dignity

Trump to Commemorate 9/11 by Calling Evander Holyfield Fight

Float like a butterfly? Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Say what you will about former president Donald Trump, but the man has always had a sense of occasion. For instance, on the morning of 9/11, after the World Trade Center had collapsed, he soberly (and incorrectly, of course) observed that Trump Tower was now the tallest building in New York.

Twenty years later, as the city he fled marks the anniversary of the worst day in its history, Trump will be taking the day to reflect and consider the momentous changes that — no, of course he won’t be doing that. He’ll be calling an Evander Holyfield fight.

Trump, along with his son Don Jr., will provide commentary as Holyfield — who is incredibly still fighting at the age of 58 — takes on Vitor Belfort at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. (Holyfield is subbing in for Oscar De La Hoya, who has been hospitalized with COVID.) The duo will also provide commentary for the other three fights on Saturday’s ticket.

But they won’t be the main announcers on the $49.99 pay-per-view broadcast, which is promoted by the social-media platform Triller. If you want to hear Trump rant about the time Mike Tyson was mean to him at the Rainbow Room in 1987, you’ll have to opt into the “Gamecast” where he’ll be holding court.

Trump is no novice to the boxing world: He hosted many major fights at his casinos in the 1980s and ’90s. And to be fair to him, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with spending some portion of the day on such a whimsical endeavor, even if it’s something no other former president would dream of. Besides, Trump’s energies are probably better spent narrating a fight than attacking Joe Biden for somehow having failed to prevent 9/11. So maybe this is for the best.

Trump to Commemorate 9/11 by Calling Evander Holyfield Fight