Ex-champ Holyfield applauds E. Kane's fights

Buffalo Sabres forward Evander Kane might be a former 30-goal scorer, but don’t let the skills fool you. There’s a healthy dose of toughness in there and while he’s not a fighter by trade, Kane certainly knows what he’s doing when he gets in a scrap. His parents named him after boxing champion Evander Holyfield after all.

Tuesday night in a game against the Florida Panthers, he and defenseman Alex Petrovic had a rather spirited back-and-forth. In something that you pretty much never see in the NHL anymore, the two fought each other on three separate occasions in the same game. All three fights ended with the same result – Kane winning.

Here’s a look at Round 3:

Kane’s successful scraps drew praise from the champ himself as Holyfield reached out through Twitter to compliment the Sabres forward on his form.

Kane was gracious in his reply to his namesake.

And here’s what Holyfield was probably talking about. This was an absolutely devastating punch thrown during the third fight.

That punch was as good a reason as any to wonder what Petrovic was thinking in trying to go after Kane a third time. Perhaps it was Kane’s “2-0” taunt after winning second fight that inspired Petrovic to go back at him one more time, but that proved to be a really bad decision. Still, Petrovic kept his feet and didn’t back down after taking that massive blow.

Just some quick advice for other NHL players, though: Watch out for that overhand right and if you’ve already seen it a few times, maybe don’t go back for more.

Though Kane went 3-0 on his fight card, the Sabres lost the game as the Panthers extended their lead on the Atlantic Division with a 7-4 win.

Evander Kane got some props from the boxer he is named after. (USATSI)

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