Evander Holyfield, left, batters Buster Douglas en route to his first heavyweight title in 1990.

In a boxing era often dominated by empty flash and false bravado, Holyfield brings a quiet dignity to the sport. He's the Real Deal both in and out of the ring.

The youngest of four brothers and four sisters, he was born Oct. 19, 1962, in Atmore, Ala., and moved to Atlanta when he was 3. He began his boxing career at the age of 8 when he entered a peewee tournament.

Until he was 17, he says, "I was scared at everything I did, but especially boxing. I don't know how I got started, but I was scared. I don't know why I stayed. But I won a lot of fights, never got hurt, and as much torment as I was living in, I just assumed I would quit before I got to, say 18. I knew there came a time when you could get hurt, your nose would be bloody, your eye cut. I'd quit before that happened to me."

But at 17, Holyfield overcame that fear. After being knocked groggy to the canvas, he remembered feeling a numbness, but not pain. "I was never afraid again," he says.

At the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles he "wuz robbed," to use the boxing vernacular, in the semifinals in the light-heavyweight division. As the referee gave his instruction to break, Holyfield unleashed a ferocious left hook to the head, knocking out his opponent, Kevin Barry of New Zealand. Holyfield was disqualified amid much controversy. However, the International Olympic Committee virtually admitted the unfairness of the decision when they suspended their own rules to award Holyfield a bronze medal.

Holyfield turned pro later in 1984 and over the next eight years won all 28 of his bouts. In his 12th fight, he won the first of three cruiserweight titles by dominating the late rounds to earn a split 15-round decision over WBA champ Dwight Muhammad Qawi on July 20, 1986.

Four years later, he became heavyweight champ by dethroning a rotund Buster Douglas, who was making the first defense of the title he had taken from Tyson eight months earlier. Holyfield, who is 6-foot-2½ and weighed 208 (38 pounds lighter than Douglas), knocked out Douglas with a vicious right at 1:10 of the third round on Oct. 25, 1990.

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The favored Holyfield suffered his first defeat -- and with it went the loss of his title -- when 6-5, 235-pound Riddick Bowe scored a unanimous 12-round decision in their fast-paced bout Nov. 13, 1992. Holyfield earned more respect in losing this bout -- the Fight of the Year, according to The Ring magazine -- than he did in previous victories.

Fifty-one weeks later, Holyfield gained even more respect when, in another bruising battle with the bigger Bowe, he regained the WBA and IBF titles by taking a grueling 12-round decision. But the title lasted only until Holyfield stepped into the ring again, on April 22, 1994.

Holyfield appeared lethargic, which was unheard of for this finely tuned professional, and he was upset in a 12-round decision by undefeated Michael Moorer. Three days later, doctors told Holyfield that he had been boxing with a heart defect -- there was a hole in it. This led Holyfield to announce his retirement.

But six weeks after the original diagnosis, a laying-on-of-hands by a televangelist had, in Holyfield's mind, cured him. Doctors at the Mayo Clinic later found that the defect had never existed, clearing the way for a Holyfield comeback.

Thirteen months after the Moorer bout, Holyfield took a 10-round unanimous decision over Ray Mercer. Then it was Holyfield-Bowe III on Nov. 4, 1995 in the battle of former champions. A powerful left hook by Holyfield in the sixth round decked Bowe for the first time in his career. When Bowe rose, Holyfield went all-out for the KO. He didn't get it. And two rounds later, an exhausted Holyfield was floored twice and the referee stopped the fight, Bowe winning on a TKO.

It looked like Holyfield's career was shot. He was going to have to settle on living happily in his new $15 million mansion in Atlanta, a 54,000-square-foot home with 17 bathrooms. When Holyfield signed to fight Tyson in September 1996, the odds were 25-1 against him winning. It appeared Holyfield had a better chance of landing in the outhouse than the penthouse.

But both the oddsmakers and Tyson underestimated the 34-year-old Holyfield, who controlled the fight from the outset, frustrating the WBA champion and not allowing him to unleash his notorious power shots. He floored Tyson with a left hook in the sixth round and battered him badly in the 10th. Thirty-seven seconds into the 11th round, the fight was stopped -- and Holyfield had joined Muhammad Ali as the only three-time heavyweight champions.

For the much-anticipated rematch, on June 28, 1997, Holyfield was guaranteed a $35 million payday. After not being able to beat up Holyfield in the first fight, Tyson decided to try to eat him up this time. Late in the third round, Tyson got Holyfield in a clinch, rolled his head up and above Holyfield's shoulder, and spit out his mouthpiece. Then, to the amazement of all, he took a chunk of Holyfield's right ear before spitting it out.

After referee Mills Lane penalized Tyson two points, he let the fight continue. In another clinch, Tyson gave the public more food for thought when he took a chomp of Holyfield's left ear. Lane disqualified Tyson.

Holyfield went to a hospital for a 20-minute procedure to have his right ear repaired. A ring attendant had brought almost an inch of the ear to Holyfield's handlers after the bout.

In a subsequent fight, Holyfield avenged his loss to Moorer by taking the IBF title from the southpaw on Nov. 8, 1997. It took five knockdowns, but the oh-so-holy Holyfield, who spends as much time preaching as training, finally made a believer of Moorer. The ring doctor, wanting to preserve Moorer's health, stopped the fight after the second knockdown in the eighth round, the 25th knockout of Holyfield's career.

Holyfield, a month before his 36th birthday, had a much more difficult fight than expected in his only bout of 1998, against Vaughn Bean on Sept. 19 in Atlanta. While Holyfield knocked down Bean with a right to the side of the head in the 10th round, the challenger surprisingly lasted the 12 rounds. Holyfield retained his WBA and IBF titles with a unanimous decision, boosting his record to 36-3.