Tillman-Holyfield: It’s More Than Just a Friendly Meeting

This is definitely no way for old friends and teammates to behave, but for $250,000 split unevenly between them, what the heck.

That’s how Evander Holyfield and Henry Tillman look at their boxing match today at Bally’s Grand Hotel in Reno, where, possibly for the first time ever, teammates from a U.S. Olympic boxing team will fight for a world professional championship.

Holyfield, the light-heavyweight bronze medalist from the 1984 Olympics, is a 5-1 favorite to beat Tillman, the 1984 heavyweight gold medalist. At stake is Holyfield’s World Boxing Assn. junior heavyweight (190 pounds) title.

For all of 1983 and most of 1984, Holyfield and Tillman were a pair. They trained together at the USA Amateur Boxing Federation training camp at Colorado Springs, Colo., traveled to Cuba together and even lived in the same dormitory room at USC during the Olympic Games.

Tillman, who grew up near the corner of Avalon and San Pedro in South-Central Los Angeles and now lives in Diamond Bar, beat Canada’s Willie deWit for the Olympic gold. But in the 30 months since the Olympics, he’s still better known as the man who beat Mike Tyson in the amateurs, a feat he achieved twice during the 1984 Olympic team selection process.

Holyfield, from Atlanta, in one of the Games’ more memorable incidents, was thrown out of the Olympics by a Yugoslav referee for punching New Zealand’s Kevin Barry a split second after a command to break.

One of the first to offer emotional support to the distraught Holyfield, he says today, was Tillman.

After the Olympics, they traveled together on a five-day tour of several U.S. cities, a show of colors by a triumphant U.S. Olympic team.

Yet neither athlete seems even vaguely troubled by the idea of engaging in hand-to-hand combat with a friend for money--$200,000 for Holyfield, $50,000 for Tillman.

“I have no problem with it,” Holyfield said. “This is my job. It’s a title fight. It’s competition. I’m sure Henry feels the same way.”

Tillman agreed: “We’re pros, that’s all. There’s no nasty name-calling or anything. We’re friends now, and hopefully we’ll be friends afterward.”

Holyfield, although he wasn’t one of the Olympic team’s nine gold medalists, was the first Olympian to win a pro title when he defeated Dwight Qawi on a 15-round decision last July. He’s 13-0, with 9 knockouts.

Tillman’s pro career was rolling along unimpeded until he ran into a stubby Philadelphia brawler named Bert Cooper in Atlantic City, N.J., last June. Cooper had Tillman down and badly hurt early and won a 12-round decision. Tillman, campaigning as a cruiserweight, is 14-1, with 10 knockouts.

Holyfield is a clear favorite, by as much as 5-1 this week, odds that drew sneers from the Tillman camp.

“Henry Tillman wouldn’t be a 5-1 underdog against any fighter in the world, including Mike Tyson,” said promoter Dan Duva, whose father, Lou, trains Holyfield.

Bettors backing Holyfield apparently believe Tillman is coming down too far in weight for the fight, which is at 190 pounds. But the muscular, 6-foot 3-inch Tillman said that he has weighed less than 200 pounds for his last eight bouts and that 190 is easy.

“I’m not coming down as far as people think,” he said. “When I beat DeWit in the Olympics, I weighed 194. My walking-around weight between fights is about 200. I’m at 188 right now and I feel good, real strong.”

Said Tillman’s trainer, Mercer Smith: “You (reporters) should be asking yourselves if Holyfield is a legitimate cruiserweight or a blown-up light-heavy.”

Holyfield, a more slender 6-1, says his walking-around weight is 190.

Tillman’s strong suit is good movement and a powerful left jab. A negative is a tendency to turn wild man when he hurts an opponent.

Holyfield is a slugger with polish, a technician who is an extremely effective body puncher when he can catch an opponent. He’s a superb defensive boxer and always under control.

Pat Nappi, both boxers’ coach at the Olympics, sees Holyfield in a pursuer’s role today.

“If Tillman can stay outside, keep away from Evander, and use that jab, he’ll be better off,” Nappi said. “But if Evander gets inside, he can hurt Henry. And Henry has always had trouble on the ropes.”

Lou Duva, who also trains the only other 1984 Olympian to have won a professional title, welterweight Mark Breland, says Holyfield is the consummate professional, a quiet man who takes care of business.

“I had a little run-in with Evander when I first started training him at our camp at Grossinger’s in upstate New York, in 1984,” Duva said.

“His diet was terrible. I came into his room one day and found him eating potato chips, popcorn and Cracker Jack. We had a big fight about that, he blew up, and ran me out of the room. But we made up, and everything is OK now. He’s a great pro, he knows what’s required. No one has ever had to knock on his door to get him up for roadwork, and he’s never been late for a workout.”

Holyfield, who has studied video tapes of several Tillman fights, including the loss to Cooper, says he’ll try to be where he says Tillman doesn’t like to see anyone--in his face.

“Cooper was right in Tillman’s face, and Henry didn’t like it,” Holyfield said. “And Cooper came at him with no defense, and Henry still couldn’t hit him.”

As amateurs, the two sparred frequently, in training before the 1983 Pan-Am Games and before the Olympics.

“They didn’t mean much,” Holyfield said of the sparring sessions. “Nappi would have me spar Virgil Hill (the team’s middleweight) one day, and Henry the next. Henry would spar (super-heavyweight) Tyrell Biggs one day, me the next. And even then, Nappi would assign one guy to be the aggressor, and the other the defender, so it didn’t mean much.

“Anyway, in those days, I never expected to box Henry as a pro. He was bigger, and I figured he’d step up to the heavyweight class as a pro and I figured I’d stay at light-heavy a lot longer than I did.”

Boxing Notes Today’s fight will be televised on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports.” . . . Besides Mercer Smith, Henry Tillman’s most vocal ring-side supporter today will be Jesse Owens’ granddaughter, Gina Hemphill. She carried the Olympic torch on the final lap at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics. Tillman says they will be married this summer. . . . USA Amateur Boxing Federation president Col. Don Hull says no U.S. Olympic teammates have met for a world pro title since World War II, or probably ever. . . . What a difference 30 months makes: As an amateur, Evander Holyfield had epic wars with rival light-heavyweight Rickey Womack of Detroit. In the Olympic box-off, Holyfield had to beat Womack on consecutive days to make the Olympic team. Today, Holyfield is a world champion. Womack is serving a 12- to 25-year sentence at the state prison in Jackson, Mich., for two armed robberies.

The 1984 U.S. Olympic team’s combined pro record is 143-4-4, with 80 knockouts. Besides Holyfield, there were two other non-gold medalists. Silver medalist middleweight Virgil Hill is campaigning as a light-heavyweight in Las Vegas and is 14-0. Non-medalist bantamweight Robert Shannon is a barber in Edmonds, Wash., and is 13-1-2 as a junior featherweight. . . . Lou Duva says the master plan for his heavyweight, Tyrell Biggs, calls for an eventual big money bout with Mike Tyson, who he expects to beat Michael Spinks, and secure the undisputed heavyweight championship. “The ideal setup for us would be for Tyson to beat Spinks, then for Tyrell to also beat Spinks to set up Biggs-Tyson. That would be a huge money fight, a real home run,” Duva said. . . . Flyweight gold medalist Steve McCrory is between managers. After he lost a title fight in Australia to Jeff Fenech and suffered a KO in his next outing, his manager, Emanuel Steward told him to quit. Instead, McCrory is looking for another manager.

Light-welterweight gold medalist Jerry Page is a sophomore at Ohio State. His pro career has been slowed by a series of hand and knee injuries. He’s 2-0. . . . Light-flyweight gold medalist Paul Gonzales of East Los Angeles, also slowed by a hand injury and, more recently, by an auto accident, is 5-0. . . . Middleweight champion Frank Tate is 15-0 as a pro. . . . Duva is growing impatient with Meldrick Taylor, the ’84 featherweight champion. Taylor, 13-0-1 as a lightweight, has weight problems. “Meldrick won’t watch his weight between fights,” Duva said. “He’ll think nothing of eating a big pizza by himself. Then he tries to make weight three days before a fight.” . . . The next meeting of ’84 Olympians could be between Taylor and Olympic lightweight champion Pernell Whitaker, who is 11-0 as a pro lightweight. Both are handled by the Duvas.