Other Sport
Evander Holyfield files suit
2012-11-02 09:04
Los Angeles - Evander Holyfield is asking a
federal judge to stop an upcoming auction of some of his boxing
memorabilia, including an Olympic bronze medal and gloves he wore to
fight Mike Tyson.
Holyfield's lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles
and seeks an order blocking the sale of 20 of the almost 450 items set
for auction Nov. 30 by Julien's Auctions.
The case claims Holyfield must consent to the auction of all the items and that the disputed items should be returned.
Julien's
Auctions President and CEO Darren Julien said his company had approval
from Holyfield to list the items for sale in a press release announcing
the auction earlier this year.
He said his company has worked for
months to organise a world-class auction of Holyfield's memorabilia and
other items that had to be hastily collected when the former boxer had
to vacate his Georgia home due to foreclosure.
Julien said
Holyfield has been advanced hundreds of thousands of dollars. He said
Holyfield had already selected items he wanted to keep, although the
lawsuit claims the ex-boxer was often distracted while items were being
catalogued and sorted.
Holyfield wants a judge to block the sale
of the disputed items, including gloves used in the 1996 bout with
Tyson, robes he wore in the Olympics, a Father of the Year award and
championship belts he won in 1993.
The lawsuit claims holding back those items from sale would "not suffer anything other than a dip in income."
"If,
on the other hand, Holyfield is forced to sell those few items of
personal property that have the very most sentimental value to him as he
looks back over his career, and which he wants to pass down to future
generations of his family, the hardship is overwhelming and
irreparable," the lawsuit states.
The auction will still include
numerous items from Holyfield's career, including gloves he wore during
another, infamous fight with Tyson in which part of Holyfield's ear was
bitten off.
Numerous fight robes and trunks are also slated for sale, as
well as Holyfield's 1992 WBA Boxer of the Year award.