This man's story begins when an 8-year-old boy joins the Boys Club in Atlanta, Georgia. His mother worked two jobs as a cook. She wanted him to have something to do in the afternoon after school. He did what his mother requested and went to the organized activities at the Boys Club. There he became interested in boxing. A coach noticed the boy and saw something in the boy's determination and attitude. He told the young boy, "You could be the heavy weight champion of the world." The time was the 1960s, and Mohammed Ali was a famous boxing champion. The boy told his mother what the coach had said, "Son, you can be whatever you want to be. There are no limits to what you can do," she answered. The boy loved his mother but still thought, "It's a mothers' job to say nice things to her kids."  But, it was the words of the Boys Club coach, someone who didn"t really know him: "Evander, you can be the heavy weight champion of the world." So, the boy began a journey. A journey of hard work, perseverance, diligence, and great achievement. He believed the man, and with his mother"s support, showed the world that he could do it.

 Evander Holyfield is a champion. He has won more money from boxing than anyone in the history of the game. But it's not the money, not the fighting, and not even the challenge that has made him a champion. It has been his attitude-"an attitude he says is defined as "sportsmanship."

Evander Holyfield with Muhammad Ali and Arnald Schwartzenegger at a benefit for Parkinsons Disease

"Life is like sports," he says. "Everyday is full of challenges, of successes and defeats. But, it's the attitude about life that makes you a winner or a loser. They can take fame and fortune away. Just like when you are a kid, they can take popularity away. But they can't take your attitude away, that deep part of you that says, 'I can win.' Nobody can take that away. Sports are games with rules and regulations. Boxing is a game. We have to follow rules to play. You can't break the rules and expect to win. Life is the same way. You can't break the rules. You have to play within the rules and be the best you can be. Everything else will come. You can be successful."

Evander also says that the most important thing for young people to remember is one of the Ten Commandments "Honor thy Father and thy Mother." "You have to appreciate what they have given you. You can't take anything for granted. Your job is to make them proud.  I take no credit for who I am or what I have accomplished. The credit goes to my mother. She raised me and my brothers and sisters"and did it alone. She gets the credit for what I have done with my life, because she sacrificed to put me here."

His personal heroes are not other athletes, but Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandella. "These men through love changed people's lives. I strive every day to be better than I am and to be more like them, to let a higher power's light shine through me."

Evander Holyfield is a devoted father, a caring individual who has started a college scholarship fund for minority students, and a community center for families. He is constantly on the road making speeches at schools to students and at prisons to help prisoners see how they can channel aggression into positive acts. He recently traveled to China and is looking at ways to help children there and in other countries.

Is he finished as an athlete? Not by a long shot. He is currently in training for his next boxing match. "You have to strive to be better and keep going. There will be younger and bigger athletes than I am. But I can inspire them to work harder and never quit."

Evander Holyfield has won the heavyweight championship of the world three times and  has set more boxing records than any other athlete in history.