Last updated on April 8, 2021
Although a biographical sketch on his website states that he earned more than $230 million from his lengthy and storied boxing career, former world champion Evander Holyfield apparently lacks sufficient funds to get current on child support payments he owes.
Holyfield has a long history of legal disputes with multiple ex-wives, with divorce settlements marked by high-asset property division and other matters. According to an Atlanta Magazine article, Holyfield is stated to owe “cumulative child support payments in the $500,000 range.”
Holyfield’s current legal woe stems from the support payments he owes for his 18-year-old daughter, Emani, who is one of 12 children Holyfield has fathered with six different women.
Holyfield reportedly has not fulfilled for approximately two years his monthly payment obligation of $19,270 that was ordered by a California state appeals panel more than a decade ago. The amount now owed is allegedly $372,000.
The Georgia Department of Human Services has intervened in the matter by requesting that a judge jail Holyfield and garnish his wages until he has satisfied his payment obligations.
Holyfield spokespersons say that the former champion may have a problem doing that, given that his present income is not remotely close to what he was making in his career in the ring.
Holyfield has contested child support duties in Georgia, Texas and California, arguing for his payment obligations to be renegotiated. Holyfield filed for bankruptcy in Fayette County in 2008, and his 54,000-foot mansion went into foreclosure that year and again in 2009.
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “TMZ: Holyfield owes $372K in child support,” Christopher Seward, June 2, 2012
