Holyfield on boxing match with Romney: ‘I don’t want to get hit’

Three-time heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield is not taking his next match lightly despite the opponent: former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R).

“He’s very knowledgeable, when people are very knowledgeable, you kind of have to worry yourself,” Holyfield said Friday on Fox News’s “Fox and Friends.”

“I don’t want to get hit.”

{mosads}The boxing legend and the former Republican presidential nominee are set to enter the ring next Friday at a fundraising event in Salt Lake City to benefit Charity Vision, a group that provides eye care for impoverished patients in developing countries. 

While Holyfield has defeated the likes of Mike Tyson, George Forman and Buster Douglas, he praised Romney’s hand speed as Fox played video of his training regimen.

“Actually, that’s good! That’s really good,” he said.

Romney gave Fox’s Brian Kilmeade a sneak peek into his preparations for the fight and talked strategy with the politician-turned-pugilist in an interview, which aired in part on Friday.

“His trainer said, ‘You can throw anything you want, Mitt, because there’s no way you’re going to get through. He’s so fast, he will be able to brush aside anything you throw,’ ” Romney said.

“I’ll try and at least touch the guy, but I’m hoping that he will be gentle with me.”

As for Holyfield, the far superior athlete, he said that Romney will just have to have faith.

“He has to trust me now, like I have to trust him when it comes to politics,” he said.