Lem Satterfield of Fanhouse was able to interview World Heavyweight Champion Evander Holyfield last week. The former heavyweight champion was very straightforward in answering intriguing questions about his career, steroids, anti-doping policies and as well as the stalled fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao. Holyfield is scheduled to fight Francois Botha on March 6 and another fight on April 24 against Derric Rossy. These successive fights for Holyfield are aimed to get another world title in the heavyweight division. He wants to dethrone the current WBC champ Vitali Klitschko.

Many people are not convinced on the comeback of Holyfield since he lost in his previous fights. But the former world champion is still confident that he can still get another world title even at the age of 47. “There are guys who are 22, 23 years old who can’t do it anymore, because you know what? They’ve been hit too much,” said Holyfield. His goal right now is to become the sport’s first five-time heavyweight world champion and wants to become the oldest man to win a title in the heavyweight division surpassing the record of George Foreman.

Satterfield asked Holyfield on his view on the issue of steroid testing for Manny Pacquiao. “I don’t think that the fighters should be the ones who tell people in the boxing commissions what to do. I don’t think that the fighter should get to make the rules as to when somebody should check somebody and all of that,” he said. He believes that a fighter does not have any right to demand or change the rules. “You’re just the fighter. You don’t get to change the rules. The rules and regulations are the rules and regulations. You don’t get to sit here and all of a sudden, you say that ‘I don’t want to fight a fight unless he takes this other test,” Holyfield added.

“So how can somebody come in and all of a sudden say, ‘Look, I want to check, this, this, this and this?’ Then why do you fight if you feel that the guy is going to cheat?” The former heavyweight champion said that the decision on what particular drug test that will be required on each boxer should be decided by the commission. “The commission is the one that is supposed to make that decision. Either you are going to fight, or you’re not going to fight. If you think the guy is on steroids, and you don’t want to fight, then you don’t fight,” he said. Holyfield added that the commission itself is supposed to direct how things are supposed to be, not the fighters.

Holyfield said that he never been caught on steroids and he’s never been on steroids. But he disagrees with the Mayweathers strategy of accusing Manny Pacquiao of using steroids without any evidence. “You shouldn’t have the opportunity to tear down somebody’s integrity just because of what you think,” he said. The heavyweight boxer believes that the decision of Manny Pacquiao to file a lawsuit against the Mayweathers and Golden Boy Promotions is on the right tract. “Yes, because the big thing is that there’s always somebody saying that somebody is taking steroids, and then, once it gets into the papers, then your name is already smut,” Holyfield said.

The former world heavyweight champion said that he is ready to take whatever test is required to prove that he can still fight in the ring. “I would say, Yeah, or else I wouldn’t be back fighting if I couldn’t do it. On any given day, you can get hurt if you get hit with a certain shot. It all depends on where you get hit. That’s a fact,” the boxer concluded.

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