Almost immediately after his victory, there were rumors of the long-awaited unification match between Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis. After the Holyfield–Moorer II fight, Lewis would also pick up the Lineal Heavyweight championship by defeating Shannon Briggs, the man who had dethroned George Foreman to win the title. With both Holyfield and Lewis now holding all of the major titles, the highly anticipated unification bout looked like it might finally take place. Holyfield would make his mandatory defense against Vaughn Bean, defeating him via unanimous decision, while Lewis faced mandatory challenger Željko Mavrović, also winning his fight via unanimous decision. After these victories, the Holyfield–Lewis fight was finally announced.
