BOXING / TIM KAWAKAMI : Holyfield Has Heart--and That’s About It

Evander Holyfield won’t quit--he has already told his cornermen to get ready for another fight campaign in the near future--but it has never been more clear that he should.

Days after losing an eighth-round knockout to Riddick Bowe last Saturday, Holyfield was talking about fighting the winner of the scheduled Dec. 9 fight between Axel Schulz and Frans Botha for the International Boxing Federation title, saying that his knockdown of Bowe proves that he still can compete with elite heavyweights.

Maybe he can. But with his 33-year-old body breaking down before our eyes and a litany of medical reasons to retire, what’s the point of fighting?

He can’t fight Bowe any more, nobody really wants to see him fight Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis is pursuing other foes, and a fight against almost anybody else in the heavyweight division should be beneath him. But on he goes, chasing . . . what?

Holyfield came back from his first loss to Bowe in 1992, when Lou and Dan Duva asked him to quit, and gained redemption by defeating Bowe a year later.

He came back from his April 1994 defeat at the hands of Michael Moorer--and a brief retirement for what was diagnosed as a congenital heart problem--by defeating Ray Mercer and getting a second rematch with Bowe.

But anyone who saw the pain and exhaustion in his eyes throughout last Saturday’s fight knows that his career as a meaningful heavyweight symbolically ended when he couldn’t even summon the energy to try to finish off a dazed and battered Bowe in the last 100 seconds of the sixth round.

“If he was my fighter, I’d recommend he be very careful picking his next opponents,” Bowe’s respected trainer, Eddie Futch, said about Holyfield. “His wear and tear has begun to show.”

“I think he should do some real soul-searching,” said Lou Duva, Holyfield’s original trainer.

Even if his heart is healthy--which the Mayo Clinic says it is--the years of pounding and the consistent battle to keep his taut and muscled body, which is naturally a better fit for the light-heavyweight division, above 200 pounds have obviously worn him down.

Holyfield has had persistent shoulder problems and has given up much of his sparring in favor of high-tech conditioning and body-sculpting workouts.

In his last six fights, stretching back to the first Bowe fight three years ago, Holyfield is 3-3, with no knockout victories and his first knockout loss. Before that, he was 28-0, with 22 knockouts.

“He’s struggling even in fights he shouldn’t be,” said Emanuel Steward, who trained Holyfield for the first Bowe rematch. “He even struggled physically against Michael Moorer, who didn’t really attack him aggressively.

“From what I can see, he’s just physically not prepared for a hard boxing match. If it was a Stairmaster contest, he would beat anybody. But that’s not what boxing is. In boxing terms, his body is falling apart.”

Steward, who now trains Lewis, says he hopes the frozen image of a listless Holyfield gasping for air and unable to pull the trigger against Bowe rallies opinion to force Holyfield to quit.

“I believe the public is going to demand it, the commissions are going to look into it,” Steward said. “He had a man out on his feet and could not summon strength to hit him. The commissions ought to look at him and see the possibility that we could have fatal injury.”

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Although Bowe rallied to get the victory, his sixth-round crisis has never made him seem more vulnerable, and, at 28, more old.

Rock Newman, Bowe’s manager, and Futch argue that his comeback last Saturday showed true courage under fire. But others, seeing all the hard punches Holyfield landed in the last two fights against the taller, more talented Bowe, disagree.

“He’s been hit quite a bit,” said Steward, who very badly wants to maneuver Lewis, a longtime Bowe antagonist, into a Bowe showdown. “And I was very surprised at the lack of enthusiasm and crispness in his punches now. He’s a much more lethargic fighter now. He looks tired.

“Bowe is going to take off time, and he’s running after Mike Tyson. Realistically, their managers can see they’re all slipping. Any fight could be last fight for Bowe right now.”

Said Lou Duva: “You could also see signs of Riddick Bowe going backward--in the second fight and the third fight. I honestly believe Riddick Bowe isn’t too long for this sport.”

Boxing Notes

Negotiations to land hard-hitting, Hermosa Beach-based, World Boxing Organization junior-welterweight champion Sammy Fuentes for Oscar De La Hoya’s 140-pound debut next February have stalled, and De La Hoya’s handlers are looking to former 140-pound champion Charles Murray as the potential foe. Fuentes, who would be a perfect test before De La Hoya moves to his expected May fight against Julio Cesar Chavez, apparently is asking for a purse equal to the $500,000 Genaro Hernandez received in his knockout loss to De La Hoya last September. De La Hoya fights former 130-pound champion Jesse James Leija at Madison Square Garden Dec. 15.

Next week is highlighted by an HBO showcase of two welterweights heading toward a much-anticipated unification confrontation. Saturday in Atlantic City, N.J., International Boxing Federation champion Felix Trinidad, one of the sport’s hottest young commodities, faces mandatory challenger Larry Barnes, and World Boxing Council champion Pernell Whitaker fights former junior-welterweight champion Jake Rodriguez. Assuming both champions win, and Trinidad is successful in his upcoming legal battle to free himself from Don King’s promotional contract, Whitaker and Trinidad could meet as early as next April.

Though not much has been seen or heard from former WBC super-featherweight champion Azumah Nelson since he lost his title to Leija 18 months ago, he is scheduled to arrive in Palm Springs next week in preparation for his Dec. 1 rematch against Gabriel Ruelas at the Fantasy Springs Casino. Then-champion Nelson took a 12-round decision over Ruelas at Mexico City in 1993. Also on the card: WBO junior-bantamweight champion Johnny Tapia against Willy Salazar, who defeated Tapia rival (and IBF flyweight champion) Danny Romero in a nontitle bout last September when Romero couldn’t continue because of cuts.

A dinner was held in Freeport, Ill., Friday to help defray the costs of the continuing care of Gerald McClellan, who was paralyzed after a brutal fight against Nigel Benn earlier this year and is having trouble meeting his medical bills. Showtime, which televised the bout, donated $25,000. Also, IBF super-middleweight champion Roy Jones Jr., who was looking forward to fighting McClellan before the injury and was deeply affected by it, has raised more than $100,000 for McClellan. . . . Jones’ tentative Jan. 12 fight against Montell Griffin at Madison Square Garden is off. Jones still plans to fight on the HBO date, but no opponent or site has been selected.

Calendar

Wednesday: Gary Ballard vs. Eric Brown, light-heavyweights; Floyd Weaver vs. Felix Castro, junior-middleweights; Warner Center Marriott, 7:30 p.m.

Thursday: Jorge Paez vs. Anthony Johnson, lightweights; Isagani Pumar vs. Jesus Hernandez, junior-lightweights; Grand Olympic Auditorium, 8 p.m.