Michael Jordan’s legendary career nearly extended into three sports.
The six-time NBA champion is one of the greatest basketball players ever but also tried his hand at baseball between two separate three-peats during the mid 1990s.
Jordan’s name is synonymous with the sport of basketball after he enjoyed an iconic basketball career spent largely with the Chicago Bulls.
Along with his six NBA rings, Jordan also picked up six Finals MVPs, five NBA MVPs, 14 All-Star selections, 10 All-NBA First Team selections, and 9 All-Defensive First Team selections.
However, his basketball career abruptly ended in 1993 when he retired to spend a season in Minor League Baseball with the Chicago White Sox.
His stint in baseball was short lived though as Jordan returned to the Bulls in March 1995 and led them to another three-peat between 1996-1998.
Interestingly, during that gap between Jordan’s baseball career and his return to basketball, he was remarkably offered the chance to participate in a third sport — boxing.
Dam Duva, a prominent boxing promoter at the time, tabled a serious offer to Jordan in 1994 to having a boxing match between the winner of an upcoming fight between Evander Holyfield and Michael Moorer.
Duva was prepared to pay him a guaranteed $15 million and a further $25 million if he won the fight.
“Michael Jordan fighting for the heavyweight championship would be the most spectacular event in the history of sports,” he said.
“This offer is not a joke. We are 100 percent serious.”
“The offer was, indeed, serious,” Main Events president Kathy Duva said.
Hoyfield would have been a formidable opponent for JordanGetty Jordan was likely satisfied with his six NBA championshipsGetty Images Sport Classic - Getty“Though I don’t think my late husband actually expected Jordan to accept it! But with Jordan’s move to baseball receiving so much attention, it seemed like a pretty easy way to get some much-needed publicity for the Holyfield-Moorer event.”
In order to drum up interest for the Holyfield-Moorerbout, Main Events went so far as to hire a Broadway set designer to rig a podium that would fall apart when Moorer pounded it in mock anger at a press conference.
Holyfield wasn’t in on the joke and his reaction was priceless.
Despite Jordan’s elite mindset and competitive fire, he made the sensible decision to decline the offer.
As soon as he heard of the offer, he hilariously said: “I wouldn’t fight those guys if I had a gun in my hand.”
“There is no doubt that Dan would have gladly paid Michael Jordan $15 million, an enormous sum at the time, if he had been willing to try his hand at boxing,” Mrs. Duva said. “Clearly, Mr. Jordan is much too smart for that!”
It should also be remembered Holyfield and Moorer were in their primes at the time of the offer, too.
Without Jordan, Holyfield and Moorer fought each other not once, but twice in the ’90s.
They went 1-1 in their two-fight series, with Moorer winning the first clash to win the WBA and IBF titles.
Before Holyfield won the rematch to defend his WBA title while claiming IBF belt.
In the end, Jordan returned to the NBA and established himself as the greatest basketball player ever.
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As along with the second three-peat he achieved, with the Bulls he also set a then-record 72 regular season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season, picked up two more MVPs and three more finals MVPs.
Jordan retired for the second time in January 1999.
Before he came back for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Washington Wizards
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