Holyfield to pay $36,000 a year in child support
By PAUL NEWBERRY
ATLANTA – Former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield was back in court Wednesday, again facing the possibility of jail time in a child-support case, but a settlement was reached after he agreed to a $100,000 college fund for his 10-year-old son.
Holyfield also consented to pay private school tuition before college, reinstated health insurance for his son and settled $4,500 in attorney fees, according to Randy Kessler, a lawyer for the child’s mother, Toi Irvin. The agreement was reached before a scheduled hearing in Fayette County Superior Court in suburban Atlanta.
“My client is pleased that we didn’t have to litigate,” Kessler said. “She didn’t want him incarcerated. The last thing she wanted was to be the one to ask that he go to jail. She’s glad we got it resolved.”
Kessler said the agreement was reached after the two sides spent much of the day in the courtroom, watching the judge sentence others for failing to abide by child-support orders. Irvin’s attorney had planned to ask that Holyfield be given 30 days to meet all orders in the case and be sent to jail immediately if he failed to comply.
“While Evander was sitting there and we were sitting there, people were going to jail for a lot less money than he owed,” Kessler said.
Holyfield must fully pay into the child’s college fund within three years, Kessler said. The case was kept open in case the boxer fails to provide the funding.
Joy Edwards, Holyfield’s attorney, did not immediately respond to an e-mail and after-hours telephone message left at her office.
This is the latest salvo in a case that began over the summer when Holyfield failed to make three straight $3,000 monthly child-support payments to Irvin, apparently because of financial woes that also included the threatened foreclosure of his sprawling estate in Fayette County.
Holyfield’s massive home, which was scheduled to be auctioned on the steps of the county courthouse, was taken off the foreclosure list and is still occupied by the boxer.
The only four-time heavyweight champion turned 46 this week, but insists he wants to keep fighting until the regains the title for a fifth time. Holyfield hasn’t fought since losing an unanimous decision a year ago to then-WBO champion Sultan Ibragimov.
Holyfield was reportedly in negotiations for a fight with WBA heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev in December, but no agreement has been signed.
“I hope the next time I see him, he’s beating up somebody on TV,” Kessler said.