Evander Holyfield 'sorry' for gay comments, punching horse - News, Weather, Sports, Toledo, OH

(RNN) - Former heavyweight boxing champion Evander "Real Deal" Holyfield took to Twitter to apologize for offending people with comments he made about homosexuals.

"I am deeply saddened by any offense I may have caused anyone based upon what I said. I am sorry to any person I may have hurt or offended," he tweeted Tuesday.

Holyfield, 51, made the statements on the UK show Celebrity Big Brother, during a conversation with Luissa Zissman, a former star on The Apprentice.

Zissman asked Holyfield if there were any gay boxers. He said yes but there weren't any openly gay, and she responded that it was bad that no one "stands up and says it."

"That ain't normal," he said.

Zissman appeared to realize where things were going, saying "we shouldn't have this conversation." But Holyfield continued.

"The Bible lets you know what's wrong and what's right," he said. "If you were born and your leg was turned [the wrong] way, what do you do? You go to a doctor and get it fixed back right, right?"

Zissman responded that "it's not about being fixed, it's about being the way that you are," before shutting the talk down.

Holyfield caused another stir on the show when he told housemates he had punched a horse once after falling off it. The comments were enough to get him kicked out of the Big Brother house.

Holyfield also wrote Tuesday on Twitter that he was a man of compassion and believed God loves everybody. He added he was glad to be home and "back to the Real Deal life."

"I thought the Big Brother show was about inspiring people; it wasn't that type of show," he tweeted.

Holyfield is the only four-time heavyweight champion in history and finished with a record of 44-10-2, last fighting in 2011. He won the undisputed title Oct. 25, 1990, by defeating Buster Douglas.

His 1996 and 1997 bouts with Mike Tyson were two of the most watched fights ever at the time. Holyfield won both fights, the second by disqualification after Tyson twice bit his ear.

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