Editing Evander Holyfield (section)

==Amateur career==
He began boxing at age seven and won the Boys Club boxing tournament. At 13, he qualified to compete in his first Junior Olympics. By age 15, Holyfield became the Southeastern Regional Champion, winning this tournament and the Best Boxer Award. By 1984 he had a record of 160 wins and 14 losses, with 76 by knockout.

When he was 20 years old, Holyfield represented the U.S. in the [[Boxing at the 1983 Pan American Games|1983 Pan American Games]] in [[Caracas, Venezuela]], where he won a [[Boxing at the 1983 Pan American Games|silver medal]] after losing to Cuban world champion [[Pablo Romero]]. The following year, he was the National Golden Gloves Champion, and won a bronze medal in the 1984 [[1984 Summer Olympics|Summer Olympic Games]] in [[Los Angeles, California]], after a controversial disqualification in the second round of the semi-final against New Zealand's [[Kevin Barry (boxer)|Kevin Barry]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Holyfield Disqualified for Punch|website=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=August 10, 1984}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Calm Amid Controversy and Dignified in Victory|website=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=August 9, 1985}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Meeting the Gold Standard|magazine=Sports Illustrated|date=July 21, 1986|author=Putnam, Pat|url=http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1065047/index.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121203001904/http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1065047/index.htm|archive-date=December 3, 2012}}</ref>