Mind games in the ring

Dean Juipe

Friday, March 2, 2001 | 11:34 a.m.

Who: Evander Holyfield (37-4-1, 25 KOs) vs. John Ruiz (36-4, 27 KOs) in the main event of a Don King-promoted card

Where: Mandalay Bay Events Center

When:Undercard begins at 6 p.m.; Main event schedule between 7:30-8 p.m.

TV: Pay per view

At stake: WBA heavyweight championship

Betting line: Holyfield is a minus 230 favorite, Ruiz is plus 190 at the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino sports book

It was a seminar of sorts and Evander Holyfield was cast in the role of professor.

Willing and able to talk about what runs through the mind of a professional boxer while in the midst of a grueling fight, Holyfield examined the subject while leaning heavily on his own shortcomings in an August match with John Ruiz. From his perspective, it was a textbook example of the mind toying with the body.

Or vice versa.

"I knew I wasn't doing what I really wanted to do," said Holyfield, who is fighting Ruiz in a rematch with the World Boxing Association heavyweight championship at stake Saturday at Mandalay Bay. "I suffered a broken (right) eardrum (that was extenuated by a sinus infection) and I wasn't able to adjust.

"What occurred to me was 'How can I still win this fight, even though I'm not where I want to be?' "

Holyfield did win that fight at Paris Las Vegas, but only by 1, 1 and 4 points on the judges' cards. As a result, the WBA has called for a rematch.

"You get in a situation like that and you ask yourself, 'Why in the world can't I get out of the way of this guy's jab?' " Holyfield said. "I'm not used to getting hit in the face with a flat jab.

"My balance was off and I told myself I'd better back off.

"I kept setting up but I never followed through. I started covering up all the time.

"You know you've got to fight the fight regardless, and no one knows that something's wrong except you."

Back in August, Holyfield had kept quiet about the broken eardrum, which actually occurred nine days prior to the fight. But he has made a good deal of it lately and says it explains his woeful performance that night.

"You embarrass yourself," he said of the problems that resulted from the broken eardrum, including a loss of balance and an inability to quickly react. "I couldn't get myself to do what I wanted to do.

"I was sluggish the whole fight."

It was a case of one bad thing leading to another.

"Frustration sets in and you want to quit," he said. "I'm not feeling good at what's going on, so I just try to hit him with big shots.

"Then I find myself waiting all the time and not being able to get off."

As if he were on his career deathbed, Holyfield's past flashed before him.

"You wonder if you're fooling yourself or not by even being out there," he said. "You tell yourself, 'If I can't fight no better than that, I really need to sit down.' "

Contemplating retirement was nothing new for Holyfield, who is 38 years old. But to do it in the middle of a championship fight alarmed him.

"I didn't want to quit," he said. "If you quit, your kids will feel the pain. I didn't want them to go through that ridicule.

"But I felt like quitting."

It wasn't the first time the thought had crossed his mind.

"Against (Dwight) Qawi (in a 1987 light heavyweight fight) it was the fourth round of a 15-round fight and I'd never been past eight rounds," Holyfield said. "I was tired and I didn't see how I was going to do it.

"I prayed out of it."

A fight with Bobby Czyz nine years later saw Holyfield questioning himself again, yet this time the outcome took him by surprise.

"I wanted to quit but he quit before I did," Holyfield said, a big smile enveloping his face at the recollection of a fight that ended in the fifth round.

The notion of quitting also crossed his mind during his first of two fights with Lennox Lewis, then returned during the Ruiz bout.

Yet here's Holyfield still slugging away, a veteran of what is soon to be 21 world title fights. Name any of the major heavyweights of the past decade and Holyfield has fought them all at least once, including Lewis, Buster Douglas, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Riddick Bowe, Michael Moorer and Mike Tyson.

He's 37-4-1 with 25 knockouts and some $225 million in collective purses.

He's also a minus 230 favorite in the Mandalay Bay sports book to defeat Ruiz in a pay-per-view fight that tops a Don King-promoted card. Ruiz is a plus 190 with the bettors.

"I've got an opportunity to redeem myself," Holyfield said. "I plan to knock him out."

Ruiz, 29, is 36-4 with 27 KOs.

"You'll see," Holyfield said. "This time he probably won't even hit me with those jabs. He'll wonder what happened."

Ruiz dismisses Holyfield's claims and accused him of making excuses concerning their first fight. He sees Holyfield being defensive, mentally, with his career winding down.

"Whatever gets you ready," Ruiz said of Holyfield's comments. "I guess what he's doing works for him."

Holyfield said he would be night-and-day different this time around.

"I am about technique and fighting smart and throwing combinations, which I will be doing in this fight," he said. "I'm not going to sit back and look to unload and let him lead like I did the last time.

"I expect to hurt him with bombs, but I'm not going to force the issue.

"But I do know the Evander Holyfield era is not over."