The massive home Evander Holyfield had built in an Atlanta suburb was not only his over-sized home, but it also was where he hosted underprivileged kids annually and especially during his enormous July 4th barbeque and fireworks display.
Sadly today, the former heavyweight champion moved out of the 109-room mansion that rests on 235 acres. The palatial edifice was sold in a foreclosure auction in March.
Aerial shots Tuesday from the Channel 2 Action News Atlanta helicopter showed workers carrying items out of the edifice into moving vans and storage containers.
It marks the official end of Holyfield’s saga with the house, which from Old National Highway in Fairburn looks like a corporate headquarters or even a hotel. He has been in foreclosure proceedings on the house at least three times in recent years. This time, however, there was no saving the house.
Tony Tortorici, Holyfield’s senior adviser, confirmed to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in June that the estate sold March 6 for $7.5 million to JP Morgan Chase. Holyfield reportedly owes more than $14 million on the house, including federal taxes. Holyfield has continued to live there since the sale.
Holyfield, who made as much as $300 million in his boxing career, said the estate cost him $1 million a year to maintain. When he was at the height of his fame and boxing skills, that financial commitment seemed ludicrous to most, but affordable to him.
However, gross mismanagement of money has doomed him. Holyfield also owes some $500,000 in child support payments, according to an article last year in Atlanta Magazine.
“Evander Holyfield’s personal financial situation is complicated,” Tortorici told the AJC last month. “He and his closest friends and advisers are working together to resolve these issues as quickly as possible.”
It is unclear where Holyfield, 49, who has at least nine children, will live.
