Evander Holyfield’s children are eleven, comprising of 6 boys and 5 girls from 6 different women including three spouses from his failed marriages. Just like their father, all of his children’s names start with the letter ‘E’
Nicknamed The Real Deal, former professional boxer Evander Holyfield proved he deserved to be mentioned in the same breath as the legendary Muhammad Ali after he broke the latter’s record of winning the heavyweight title three times.
Holyfield, who fought in the Light heavyweight, Cruiserweight, and Heavyweight classes in his career and remains the only boxer in history to win the undisputed championship in two weight classes, won the heavyweight title a record four times.
But while the Alabama native had the world singing his praises for his ability in the ring, the boxer also gained fame for several scandalous episodes of his life that revolved around divorce battles among many other things. Here is a look at Holyfield’s marital life and the alimony battles that led him to bankruptcy.
What We Know About Evander Holyfield’s Children
As mentioned above, Evander Holyfield has eleven children; 6 boys and 5 girls. Like their father, all of his children’s names start with the letter ‘E’.
Evander Holyfield’s Children:
- Son Evander Holyfield Jr. (1984),
- Daughter Evette Ashley Holyfield (1986),
- Daughter Ebonne Esheal Holyfield (1989),
- Son Ewin Ezekiel Holyfield (1990),
- Daughter Emani Winter Holyfield (1993),
- Daughter Eden Eloise Holyfield (1995),
- Son Elijah Esaias Holyfield (1997),
- Son Eleazar Evan Holyfield (1997),
- Son Elijah Jedidiah Holyfield (1998),
- Son Eli Ethan Holyfield (2004),
- Daughter Eve Elizabeth Holyfield (2005).
Evette Holyfield
Evette is Holyfield’s daughter with his first wife Paulette Bowen. She is a stylist and designer who was born on September 3, 1985. She is a reserved and conservative Christian who strongly kicks against sex before marriage.
Evan Holyfield
Evan, who was born in October 1997, is a product of his father’s relationship with Toi Jenese Irvin. Like his father, the young boy has taken to boxing where he plans on leaving an indelible mark. While it is not clear if he is signed with any management team, Evan obviously has very big shoes to fill. He showed that he was capable of doing so in 2019 when he made his professional debut against Nick Winstead and only needed 16 seconds to finish off his opponent in the first round of their middleweight bout.
Eden Eloise and Elijah Esias
Eden and Elijah are Evander Holyfield’s children with his one-time fiancee, Tamie Pettaway, who has for more than two decades since that time been married to a man identified as Chris. Not much is known about Eden but Elijah, on the other hand, has a career in sports. He started off trying to follow his father’s footsteps as a boxer but ended up playing football as a running back.
Elijah played college football at the University of Georgia before signing with the Carolina Panthers as an undrafted free agent in 2019. After being waived by the team, he signed to the active roster of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Evander Holyfield’s Spouses from His Failed Marriages
Details of Evander Holyfield’s personal life would make for a very interesting story. This is because the man has been married and divorced three different times, and has had a total of eleven children from multiple women.
Paulette Bowen (1985-1991)
Holyfield’s first marriage was to a woman identified as Paulette Bowen on the 17th of May 1985. The couple had dated for a long while and were already living together before they decided to tie the knot. As a matter of fact, Paulette already had a child for the boxer and was about five months pregnant with their second child when they exchanged marital vows.
After they got married, life together did not turn out as they had imagined as things soon got sour for them. Holyfield was reportedly involved in a number of extramarital affairs that were well talked about in the media. After having endured for a while, Bowen decided she had had enough and called it quits. The couple welcomed a third child just before she filed for divorce to end her and Holyfield’s six-year marriage in 1991.
Dr. Janice Itson (1996-2000)
Evander Holyfield, who had by 1996 become quite famous in the boxing world, got married to Janice Itson, a doctor who specialized in pain management. The two got married on a whim at an Atlanta wedding chapel despite the disapproval of a few people in the boxer’s life, particularly his sister.
Like he did during his first marriage, Holyfield continued to engage in various extramarital affairs, welcoming two children out of wedlock. Janice, on the other hand, was said to have become very extravagant as she was put in charge of his business affairs. These things went a long way in impeding the success of the marriage as they decided to call it quits in July 2000 after having one child together.
Candi Calvana Smith (2003 -2012)
Evander Holyfield’s third marriage turned out to be the longest and most dramatic of all his marriages as his wife claimed to have been repeatedly physically and emotionally abused by him. The last incident occurred in February 2010 after he reportedly beat her up in front of their children during a heated argument.
Candi first filed a restraining order against Holyfield before she decided she had had enough and filed for divorce. Divorce proceedings took two years to be finalized and they went their separate ways in 2012.
At the time of the divorce, Holyfield was facing great financial difficulties. British newspaper The Independent wrote that the boxer was “flat broke and bankrupt” after having earned over $500 million in his career. The major causes of him being bankrupt were his bad spending habits, the continuous child support payments he had to make, and divorce settlements. He had also embarked on a number of failed business ventures.
Other Women He Had Affairs With
Not all of the women Evander Hollyfield had relationships with are known to the public. The boxer, who was notorious for having never kept his marriage vows, had a few children with some of these women while others made sure that their identity would forever remain a secret.
Some of the women that never married the boxer but were known to have had children for him are Sheryl Crowder, La Brown, and Tamie Pettaway who he was once engaged to. Another woman to have had a child for him is Toi Irvin, who made headlines in 2008 when she filed suit for non-payment of two months child support for his then 10-year-old son Evan.
