According to an article by the associated press former 4 time boxing heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield is having some serious financial problems. His Atlanta mansion is under foreclosure and he is being taken to court over 2 bad debt - a $500,000 landscaping loan and $6,000 in unpaid child support.

Holyfield’s estate is not your typical foreclosure. It is a 54,000sqft home (located on a highway named for him) and features 109 rooms including 17 bathrooms 3 kitchens, and a bowling alley. A notice was published in the local paper that it will be auctioned “at public outcry to the highest bidder for cash” at courthouse on July 1.

Child Support and Other Lawsuits

There is also the threat of jail if he does not make good on a $6,000 child support payment due to one of the mothers of his nine children. The mothers lawyer is optimistic she will be paid now that his estate is in foreclosure - a 2003 trial uncovered evidence that the boxer had paid a $17,000 electric bill the previous December, largely because of an elaborate light display at the home. Without those kind of expenses looming it would certainly make it easier to pay off other debts.

He is also being sued by a company who loaned him $500,000 to landscape his sprawling estate which he has not made good on.

Squandered Earnings

Money mismanagement seems rampant in boxing. It is estimated Holyfield made hundreds of millions of dollars during his 24-year boxing career. He was part of what at the time was the richest fight in boxing history - a rematch with Mike Tyson in 1997 that reportedly earned him $34 million. Tyson is another fighter who spent most of his vast fortune.

This has forced the 45 year old to continue fighting way past his prime. No matter how much money you make, you still have to live within your means.