Holyfield Has Only Dokes to Defeat : Victory Would Put Him on a Collision Course With Tyson

There is no one else.

You can scan the horizon north, south, east and west, and find no one but Evander Holyfield. No one else prominent in the heavyweight division is thought of seriously as a contender to take the heavyweight boxing championship from Mike Tyson.

As Frank Bruno quickly fades from view, attention focuses anew on an athlete who some think can do more than make Tyson break a sweat.

And so he tries again tonight to demonstrate that he hits hard enough to first hurt Tyson, then defeat him. In his third bout as a heavyweight, the unbeaten Holyfield, who has won 16 of his 20 pro fights by knockout, will meet Michael Dokes at Caesars Palace. Dokes, on the comeback trail, has a 37-1-2 record with 23 knockouts.

The bout will be shown, tape-delayed, on Showtime at 10:05 p.m.

Since moving up from the cruiserweight division last summer, Holyfield has bulked up impressively to 210 pounds. That makes him big enough to beat Tyson.

He has also demonstrated that he’s in exceptional shape, exceptional enough to beat Tyson.

And he has shown that he’s athletic enough to beat Tyson.

But does he hit hard enough to hurt Tyson? The guy who beats Tyson has to hurt him, right?

That’s what boxing people will be looking for tonight. If Holyfield can knock out Dokes, it might elevate Tyson-Holyfield from an interesting matchup--which is what it is right now--to a mega-bout.

Critics are quick to point out that Holyfield hasn’t shown enough sock to knock either James Tillis or Pinklon Thomas off his feet. He stopped Tillis in five rounds last July, and Thomas in seven in December.

But the quiet, calm Holyfield sat in his suite here Friday afternoon and indicated that he doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone.

“I’m ready for (Tyson), regardless of the outcome of this fight,” he said. “Any man I can hit, I can hurt. And I can hit Mike Tyson.”

His opponent tonight, Dokes, a former World Boxing Assn. heavyweight champion, is making a comeback after a 33-month layoff, during which he sought rehabilitation from cocaine abuse.

Dokes is 8-0 since returning to boxing in late 1987, and has shown that, at 31, he has retained some of the formidable skills he had when he stopped Mike Weaver in the first round to win the WBA crown in 1982. But none of his comeback opponents have compared to Holyfield.

Of his drug experience, he says: “I’m an addict, a recovering addict. We always want things to happen now. I can’t go that route anymore. I have to take my life day by day and sometimes minute by minute.”

He’ll be on a minute-to-minute schedule tonight, if Holyfield has anything to say about it. Friday, Holyfield sketched how Dokes could become his first heavyweight KO victim.

“For three, four rounds, Dokes tries to show you a lot of hand speed and combinations,” he said. “He tries to get off first, and he likes to take command of a fight in the first round. I’m not going to let him do that. It’s a question of who will wear down first.”

It’s not likely to be Holyfield, who gained more fame at the 1984 Olympics by being disqualified by a Yugoslav referee than had he won a gold medal. He’s the product of a high-tech physical training regimen his management people call “the Omega Project.”

The way Holyfield sees it, when you’re in shape, you’re smarter.

“When you’re in all-around good condition, you think better,” he said.

“When you get tired, no matter what sport, everything slows down on you, including your concentration.”