FIGHTING ON

Evander Holyfield is in deep denial.

Or maybe he has taken a class at the Eugenia Williams School of Judging.

Or maybe he simply has taken too many punches to the head.

How else could Holyfield, a deeply religious man who prides himself on telling the truth, look reporters in the eye and tell them that he has not been beaten by Lennox Lewis?

Perhaps because the 37-year-old Holyfield needs some rationale, even in his mind, for continuing his boxing career, which he will do Saturday night when the three-time heavyweight champion takes on John Ruiz at Paris Las Vegas Casino Resort for the vacant World Boxing Assn. heavyweight crown. Holyfield weighed in at 221 pounds Thursday, Ruiz at 224.

Holyfield and Lewis fought to a controversial draw in March 1999 at New York’s Madison Square Garden. With so many feeling so strongly that Lewis had been robbed, an investigation was launched focusing on Williams’ scorecard.

But while there was plenty of suspicion, there was never any proof of wrongdoing.

A rematch was held in November at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Events Center, where Lewis won a unanimous decision.

“I did beat Lennox,” Holyfield insists. “In the first fight, it was obvious that, after they called it even, they felt they needed to correct it and make it right. But they didn’t correct it. They made it worse.”

“I controlled the [second] fight. Walking out of the ring that night, I knew I did good. I knew I did better than the last time we fought. You don’t always see your performance while fighting. But after seeing it later on tape, it was a confirmation that this is what you did, dude.”

And why didn’t any of the judges see it Holyfield’s way?

“For whatever reason, their backs were against the wall,” Holyfield said. “They got to pick a winner, so they said, ‘This is the guy [Lewis] that we are going to go with.’ [It’s] because of what happened the last time, but the decision was not correct.”

While Holyfield refused to entertain the theory that he had lost, he did acknowledge that he had struggled in his two fights against Lewis.

“Lennox is a good fighter, and styles make fights,” Holyfield said. “He has a style that gives me a harder challenge than Mike Tyson, but it is just a style.”

“He can be a very boring, lethargic fighter. His whole thing is, ‘I’m not taking a chance on getting hurt.’ ”

Jim Thomas, Holyfield’s long-time lawyer, advisor and close friend, also maintains that the judges in the second fight were overly conscious of the criticism stemming from the first match.

“I think they gave every close round to Lennox Lewis,” he said. “And there were so many close rounds. I think if you scored the 24 rounds they fought in the two fights, it would come out about even.

“Forget the HBO announcers who did the most biased job of reporting I have ever heard. It was one long infomercial for the house fighter [Lewis has a contract with HBO].”

Holyfield, of course, is doing his own infomercial. Whether he truly believes it or not, he is selling himself as a still viable contender in the heavyweight division. He won’t accept the fact that he is in yet another valley in his up-and-down career. Instead, he sees it as a launching pad to reach yet another peak by becoming boxing’s first four-time heavyweight champion.

“I’m not complaining about what happened against Lewis,” Holyfield said. “You all know how I handle myself. This has allowed me the opportunity to become a four-time champion.”

Holyfield’s optimism has never dimmed, not when they called him a blown-up cruiserweight, not when a heart problem threatened to end his career, not when he entered the ring in 1996 against Tyson as a 25-1 underdog.

“Life is how you handle situations,” Holyfield said. “There are wins and there are setbacks. A setback is nothing more than an opportunity for a comeback.

“People asked me why I was fighting Riddick Bowe again after he beat me. I would have never gotten out of the ghetto if I didn’t take a chance. If you don’t fight, you know you’re not going to win.

“The one thing you can count on with me is that I’m going to do the best I can. That’s why I am a three-time heavyweight champion. I know my destiny. I know I will be a four-time champion.”

Holyfield still laughs about the moment a few years ago when former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier, 20 years after his last big fight against Muhammad Ali, came face to face with Holyfield.

“After seeing me, he told me, ‘I can whup you,’ ” Holyfield said. “I am one of those guys who gives people hope.”

Whether he wins or loses, everybody hopes that Holyfield doesn’t delude himself into staying in the ring too long or expose himself to one punch too many.

Will Thomas be objective enough to see a deterioration in Holyfield’s skills when it inevitably occurs? And when the time comes to deliver that message, will Holyfield listen?

“He would certainly care what I think,” Thomas said. “I watch for it all the time, but I haven’t seen [a loss of reflexes] yet.

“It is certainly the most important thing, but it is not the only thing for Evander. If he can come back and be a champion at age 38 or 39, he would be the biggest sports hero of all time, and would deliver his message of triumph over adversity to all his fans. But nothing is worth getting seriously hurt.”

Ultimately, the credit, or blame, for Holyfield’s continued presence in the ring lies with his mother, Annie.

It was Annie Holyfield whom he most dreaded facing at age 11 after suffering two defeats at the hands of a rival named Cecil Collins.

Holyfield, frustrated at running into an opponent he couldn’t handle, was disqualified in his first match against Collins in his hometown of Atlanta for throwing Collins to the canvas.

In their second meeting, Collins simply whipped Holyfield.

Holyfield was ready to abandon his career as it was just beginning.

“I didn’t raise my son to be no quitter,” Annie told him.

So Evander dragged himself back into the ring for a third match against Collins. This time, Holyfield won.

And, other than a controversial disqualification in the 1984 Olympics, he didn’t lose again for 20 years, until Bowe won a decision over him in 1993.

Now, Holyfield is on another winning streak, having not lost since 1995.

At least that’s what he says.

And, sadly, what he probably believes.

*

HOLYFIELD vs. RUIZ

for WBA heavyweight title, Saturday

Las Vegas