Evander Holyfield Was Told Mike Tyson Used Steroids, By: Michael David Smith

March 14, 2007
 

Evander Holyfield was one of the athletes whose names appeared among the list of customers of a pharmacy that was busted for distributing performance-enhancing drugs. Now Holyfield  admits to taking a drug from the pharmacy, but says it was for a "hormonal problem" and that he took it only briefly. And he says he never used steroids but was encouraged to do so in the 1980s and told Mike Tyson was doing it.

"Somebody high up in boxing mentioned to me that there was this other fighter who did steroids and I should too because it wasn't illegal in boxing yet," he said. "I said, 'I'm not going to do that. I ain't no cheater.' I was the undisputed cruiserweight champion and I was in the Olympics. If I started taking steroids, people would say, 'He cheated at everything.' But this guy told me, 'Well, [Mike] Tyson is doing it, you should, too. I said, 'I don't care if Tyson is doing it, I'm not.' "

Holyfield said he is not accusing Tyson of taking steroids; he was just relating the story. He also declined to say who addressed the subject with him, adding, "The person is still in boxing. People sue people. I don't need to get into that.

As I've said before, I've always been a Holyfield fan, but I don't think there's much doubt that Holyfield used steroids. The human body just doesn't change in adulthood the way Holyfield's changed from the time he was a cruiserweight to the time he was a heavyweight. Tyson's body looks like that of a steroid user, too, although Tyson was a freak of nature as a teenager, not a guy who kept getting bigger like Holyfield or Barry Bonds. I think Max Kellerman is probably about right in his estimate of how many heavyweights are using steroids.