Cooper Gives Holyfield Scare : Boxing: A substitute for a substitute, he knocks down heavyweight champion, who stops him in the seventh round.

It was far from the kind of homecoming Evander Holyfield imagined.

The heavyweight champion had to survive the first knockdown of his professional career Saturday at The Omni before stopping journeyman Bert Cooper two seconds from the end of Round 7 to retain his heavyweight title.

Referee Mills Lane stepped between the fighters as Holyfield was landing punches at will. Cooper had absorbed most of the punishment, but not before giving Holyfield the scare of his career.

It happened in the third round. With 1:50 remaining, Cooper landed a hard right hand to Holyfield’s head, toppling the champ into the ropes. Although he didn’t hit the canvas, it was scored a knockdown.

To survive the rest of the round, Holyfield had to call on all his resources. His conditioning enabled him to stand up under continued right hands by Cooper. “I feel I had everything together,” Holyfield said. “My mind was there.”

Cooper’s performance proved to be much more than Holyfield anticipated. A stand-in for a stand-in, filling in on six days’ notice for Francesco Damiani, who was filling in for Mike Tyson, Cooper stood up longer than expected.

At first it looked simple. Holyfield dropped Cooper for an eight count with a left hand to the midsection with 1:35 remaining in the first round.

But Holyfield elected to slug it out with a slugger--and it very nearly cost him the title. The bout was sanctioned by two of the three major bodies, the World Boxing Assn. and the International Boxing Federation.

Holyfield’s comeuppance came after he received a rousing welcome as the Omni crowd of about 12,000 got to its feet and greeted him with the tomahawk chop and war chant of Atlanta Braves’ fans. Holyfield smiled, looking confident.

By the fourth round, Cooper simply was wearing down as Holyfield repeatedly landed right uppercuts. The fifth round was marked by a long delay as Holyfield split his right glove and a new one had to be put on.

Late in the seventh, Holyfield was firing punch after punch at Cooper’s head when Lane stopped the fight. Afterward, Lane maintained he had done the proper thing because of the punishment Cooper had received throughout.

“Don’t take nothing from him,” Holyfield said of Cooper’s performance. And no one was.

Saturday’s outcome still leaves in doubt whether Holyfield can live up to his nickname, “The Real Deal.” He may be 27-0, but his title victory and two defenses have all been dubious: a one-punch knockout of Buster Douglas, a lopsided victory over 42-year-old George Foreman and, Saturday, a victory over Cooper, an eight-time loser.

Holyfield’s future appears on hold pending Tyson’s trial on a rape charge. The trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 27 in Indianapolis. An official of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, where Holyfield-Tyson was to have taken place Nov. 8 before Tyson’s rib cage injury, said in Atlanta that if there is a two-month postponement of the Tyson trial, a rescheduling of Holyfield-Tyson would be possible in March. If the trial proceeds as scheduled and Tyson is found not guilty, Holyfield-Tyson is possible by late spring or early summer.

Holyfield got his wish to perform before his hometown fans for the first time in five years. He also wanted to salvage some money--and did, about $7 million--for all his training.

Damiani was hand-picked to substitute for Tyson, but when Damiani pulled out because of a sprained ankle Sunday, Holyfield’s camp turned to Cooper, 26-8.

But in the wake of what was almost a shocking upset, the suspicion was strong that if Holyfield was to fight Tyson the way he did Cooper, Holyfield surely would be former champion.