BOXING : Holmes Plots Return Beginning With Tillis

Larry Holmes says he is coming back. Again.

Holmes, the former heavyweight champion who turned 40 in November, will fight a four-round exhibition next Sunday --wearing big gloves and headgear--against James “No Longer Quick” Tillis in Jakarta, Indonesia. While he’s there, he’ll air out the old vocal chords with Kool and the Gang. Then, he expects to go at it for real in late May or early June. The reason is the same one Holmes always gives.

“The money, man,” he said. “No other reason but the money.”

Holmes has said he had a $3-million offer last year to fight Michael Spinks a third time. The offer came from Harold Smith, the convicted embezzler who turned the fight-promotion business upside down, albeit briefly, with loads of Wells Fargo’s money in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Smith is also the promoter of the Jakarta Junket, which features a “real” fight--Tim Witherspoon vs. Ossie Ocasio, a Holmes KO victim in 1979--on top. Once again, Smith is using his beard, Rams cornerback Leroy Irvin, out front.

“Harold’s a good guy,” Holmes said. “He never hurt nobody but himself, and he took good care of all his fighters. He ain’t no worse than any of the others.”

The last time Holmes was in a ring--January, 1988--he was staring up at the overhead lights courtesy of a fourth-round Mike Tyson right hand. Watching Tyson come unglued against Buster Douglas last month, Holmes had an idea: “I can kick Douglas’ butt right now.”

He’s been sparring, he says, five or six rounds a day with Terry Anderson, and weighs “241 or 2 or 3, depending on what I had for lunch.” He doesn’t know who he would come back against, but it really doesn’t matter, as long as the price is right.

“Own a Piece of Boxing History -- the official Tyson-Douglas fight program -- direct from ,” scream the ads of a Newcastle, Calif., firm called Pugilistic Graphics, which adds this warning: LIMIT ONE PER CUSTOMER.

And what is the cost of this attractive little memento? Only $49.95--you read that right--plus $4.95 for shipping and handling. Or, in Japan, 7,482 yen at the current exchange rate. And how many of these gems--2,000 of them were brought back from Tokyo--have been sold since the fight? Precisely 10. In Columbus, Ohio. Douglas’ hometown.

Get ‘em while they’re hot.

Boxing has always made for strange bedfellows. Yesterday’s bitter enemy is today’s bosom buddy. So it should come as no surprise that when Don King’s lawsuit against Douglas, Steve Wynn and the Mirage Hotel and Casino goes to trial, one of King’s star witnesses probably will be Bob Arum. That’s right, King’s promotional archrival, the man he calls “The Snake,” and the “Apostle of Apartheid.”

The reason is simple: Wynn’s expressed purpose for being in the boxing business is to wipe out King, Arum and the rest of the promoters. “The Dinosaurs,” as he calls them. He and his No. 1 henchman, Bob “Redford” Halloran, think they can cut out the middlemen and promote fights themselves. This is much more dangerous to Arum than King, who wants to control only the heavyweight division. It’s better to deal with the devil you can live with than with the devil you can’t.

Arum played coy on whether he will help King’s cause but admitted, “I have no problem with King. I do have a problem with Wynn, because he’s a dirty, no-good double-crosser. If called upon to testify, I will tell the truth, no matter who it hurts.”

Or helps.

George Foreman, whose asking price since he knocked out Gerry Cooney in January has risen from $50,000 to $250,000, headlines the April 3 USA Network show. As usual, there are problems finding an opponent Foreman is willing to fight.

“When Tyson was champ, Foreman was going after 5-foot-10 cruiserweights,” USA’s Rob Correa said. “Now that Buster Douglas is champ, he’ll probably want to move up to 6-foot-4 cruiserweights.”