Columnist Dean Juipe: Holyfield-Lewis: Does size matter?

Dean Juipe

Thursday, March 11, 1999 | 10:27 a.m.

Dean Juipe's boxing notebook appears Thursday. His sports column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at 259-4084 or juipe@ lasvegassun.com

It's as if everyone who believes Lennox Lewis will defeat Evander Holyfield Saturday at New York's Madison Square Garden cites Riddick Bowe as the reason why.

The argument goes like this: Holyfield, at 6-foot-2 and about 218 pounds, had a difficult time in three fights with the 6-foot-5, 235-pound Bowe. Hence, Holyfield is apt to struggle with the 6-foot-5, 250-pound Lewis.

What that presumption fails to take into account is that Holyfield has fought and handled a number of big men, including George Foreman and Buster Douglas.

The fact that he lost two of his three fights to Bowe may be nothing more than a testament to Bowe's abilities, rather than a reflection of Holyfield's inabilities.

"I fought them all and did my very best," Holyfield said of his 39-fight professional career, which has seen him lose only to Bowe and Michael Moorer. "Whatever Lewis has to offer, I have more."

The interesting fight, which will have the unified heavyweight championship on the line, is available on pay-per-view (at $50) and can also be seen on closed-circuit in 24 Las Vegas casinos (at $45 and $50). Promoter Don King is predicting 2 million pay-per-view buys, which would exceed the 1.9 million record established by Holyfield's second fight with Mike Tyson.

As for the size differential between the contestants, it could be a significant issue or nothing at all.

"All through history, size hasn't meant that much in heavyweight boxing," said Holyfield's trainer, Don Turner. "Bowe is the only big man Evander has had a problem with."

Conversely, Lewis' trainer, Emanuel Steward, sees it a little different.

"Boxing toe-to-toe, Lewis has tremendous punching power and natural strength that Holyfield has never seen before," Steward said. "I predict an early- round knockout. The ease with which Lewis handles Holyfield is going to be the biggest surprise.

"I always said that Mike Tyson was made for Evander Holyfield, and now I say Holyfield was made for Lennox Lewis. This is the worst fight in the world for Holyfield."

On the grounds that Steward is bitter toward Holyfield because he once worked for him, Turner says everything that Steward has said in recent weeks should be discarded. The trainers, it seems, have their own little battle brewing.

"I know the real Emanuel Steward," Turner said. "He gets jealous. He's egotistical. He wants everyone to think he's the man.

"He's just jealous of Holyfield. Fine. When Holyfield knocks his guy out, I got nothing to do with it."

Steward does say the pressure is on his current pupil to produce.

"If Lennox doesn't win and win aggressively, he'll never be known as a great fighter or even a good fighter," Steward said. "This is the fight Lewis needs. His whole career is based on this one fight. Everything is on the line."

Lewis, 33, is 34-1 with 27 knockouts and has twice held the WBC heavyweight championship. His lone loss, to Oliver McCall in 1994, cost him that belt but he won it back in the rematch when McCall suffered a meltdown in the ring Feb. 7, 1997 at the Las Vegas Hilton. That fight was stopped and Lewis was declared the winner after the fifth round when McCall was unable to continue.

Since then, Lewis has defeated Henry Akinwande by decision, Andrew Golota by first-round knockout and Shannon Briggs by fifth-round technical knockout.

The latter victory made Lewis the current linear champion, which traces its origins to John L. Sullivan in 1885. The linear champion is the man who beat the man, etc., all the way back to Sullivan. Briggs had defeated Foreman in 1997 for the linear title, but Lewis defeated Briggs last year.

Holyfield, 35, is 36-3 with 25 KOs and has both the WBA and IBF portions of the title. A professional since 1984, Holyfield is a former light heavyweight and cruiserweight world champion who moved into the heavyweight ranks in 1989 and defeated Douglas for the undisputed championship a year later.

Bowe took those titles from him in '92 although Holyfield came back to reclaim the WBA and IBF belts by beating Moorer in a 1997 rematch.

Now he comes up against Lewis, who has added about 10 pounds -- "10 pounds of muscle in his arms," Steward said -- and Holyfield is predicting a third-round knockout.

(At Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Holyfield was a minus 150 betting favorite, while Lewis was a plus 120. The odds are still good for those who feel Holyfield will follow through and win by third-round knockout, as it's 22 to 1 after opening at 30 to 1.)

"I'm not saying he's a bum," Holyfield said. "I'm not saying he's not a hard puncher. But I'm still going to knock him out in three rounds because that's how confident I am in my ability."

Lewis was taken aback by Holyfield's prediction yet he says he's not intimidated.

"Evander's a great boxer and he has always shown true grit, perseverance and warrior-like instincts," Lewis said. "I really respect him as a boxer. But it's time for him to step down.

"He's had his reasons for staying away from me all these years, and they'll be apparent in the fight."

* QUICK HITS: Top Rank has consolidated a couple of cards by moving the fight between Floyd Mayweather and Goyo Vargas to an undercard position on the May 22 show at Mandalay Bay that features Oscar De La Hoya and Oba Carr in the main event. Mayweather and Vargas had been tentative for April 17 but a slight injury to Mayweather's left hand sparked the date change. ... Tickets for that card go on sale March 24 and are priced from $50 to $600. ... The UNLV club boxing team will send three representatives to the Western Regionals this weekend at UCLA. ... Lightweights James Crayton and Juan Prado will headline the next card at The Orleans, March 19. ... IBF cruiserweight champ Arthur Williams of Las Vegas is back in the gym and working lightly, preparing for a possible fight this spring with the 20-3-1 Alexander Gurov. ... Former cruiserweight champ Al Cole, who now fights as a heavyweight, is training in North Las Vegas at the Nevada Partners Gym. He has a tough fight with Kirk Johnson set for March 20 in Taco

ma.

Former world champion Wayne McCullough of Las Vegas said Wednesday he was initially "hurt" when a former trainer, Thell Torrence, filed suit against him Tuesday. Torrence is seeking in excess of $10,000 for an alleged breach of contract, which McCullough will contest. "Thell's burying himself by doing this," McCullough said before working out at Nevada Partners. "My lawyer said not to worry about it and we'll play hardball. I'm not the first fighter to leave him and I won't be the last." He added that his contract actually was with Torrence's mentor, the now retired Eddie Futch. ... Still no site for McCullough's May 8 fight with WBC super bantamweight champ Erik Morales, although contracts are signed and the fight will be in Las Vegas. Just added to that card is a featherweight bout between Kevin Kelley, 49-3-2, and Wilfredo Vasquez, 50-8-3. ... The Tropi cana gets back in boxing with a March 27 card promoted by Forum Boxing of Los Angeles. Heavyweights Ed Mahone and Steve Pennell will be on top. ... Lots of

fights being shopped in Las Vegas these days, including Ivan Robinson vs. Angel Manfredy, perhaps with a Shane Mosley companion fight (April 17); Roy Jones vs. Graciano Rocchigiani; and Miguel Angel Gonzalez vs. Kostya Tszyu. In each instance it appears as if Las Vegas has the right of first refusal.