Evander Holyfield has said that he never expected to still be fighting at 46.

The Real Deal has lost four of his past eight fights and has been out of the ring since failing in his attempt to take the WBO title away from Sultan Ibragimov in October last year.

However, Holyfield has secured a shot at Nikolay Valuev’s WBA world heavyweight title in Switzerland next month.

Should he triumph, he will become the oldest heavyweight title holder in history but Holyfield insists that he will not stop there as his goal remains to bow out as the undisputed champion.

"I never thought that I would still be fighting at the age of 46. I though that the game would be over a lot sooner, maybe at 34 at the most," the four-time world heavyweight champion said .

"I thought I would have finished in ’99 against Lennox Lewis but I didn’t. The most important thing for me has always been to finish on top.

"I truly believe that after the fight on December 20, I’ll be on my way to doing that. My goal is to be the undisputed champion of the world, not have just one title."