Holyfield eager for action

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Oct. 2, 2003 | 10:08 a.m.

Evander Holyfield feels it will be to his advantage if James Toney lives up to his word and fights the former four-time heavyweight world champion in the middle of the ring.

"He says he's willing to have it be an all-out war," Holyfield said of a scheduled 12-round fight Saturday that headlines a pay-per-view card at Mandalay Bay. "But if he sticks to his game plan he'll either get knocked out or he'll have to make some adjustments.

"No one stands in front of me, but he doesn't really move a lot so maybe he will."

Holyfield, 40, is 38-6-2 with 25 knockouts.

Toney, 35, is 66-4-2 with 42 KOs.

Toney insists he'll take the fight to Holyfield and that's fine with the older man.

"He actually thinks he can beat me," Holyfield said. "He actually wants to make a name off of my name. But how many fighters really stand in front of me or come to beat me?

"My boxing skills are superior to his (and) I have the reach. I fight well inside and outside. The question is, can he take what I give him?

"If he fights me the way he says he will, it will be a good fight while it lasts. It will be action-packed. It won't go the distance."

Toney has been the more vociferous of the two in the weeks leading up to the fight, repeatedly saying a fight with an aging ex-champion is just what he needs.

"It doesn't bother me," Holyfield said of Toney's tone and talk. "But I haven't fought anyone that talks as much as he does. Some can back it up and some cannot (and) whatever he says I can't let it bother me."

Holyfield, of course, has heard his boxing obituary delivered before. His series of three fights in 2000 and 2001 with John Ruiz were largely uninspiring, although he bounced back to beat Hasim Rahman last year in a noteworthy bout.

He lost his most recent fight, to Chris Byrd, in December.

"I do not lose," Holyfield said, relying on his own semantics. "I just don't get the decision sometimes. You lose when you quit and I have never quit.

"I have always been able to survive."

Toney has been given a waiver by the International Boxing Federation and is being allowed to retain his cruiserweight title regardless of the outcome of this fight. He says he'll drop back to 190 pounds and defend the IBF title in his next fight.

He's coming off a win against then-champion Vassiliy Jirov in April.

"I'm going to hit him with some meaningful punches," Holyfield said of facing a somewhat smaller man. "I'll put some muscle into it.

"I don't know why he'd want to fight me. Maybe he feels it's time for me to go, but if that's the case he'll be disappointed.

"The best part of my game is that when I find you, I will do something to you. I do not believe in going out and making a fool of myself."

Holyfield has fought professionally since 1984 and has faced every major heavyweight of his generation. Among the fighters he has defeated are Buster Douglas, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Riddick Bowe, Mike Tyson, Michael Moorer and Ruiz.

But Holyfield is a mere 2-3-2 since losing and accepting a draw with Lennox Lewis in 1999.

Toney, who turned pro in 1988, is a former middleweight and super middleweight champion whose career once appeared to be in serious decline. He ate himself out of those divisions and was weighing in at figures such as the 226 pounds he carried into a fight with Big Foot Martin two years ago.

"Whatever he chooses to do, I have the experience and the ability to counteract it," Holyfield said of Toney. "I have enough left to win. If he wants to stand there and fight, it'll make it easier for me."