RSSInsurance Salesman Gets Shot
So how did Jeremy Bates end up becoming Evander Holyfield’s opponent for tonight?
Relative unknown gets a shot at ‘The Real Deal’
Jeremy Bates thought he was done with boxing when he heard that Evander Holyfield was attempting a comeback after 21 months away from the ring. Bates, a 32-year-old Kentucky native, no longer thought of himself as Jeremy “The Beast” Bates, a ready, willing and fairly capable slugger with a solid right hand who could put you on your can if you weren’t careful. He had transformed himself into Jeremy Bates, insurance salesman.
The process was going smoothly, too. In February, his second month at J.W. Potts Insurance in Parkersburg, W. Va., Bates broke the company record for sales. He is, he says, building a base of clients for the long haul.
That was nine weeks ago. A few days after he was told he was on the short list, Bates got another call. He was at work, under an avalanche of paperwork, and Thomas told him he got the fight.
Holyfield, it turns out, had watched tapes of the final five potential foes and something about Bates stood out. He requested that Bates be his opponent.
Bates went to sleep that night, and his cell phone the next morning contained 37 messages.
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