounds was something that many boxing connoisseurs frowned upon.. Slowly but surely over 18 months Diet regime, weight training and balance coaching turned Evander into a heavyweight on paper.. Still the jury was out on how the new bulked Holyfield would fare with the bigger heavyweights... Lou Duva didn't cherry pick opponents for Evander, over the next year he would face durable on form contenders.. Pitting Evander in against James Tillis like a lab experiment, successfully, then ex champion Pinklon Thomas and later Alex Stewart but most notably the former WBA champion Mike Dokes.. It was one of the best heavyweight brawls of the 80's.. It looked inevitable that Evander would cross paths with a current champion at some point had he remained unbeaten and it would again be another huge challenge but Evander would succeed as World Champion over the Huge Buster Douglas, Mike Tyson's unlikely conqueror.. In the years following Evander beat men who technically should have been far to massive for the former cruiserweight but in Holyfields case, size meant nothing..
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