Evander Holyfield is real deal for children on hospital visit
Boxing legend Evander Holyfield threw some muscle into his charity efforts - when he dropped into Birmingham Children's Hospital to hand out gifts to young patients.
The five-time world heavyweight boxing champion, known as the 'Real Deal', visited the hospital as part of A UK tour to promote his work with charity, The Global Village Champions Foundation.
As part of his visit he took a look around the new £4 million renal unit at the Steelhouse Lane hospital and spoke with patients, parents and staff before continuing on to see the rest of the hospital including the teenage cancer unit.
The 50-year-old from Alabama said it was his first visit to Birmingham. He said: "Visiting here is very important to me. I am from an underprivileged family but I was given an opportunity to be the best that I could be and now I want to give something back,
"This is a great opportunity to speak with young people and help change their future."
Kerry Banner from Bromsgrove is mother of six-year-old Niam who is at the hospital recovering from a kidney transplant having suffered with renal failure from birth.
She said: "It's really nice to see someone as well known as Evander Holyfield come and visit and support the Children's Hospital.
"The nurses and surgeons here do such a wonderful job and they make it such a nice place to be."
Naim added that she was initially scared at meeting the former fighter but built up the courage to talk to him.
During his time in the UK the boxer is also giving a number of dinner talks about his career and charity work which aims to prevent one million people going hungry for one year.
