BOXING / TIM KAWAKAMI : Holyfield Focused, but on Tyson?

There’s a fight at the end of the tunnel for Evander Holyfield. A big, big, BIG fight way down the tunnel.

Not against Lennox Lewis and not against Riddick Bowe, although those two probably will get their turns. There is only one fight, Holyfield now realizes, that can suitably cap his career.

A fight against Mike Tyson.

Using religious overtones and emphasizing that he is not underplaying the importance of his fight against Michael Moorer tonight, Holyfield, 31, said this week that a force greater, wiser and more powerful than even, say, Don King, is making a Holyfield-Tyson fight inevitable for 1996.

“I think it’s predestined I’m going to end up fighting Tyson,” Holyfield said. “Things just seem to be fitting that way for some reason.”

Here’s how it could work: Holyfield beats Moorer, setting up a heavyweight unification bout against Lennox Lewis, who holds the only major belt that Holyfield does not. He beats Lewis, probably this November, as a set-up to the rematch he feels he owes Bowe. He beats Bowe.

By that time, 1996 will be here, and Tyson, who has said from the Indiana prison where he is serving time for rape that he fully intends to resume his career, should be getting into shape. He will be 30.

“I need to fight all of these fights, then I can get out of boxing,” Holyfield said. “I think I’m in it until I fight Tyson. That’s what I believe.”

Ever since Atlanta landed the Summer Olympic Games for ‘96, Holyfield has said he wanted to end his career in conjunction with his hometown’s big bash. Tyson, meanwhile, is scheduled to be released sometime in 1995.

Some predict a Holyfield-Tyson fight could make more than $100 million.

A deeply religious man, Holyfield said a minister friend had prophesied that Holyfield’s future would take this exact route, telling him there was meaning to a career spent in a sport not usually considered a higher calling.

“I keep asking myself, why do I keep fighting? Well, I prayed about it . . . and it seems God meant for me to be in there until Tyson comes out,” Holyfield said.

“God has got things left for me to do in boxing.”

After stalking one another for years, first when Tyson was champion and then after Tyson had lost to Buster Douglas, Holyfield and Tyson were originally set to fight in November of 1991. Tyson’s rape conviction ended that possibility.

Holyfield has said he probably should have retired right then, that he lost a sense of purpose when Tyson, the dominant fighter of this generation, was removed from his career path.

But Holyfield has remained at the top of the boxing ladder far longer than anyone had ever thought, long enough to bring an eventual ex-convict, ex-champion back into view.

“It’s important for me to fight him when he’s ready, not when he’s just come back,” Holyfield said of Tyson. “What would be the benefit for me to go out there and fight him after coming out, no tune-ups or anything like that?

“I think it’d only cheapen my victory. You beat a man that was in jail for two years, the man hadn’t worked, you only got him because of that.

“Everybody thought he was invincible, he would be it for the next 15 years if he decided to.”

To some observers, Holyfield’s sharp focus on a fight at least two years away is a sign of distraction on the eve of a very dangerous matchup.

“He should only be concerned about one thing--Michael Moorer,” said Lou Duva, who trained Holyfield for most of his career. “And then after that he can be concerned about Lennox Lewis.

“If he’s talking about Tyson, then he’s really screwed up. I mean, how can you look two, three, four fights down the road?”

Another former trainer, Emanuel Steward, scoffed at any Holyfield claim to heavyweight Valhalla.

“His whole claim to fame has basically been off of two fights with one guy,” said Steward, who trained Holyfield for the last Bowe fight and then was let go in a salary dispute.

“(Holyfield was) a good, courageous loser and next time fought a smart fight and won. But I don’t know if he’ll be considered one of the greats because he hasn’t established that, and time is kind of running out.”

Holyfield, however, says he clearly realizes that his two fights against Bowe are the ones that have raised him to a special level.

Holyfield visited Bowe in February at Bowe’s Washington, D.C.-area home--and admits the two chatted about a second rematch.

“I truly believe the reason why Larry Holmes didn’t get the respect he should have gotten is because he was so much better than everybody else,” Holyfield said. “The right person didn’t come along to challenge him to that point. He beat people easily. He beat them with one hand.

“With me, I’m blessed to have a guy like Riddick Bowe, who fought the daylights out of me.

“If I had went on and won 15 matches in a row and never had a tough fight like that, people would have pretty much thought the same thing: Hey, you didn’t fight anybody. It’s good to run into tough customers like Riddick Bowe.

“In the history of boxing, I think great things will be said about what I’ve accomplished.”

Boxing Notes

Riddick Bowe is all but set to fight at the Forum July 15 in the second of a three-fight deal with HBO designed to set him up for another title shot. Hollywood Park remains a possibility, but the viability of the site as a fight arena is questionable. A June 11 bout against Buster Mathis Jr. at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas kicks off the series. The L.A. fight is set to take place in conjunction with the World Cup soccer finals. Bowe will train at Big Bear in May--sharing time in Larry Goossen’s gym with Oscar De La Hoya and Rafael Ruelas as they prepare for their May 27 bouts at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Bowe is picking Evander Holyfield over Michael Moorer tonight. “I don’t think Michael Moorer is that intelligent a fighter,” Bowe said. “He can punch if somebody stays standing in front of him, but I think Evander will be moving. I don’t think Michael Moorer can take a shot and Evander’s strong. He can punch a lot harder than people think. If Michael Moorer’s not careful, Evander can put him out between the fifth and seventh rounds.”

After releasing Emanuel Steward, Holyfield hired veteran trainer Don Turner, who was working with Larry Holmes, to run his corner. Turner is Holyfield’s third trainer in his last four fights. Turner also will serve as the champion’s cut man, taking the place of Ace Murotta, longtime Lou Duva-George Benton cut man. . . . Holyfield has taken great pride in assuming almost total control of his career, distancing himself a bit from the Duva operation, though Dan Duva is still his promoter, and nudging formerly rambunctious co-promoter Hammer into near irrelevance.

A final deal that would bring the long-awaited middleweight showdown between James Toney and Roy Jones to the MGM Grand on Oct. 1 is near completion. Jackie Kallen, Toney’s manager, says the sides have agreed to terms--about $2.5 million for Toney, $2 million for Jones--and the papers should be signed soon. The fight was originally planned last January but was scrapped when Jones apparently decided to bide his time. “I saw Jones’ signature on the contract this time,” Toney said. “So I wonder how he’s going to chicken out this time?”

Calendar

Saturday: Hector Lopez vs. Rod Sequenan, junior-welterweights; Henry Martinez vs. Ruben Sanchez, junior-bantamweights. Olympic Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Monday: International Boxing Federation super-flyweight champion Julio Cesar Borboa vs. Jorge Luis Roman; Carlos Hernandez vs. Narciso Valenzuela, junior-lightweights. Forum, 7:30 p.m.

Thursday: John Armijo vs. Chuck Goossen, junior-welterweights; Rodney Toney vs. Luis Mejia, middleweights. Irvine Marriott, 7:30 p.m.