Clash of the titans
Real Deal meets New Deal in showdown at the Garden
Posted: Friday March 12, 1999 07:14 PM
By Richard
Hoffer
 A guy could have gone broke betting against Evander Holyfield. Even now, though
Holyfield is 36 and coming off a desultory title defense against Vaughn Bean, no
responsible tout will advise wagering against the man who toppled Mike Tyson
twice.
 | Tale of
the Tape |  |
Evander
Holyfield |
|
Lennox
Lewis |
36
215
6-2
77
43
45
16
12
22
13
19
7 1/2
12
|
Age
Weight
Height
Reach
Chest (normal)
Chest (expanded)
Biceps
Forearm
Thigh
Calf
Neck
Wrist
Fist
|
33
246
6-5
84
44
46
17
15
26
18
18 1/2
8
12
|
|
|
Still, this Saturday's heavyweight title fight between Holyfield and 33-year-old
Lennox Lewis at Madison Square Garden might conform to the oldest of boxing's
adages, the good big man beating the good little man. In what could be the only
meaningful heavyweight fight for several years to come, the leverage that WBC
champion Lewis produces from his 6'5", 245-pound frame should nullify
Holyfield's fierce determination. The shorter (by 21Ú2 inches) and lighter
(by 25 pounds) WBA and IBF champ will get eaten up by Lewis's long jab as he
tries to make up distance. Given Holyfield's inclination to come in on his
opponent at all costs, it could get
ugly.
Holyfield's recent inconsistency is as troubling to his chances as the size
difference. His stirring victories over Tyson in '96 and Michael Moorer in '97
to win the WBA and IBF titles, respectively, were followed by a lackluster
decision over Bean last year. You don't like to write off a guy who retired with
what was thought to be a hole in his heart and then returned to regain two
belts, but Holyfield's manic conditioning can take him only so
far.
Lewis is no model of consistency himself. (You can't even pin a nationality on
this guy: He was born in England of Jamaican heritage and won a 1988 Olympic
gold for Canada.) Maybe if his only loss hadn't been to Oliver McCall -- a
1994 upset engineered by trainer Emanuel Steward, who's now in Lewis's
corner -- he would be more appreciated. Maybe if any of his three subsequent
title fights, including his rematch with McCall for the WBC belt three years
later, had unfolded in a conventional way, he would have built more of a
following. But while Holyfield has been paired with such attractive and game
foes as George Foreman, Riddick Bowe and Moorer, Lewis has been saddled with one
head case after another. In his rematch with McCall, his dazed opponent
dissolved into tears in the ring. In another bout, challenger Henry Akinwande
hugged his way to a disqualification. Andrew Golota simply froze in the ring,
allowing a puzzled Lewis to level him in the first
round.
Now, finally, Lewis has a proven opponent and a chance to participate in a good
heavyweight title bout (no oxymoron this time), maybe even a spectacular one.
Lewis is bigger, stronger and fresher than Holyfield, and if he's not the
warrior Holyfield is, he's at least a younger one. So we figure Lewis in eight.
But bet it light. Issue date: March 15, 1999
|
