Evander Holyfield vs. Ray Mercer
Boxing match
Evander Holyfield vs. Ray Mercer, billed as The Warrior Returns, was a professional boxing match contested on May 20, 1995.
Background
Evander Holyfield's second heavyweight championship reign had ended after only 5 months following a loss to Michael Moorer in his first defense. Holyfield was hospitalized after the fight and it was determined that he had a previously undetected heart ailment and was advised to retire immediately, which he would officially announce only four days after the Moorer fight. In June Holyfield attended one of televangelist and "faith healer" Benny Hinn's healing sessions. After being touched by Hinn, Holyfield claimed he felt a "warm feeling" go through his body and afterwards proclaimed he was "healed" of his heart ailment and was ready to resume his boxing career. Holyfield initially failed to get medical clearance after a New York cardiologist determined that his heart ailment had not healed sufficiently enough to allow Holyfield to continue boxing in September. However, two months later, the Mayo Clinic did medically clear Holyfield with a spokesman for the clinic stating that Holyfield was in "excellent health." As the Nevada Athletic Commission had medically suspended Holyfield's boxing license, the five-person committee would have to vote to reinstate Holyfield and in February 1995 the commission would vote 4–1 to lift Holyfield's ban. The following month, Holyfield would announce his comeback bout would be against former WBO heavyweight champion Ray Mercer.
The fight
In a hard-fought affair, Holyfield rebounded from a deep cut over his right eye to earn a unanimous decision victory.
“Evander Holyfield vs. Ray Mercer” enters the record as boxing match. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Evander, Holyfield and Mercer can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Evander Holyfield vs. Ray Mercer” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Evander, Holyfield and Mercer provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q96377486. The first chronological checks are 1995.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Evander Holyfield vs. Ray Mercer”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Evander Holyfield vs. Ray Mercer primary sources, Evander Holyfield vs. Ray Mercer archive and Evander research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Evander Holyfield vs. Ray Mercer”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Evander Holyfield vs. Ray Mercer” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.