Evander Holyfield believes there is one active fighter that even he may have struggled against.

Holyfield is widely regarded as one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, having began his career in the cruiserweight division and becoming undisputed.

Until Oleksandr Usyk repeated the feat in 2024, Holyfield was the only man to be undisputed at both cruiserweight and heavyweight, with his success in the banner division seeing him defeat the likes of Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe, George Foreman and Larry Holmes.

Holyfield remains the only fighter in history to be a four-time world heavyweight champion, but despite all of his accomplishments, he believes that Usyk himself would prove very difficult for him to beat.

Speaking to Boxing Social, ‘The Real Deal’ explained why he thinks it would have been so tough.

“It probably [would have] been difficult for me [to beat him]. Guys that I was real good with were bullies. A guy that was aggressive. I handle very aggressive fighters real well.”

“If you ever want to know how a guy would give a guy a problem – find somebody just like yourself. People who [weren’t] aggressive were difficult.”

After his own undisputed reign at cruiserweight, Usyk has established himself as the best heavyweight of this generation, defeating Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois all twice each to become a two-time undisputed champion.

After an underwhelming performance against kickboxing star Rico Verhoeven last time out, Usyk has announced he will compete just one more time before hanging up his gloves, with a new surprise opponent recently emerging as the potential dance partner.