Holyfield-Lewis Bout Is Still on Drawing Board

The deadline to set up Holyfield-Lewis II came and went Friday.

No contracts. No signatures.

No problem, according to HBO Vice President Lou DiBella, whose cable network will carry the pay-per-view heavyweight unification bout.

“The deadline was an artificial one set by Panos [Eliades, Lennox Lewis’ promoter],” DiBella said. “We are almost done with the details for the fight, and I hear Panos is close to working his end out.”

The biggest detail bothering Eliades is the $1.9 million owed to him by Don King, Evander Holyfield’s promoter. While that money has yet to be paid, it appears that King and Eliades have come up with a compromise.

Unless unexpected obstacles pop up, expect an announcement within a week that Holyfield and Lewis, who fought to a controversial draw in March in New York’s Madison Square Garden, will step back into the ring on Nov. 13 in Las Vegas, at either the Thomas & Mack Center or the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

HBO will guarantee Lewis’ $15-million purse and King will do the same for Holyfield, who will also receive $15 million.

TYSON UPDATE

The endless search for a suitable opponent for Mike Tyson--ideally someone with a name, but not much game--seems to have centered on Orlin Norris.

He’s not much of a name, but given the restrictions on the opponent’s talent that Tyson’s handlers are operating under, the 33-year-old Norris (50-5, 26 knockouts), a former World Boxing Assn. cruiserweight champion, has become the front-runner for Tyson’s next fight, to be held either Oct. 16 or Oct. 23 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The first choice to face Tyson, the former two-time heavyweight champion, had been Buster Douglas, the first man to beat Tyson.

Douglas had ballooned to about 400 pounds and nearly died from the effects of diabetes several years ago. That made people realize he was in bad shape.

Then it was announced earlier this month that Douglas wasn’t fit to fight Tyson. That made people realize Douglas was in really bad shape.

Tyson is expected to get about $10 million for his next fight, Norris about $700,000 and the chance to gain instant credibility.

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK

It’s a good thing Bobby Goldwater wears a hard hat. Because Oscar De La Hoya dropped the equivalent of a load on bricks on him recently when the 147-pound champion casually mentioned he might take a year off after he defends his World Boxing Council welterweight title Sept. 18 against International Boxing Federation welterweight champion Felix Trinidad at Mandalay Bay.

Goldwater is the general manager of the Staples Center, rapidly rising in downtown L.A. and scheduled to open in mid-October. Goldwater is constantly inspecting his new place of business. That’s why he wears the hard hat.

Having come from New York, where he spent 24 years serving in various capacities at Madison Square Garden, Goldwater is an unabashed fan of boxing.

That’s why he is so interested in De La Hoya. Although no contracts have been signed, Goldwater is hoping to match De La Hoya against WBC super-welterweight champion Javier Castillejo in De La Hoya’s expected debut at 154 pounds on Dec. 11 at the Staples Center.

Bob Arum, De Le Hoya’s promoter, laughed off De La Hoya’s off-the-wall comment about an extended vacation.

“He was just being Oscar,” Arum said.

Indeed, De La Hoya has made other wild statements--that he was going to dump Arum or was going to take a break from boxing to film a movie--only to backtrack on those remarks.

For a De La Hoya-Castillejo fight to take place in December, De La Hoya must first beat Trinidad. And De La Hoya must also escape relatively unscathed from what figures to be his toughest fight. If De La Hoya has a rough time against Trinidad, if his left eye, which has been badly bruised in past fights, were to again sustain damage, he might not be ready for a December date.

Goldwater would love to kick off Staples Center boxing with L.A.’s biggest drawing card. But whether or not De La Hoya fights in December, look for boxing to have a spot in L.A.’s newest showplace. And not the kind of spot it has had in the Great Western Forum, where boxing one step above club fighting has been regularly scheduled.

“I don’t want the Staples Center to be just another stop on the tour, whether it’s boxing or tennis,” Goldwater said. “We want to stage big events. Our intention is to be a high-profile venue. We are interested in quality, not quantity. I would like to stage three or four big boxing shows a year. We will be on the radar screen for big events.”

Should there be, for example, a De La Hoya-Trinidad II, does Goldwater think the Staples Center could bid against the Las Vegas casinos for that fight?

“Absolutely.”

QUICK JABS

Featherweight Agapito Sanchez (28-7-1, 17 knockouts) will face Marcos Badillo (16-8, five knockouts) in the main event Monday night at the Forum. In the semi-main, bantamweight Rafael Marquez (17-1, 16 knockouts) will battle Adrian Ochoa (27-13-4, 14 knockouts), a former Argentine champion. First bell is at 7:15. . . . Shane Mosley’s jump from 135 to 147 pounds, a leap some think is too much too soon, will land him at the Pechanga Entertainment Center in Temecula, Calif., on Sept 25, where he’ll take on welterweight contender Wilfredo Rivera. If De La Hoya really moves to 154 pounds, and Ike Quartey follows him, Mosley might have the 147-pound division to himself if he shows he can effectively handle the additional weight. . . . Will it finally happen? The fight for the vacant WBC super-lightweight title between Kostya Tszyu and Miguel Angel Gonzalez, postponed three times, is scheduled for tonight at the Miccosukee Indian Gaming casino in Miami.