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HOLYFIELD: FORMER AND POSSIBLY FUTURE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION

By Danny Serratelli, ringside

In a fight billed as a 12-round championship elimination, Evander Holyfield appeared to have eliminated Hasim Rahman from title contention, thus giving himself a legitimate chance at the winner of Mike Tyson vs. Lennox Lewis. Holyfield said if the winner of that bout won't fight him, he will fight the winner of the John Ruiz vs. Kirk Johnson fight for the 3rd belt, the WBC's.

Holyfield, who has never lost a fight in Atlantic City, New Jersey, took control of the fight and led on 2 of 3 judges scorecards when the ringside doctor at 1:40 of the 8th round stopped the fight. He was awarded a technical split decision because of a giant welt on Rahman’s head that referee Tony Orlando ruled was the result of an unintentional head butt in the 7th round.

When the scores were announced 69-64 for Holyfield twice and 67-66 for Rahman, it was no surprise to the crowd of 9,831 at the newly renovated boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Rahman started the fight aggressively, but it appeared that as the fight went on Holyfield was figuring him out and taking control of the fight.

Evander looked rejuvenated during this match, and when Rahman did land his powerful right on a few occasions, Evander always fired back with his own hard combinations. He looked much better than he has in recent fights and may have given many people a newfound respect for the other heavyweight champ John Ruiz. Was Holyfield that much better against Rahman or does Ruiz just have an awkward tricky style that gave Evander some problems? Any way you look at it Evander proved that he is still a contender for the title at age 39. After all of the wars he has been in, he deserves to be next in line.

Now that Holyfield has proved to the world, as he has so many times over the course of his career, that he still has something left in the tank, does he have a legitimate chance to regain the heavyweight championship of the world? It appears that the answer is yes. Most of the young and up and coming heavyweights were ringside to witness if they still would have to contend with Evander in their respective quests for the title.

Jameel McCline, Chris Byrd, Fres Oquendo and WBC champ John Ruiz were all ringside and at times several of them were talking to each other possibly discussing the future of the heavyweight division. Holyfield did his talking with his actions in the ring. Now everyone will just sit back and hope the Tyson-Lewis fight happens, and no one gets disqualified. Holyfield is 2-0 against Tyson and 0-1-1 against Lewis, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say 0-2 against Lewis.

Holyfield however, prides himself on figuring out fighters and exposing them. He won big re matches against both Riddick Bowe and Michael Moorer. Both men had taken his titles, and he wanted them back. He fought much better the second time around with Lewis, so could three times be a charm? It can happen. Holyfield would take the fight as serious as he ever has taken a fight. Lewis would try to do the same, but would go in feeling that he has already beaten him twice.

Evander has been in tough fights since then, and is not any younger. However, as strange as it sounds, that could all work to his advantage. A third Tyson fight would be big, even if it happened 20 years from now, because Holyfield is the only man to defeat Tyson twice and in their last meeting Tyson bit a piece of his ear off.

The feeling here is that if Tyson can keep his composure and fight a smart fight he can score the big KO over Lewis. However it has bee some time since Tyson has been able to fight that kind of fight against a quality opponent. Lewis may be able to keep Tyson at a distance for a while, but not for the entire fight like he did with David Tua. At some point Tyson takes a chance and either scores the KO or gets disqualified.

After the Tyson-Lewis fight and the Ruiz-Johnson fights, Holyfield will be waiting. Rahman said he is not happy with the decision and wants a rematch. Holyfield said he wants the winner of one of the two upcoming title fights. It will be interesting sitting back and seeing what ends up happening.

UNDERCARD RESULTS:

Newark New Jersey's Heavyweight Maurice “Mo” Harris 18-12-2 (9 KOs), kept his reputation as the "Jersey Spoiler" alive in knocking out the previously undefeated Sergei Liakhovich 16-0 (10 KOs) at 1:31 of the 10th round with a left hook to the chin.

NABO Middleweight champ Syd Vanderpool 31-2 (20 KOs) won by a TKO in the 10th over Tyrus Armstead 10-16-3 (4 KOs)

Heavyweight Larry Donald 38-2-2 (23 KOs) defeated James Stanton 17-5 (8 KOs) by way of a 10 round unanimous decision.

Former NABA heavyweight champ Friday “The 13th”” Ahunanya 16-1 (9 KOs) defeated French Heavyweight Josue Blocus 12-0 (11 KOs) by split decision, giving him his first loss. I n the walkout bout Cruiserweight Louis Azille 16-1-2 (14 KOs) scored an impressive KO over former IBA Continental Champion Carlos Bates 30-15 (12 KOs)

NOTABLES IN ATTENDANCE:

Jameel "Big Time" McCline, John "Quiet Man" Ruiz, Fres "The Big O" Oquendo, Chris Byrd, Arturo "Thunder" Gatti, "Super" Zab Judah, David Reid, Omar Sheika, Hercules Kyvalos, Iran “The Blade” Barkley, Mitch “Blood” Green, basketball stars Patrick Ewing and Dikembe Mutumbo, O. J. Simpson (with a good looking blonde and a bodyguard), comedian/actor John Leguizamo, and Donald Trump.

6-01-2002