Holyfield eyes total title before retiring
Jack Welsh
"Old soldiers never die, they simply fade away," is an appropriate adage for history books, but Evander Holyfield doesn't buy it for himself.
At 38, Holyfield vows this is absolutely his last year in the ring. Yet when it comes to retreating his palatial mansion outside Atlanta, being the only fighter to win a piece of the world heavyweight title four times simply isn't enough.
Evander was in an extremely expansive posture the other afternoon, having jetted to Las Vegas to hype his first venture of the new year which happens to be a WBA heavyweight title rematch with New Englander John Ruiz Mar. 3 in Mandalay Bay's Event Center.
Promoter Don King was there to razzle-dazzle media types with one of his wildest shticks ever, hyping this Showtime pay-per-view 12-rounder as "The Last Word."
The way Holyfield sees it, his last word will be the day he steps off the throne as the undisputed world heavyweight champion, just like he came in KO-ing James "Buster" Douglas in October, 1990. Holyfield is the first to admit the politics and chicanery searing the sport leave him with an awesome mountain to scale.
"Right now I'm talking about three fights for the year starting with Ruiz. This is my job but I'm not in control of who I fight. If I had my way, I'd fight Lennox Lewis for his two (WBC/IBF) titles and that would be it. I'd be gone. Mike Tyson would be a possibility if I didn't get Lewis at all. Nobody seems to know what Tyson is going to do."
Holyfield doesn't resent facing Ruiz back-to-back but there is no doubt in the Real Deal's mind that he deserved the unanimous 12-round decision last Aug. 12 at the Paris Las Vegas hotel-casino.
"Ruiz might have a little more confidence this time, having gone 12 rounds for the first time in a title fight. He did it at the pace I gave him, and I'll be making the pace this time but it won't be the same execution. There's no way this fight will go the distance," said the champion who has had 20 world title bouts since turning pro in 1984.
"When you're in a rematch, it really doesn't matter if you get a fighter who is more confident. You do what you need to keep him apprehensive but some might be more dangerous that way."
Ruiz, 28, out of Chelsea, Ma., with a 36-4, 27 KOs record, gave Holyfield a harder time than expected with his constant crowding and clutching right down to the final bell. Most ringsiders felt the rugged challenger got a double break when referee Richard Steele ruled knockdowns in the10th and 12th rounds were slips.
"Ruiz kept coming in with his head down and flailing away. I noticed on the tape by his leaning in, I let him get a position. I don't lead with my head but with my legs. But I let Ruiz beat me to the position When you're younger you throw more punches. If the other guy missed, you made him pay. Ruiz was very awkward to fight," Holyfield admitted.
Ruiz, who made the trip along with manager Stoney Stone, feels he will present a much stronger challenge in the return.
"I feel I'll be much stronger and smarter this time. At the end, I thought I had won. My nose was bleeding in the late rounds and it was tough affecting my breathing. If I had gotten the decision, I probably would have been fighting Lewis or Tyson. One mistake was leaning in too much with my head and I got caught pretty good in the third round," Ruiz said.
"I felt I won the fight and should have gotten my due. It's my destiny to become heavyweight champion of the world. Evander Holyfield has done so much, he's a legend. It will be a great brawl with two warriors doing their best. There will be a lot of fans coming out to see if the last fight was a fluke or should I have been crowned heavyweight champion?"
Reflecting on a 17-year career that included a great heavyweight trilogy with ex-champ Riddick Bowe and double wins over Tyson, Holyfield also was in a mood to review his achievements outside the ring.
"Two of the biggest pluses for me was taking care of my body and saving my money. I think I have made a great exit for me to leave.The Holyfield Foundation includes a $32 million youth center for children. I also have the Real Deal Record company and Evander Holyfield's Warrior Wear clothes," said the WBA titleholder.
"I'm thankful what I've achieved has made me a better man and I also apply it to my personal life. It also has made me a better father, husband, and a man of God. If you grow up in a tough neighborhood, there are things you have to overcome. I'm accustomed dealing with people, it doesn't bother me."
Holyfield was a 110-pound linebacker playing football at15 for Atlanta's Fulton high school. Within a year, he weighed 139 and at 17, this natural athlete was 147 and also moving fast in amateur boxing where he capped a 160-14,75 KOs record at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, winning a bronze medal after being disqualified in the semi-final round.
"There's nothing I don't like about the sport side of boxing. I love the competition. It's a business. It's a job that you choose to do. Nobody made me box when I was growing up. Like anything else in life there are no shortcuts in this game. Anybody not willing to make the sacrifices it demands, should find another way. I still sleep and dream about boxing. I guess that shows how deep I'm in it," said Holyfield.
It what may be argued the greatest heavyweight trilogy since Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in the '70s was the repeated wars Holyfield and Bowe inflicted on each other in the '90s.
The first -- Nov. 13,1992 at the Thomas & Mack Center -- might have be greatest of all as Holyfield, going to one knee in the11th round, rallied furiously in the 12th but it wasn't enough. Bowe took the title, handing The Real Deal his first defeat. In the rematch Nov. 6, 1993 at Caesars Palace, Holyfield regained the crown on a majority decision in a fight that was interrupted 30 minutes when the infamous motorized hang-glider who almost landed in the ring.
The finale arrived Nov. 4,1995 when neither fighter was champion. Again the venue was Caesars Palace. Though recovering from a virus, Evander dropped Riddick in the sixth round with a left hook but didn't have the strength to finish him. Bowe rebounded in the eighth round to hand his gallant adversary his first loss inside the distance with an eighth round TKO.
What Holyfield remembers most about this brilliant series was it gave him his biggest diappointment in boxing.
"It was a great fight nobody's going to forget but can you imagine how I felt when I heard one of my trainers say later, 'We didn't think you would win it anyway.' It really hurt." |
