The Record Behind Road to Holyfield

Vaughn Bean is a heavyweight contender whose success is built on failure.

The International Boxing Federation’s top-ranked challenger will take a 32-1 record into his title bid against Evander Holyfield on Saturday night in the Georgia Dome, but only seven of those 33 opponents had winning records at the time they fought Bean.

In fact, the records of Bean’s opponents, excluding Michael Moorer, at the time they fought him, totaled 152-294-14, according to Fight Fax Inc., a boxing record-keeper based at Sicklerville, N.J.

The losers were led by James Wilder (3-35-1) and James Holly (2-27). The winners Bean beat were Warren Williams (7-4), Maurice Harris (5-4-2), Isaac Brown (11-8), Kevin Parker (5-4-1), Michael Benning (5-3) and Ron McCarthy (7-5-1). Only Williams, Harris and Brown still have winning records.

Quality opposition aside, Bean, 25, has parlayed promoter Butch Lewis’ formula into two title shots. That formula, said Lewis, “is just keep on winning.”

He failed in a bid for the IBF title when he lost to Moorer on a majority decision March 29, 1997. He then stopped his next four opponents and earned a mandatory challenge to Holyfield as the IBF’s No. 1 contender. The World Boxing Assn. title also will be at stake.

Holyfield, who weighed in officially Thursday at 217 pounds, retained the WBA title and won the IBF title by stopping Moorer in the eighth round in his last fight Nov. 8. Bean weighed 231 pounds.

As for the lack of quality opponents, Bean said, “I just do my job and leave the rest of it to Butch.”

Lewis said that the need to keep winning to get title shots and lucrative television matches has had a lot to do with Bean’s opposition.

“One of the reasons young boxers can’t fight the big guys in the division is that when I call the promoters and tell them I’ve got a young kid with a 20-0 record, they said, ‘Butch, are you crazy? I’ve got everything to lose and nothing to gain by fighting your kid,’ ” Lewis said.

Lewis also noted that some of Bean’s opponents fought well against established fighters and that in matching Bean he tried to find men of varying styles.

Although he lost to the left-handed Moore, Bean feels the fight was a step in the right direction.

“I learned a lot in the Moorer fight for this fight,” Bean said. “I could have thrown more punches. It’s important to be busy, to keep your hands moving.”

In Holyfield, Bean will be facing a very busy fighter, a man who likes to take the battle to an opponent. Bean has 25 knockouts, the same as Holyfield (35-3), but Holyfield’s have been against better opposition.

One who thinks Bean has improved since losing to Moorer is one of Bean’s trainers, former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier.

“I see a whole lot of difference in Bean,” Frazier said. “He is doing the things that we want him to do. He is paying attention real well. He is getting shots off. His speed has improved. This guy has a lot of power.”

It would appear, however, that Bean’s best chance is to outbox Holyfield. The champion thinks awkwardness and good lateral movement are Bean’s biggest assets.

More than 26,000 tickets have been sold for Holyfield’s first fight in his hometown since he stopped Bert Cooper in the seventh round of a championship defense Nov. 23, 1991, in the Omni. The Georgia Dome is set up for a crowd of 42,000 for the fight.

The main event will come after a 12-round middleweight bout between Robert Allen of Atlanta and Abdul Ramadan of Canada.

The Allen-Ramadan match is billed as being for the interim IBF middleweight title. Champion Bernard Hopkins will be unable to fight for some time because of a badly sprained ankle suffered when he was inadvertently pushed out the ring by referee Mills Lane in the fourth round of his title defense against Robert Allen on Aug. 28. The bout was declared no contest. When Hopkins fights again, he will be required to defend against the Allen-Ramadan winner.

Also on the 13-bout card will be a World Boxing Organization bantamweight title defense by Jorge Eliecer Julio of Colombia against Adonis Cruz of Nicaragua.