After Loss to Ruiz, It’s Time for Holyfield to Take Off Gloves

Dear Evander:

I know you don’t want to hear this. I know you won’t pay any attention, but . . .

Give it up.

It’s over. You’ve had a great career. Now, you’ve got nothing to gain and brain cells to lose.

Tex Cobb, who made a career of being a tomato can in the ring, once was asked how long he was going to continue to fight.

“As long as they have the money,” Cobb said, “I’ve got the brain cells.”

Funny line. Sad line.

And for you, Evander Holyfield, at this point, a very apt line.

If you never throw another punch--and here’s hoping you won’t--you will have an honored place in boxing history as the only man to win your sport’s most prestigious title, the heavyweight championship, four times.

I know it’s hard for you to accept that, at 38, you no longer can land the punches you once did, or avoid the punches you once slipped.

You always have smiled at the doubters, then proved them wrong.

As you did when they said you never would be anything more than a cruiserweight.

As you did when they said you never would defeat Riddick Bowe.

As you did when they said you could get seriously hurt if you stepped into the ring against Mike Tyson.

But now you, not the doubters, are not being realistic.

When you fought Lennox Lewis to a draw in 1999, you knew in your heart you had lost. But you told yourself the fight truly had been a draw.

When Lewis defeated you in the rematch, you told yourself you had won, though, if you’ve looked at the tapes honestly, you know that is not true.

And now, after narrowly escaping with a close decision over John Ruiz the first time, then losing the rematch on a decision last Saturday, you cannot bring yourself to admit the judges were correct in giving Ruiz your World Boxing Assn. heavyweight crown.

The old Evander Holyfield walks through Ruiz on his best day in no more than three rounds.

The public isn’t stupid. Interest in Saturday’s fight was minimal. The announced attendance was slightly more than 8,000, with those actually paying full price estimated at several thousand fewer. The pay-per-view total has been estimated at 185,000 to 200,000.

Those around you are concerned that you are beginning to slur your words. They are concerned that you seem more and more a desperate man in the ring, one who resorts to low blows and head butts because you know the weapons that propelled you to greatness no longer are dependable.

The only fight you could sell at this point would be a third bout against Tyson. And that would have nothing to do with boxing. People wouldn’t be buying tickets or PPV to watch an epic battle, but rather something outrageous or tragic. They would be watching to see if you could keep both your ears intact.

Your great career would be reduced to a circus act.

Better you should retire and be remembered as a great champion. Better you should keep untarnished the integrity you have always displayed.

Better you should keep your brain cells.

I’ll concede this much: Continuing to fight won’t detract from all you’ve accomplished. People may look with sadness upon Muhammad Ali as he battles Parkinson’s disease, but that doesn’t diminish their awe at his triumphs.

So it will be with you. No matter how badly you stumble in your final days as a fighter, people won’t forget the four titles, the two huge victories over Tyson, all of your great matches of the 1990s.

Their memories of the great Holyfield fights will remain vivid.

But what about your memory, Evander?

A concerned fan.

NOW, BACK TO REALITY

So far, Holyfield is turning a deaf ear to all appeals like the one above.

“There’s really nothing to think about or consider,” he says. “I will go out on top as champion.”

In response, promoter Don King is trying to put together a third Holyfield-Ruiz fight for Beijing, China, in the fall.

There are other options for Ruiz. King could match him against David Tua, who defeated Ruiz in 19 seconds of the first round when they fought previously.

King also could put Ruiz in against Tyson. Or try to get a fight with Lewis, holder of the other two pieces of the heavyweight crown, in a bid to unify the title.

But Ruiz can’t defeat any of those fighters. And King, with one-third of the heavyweight title under his control, isn’t about to risk losing it.

Why fight in China?

“I want to duplicate what I did in Zaire 27 years ago,” said King, referring to the Ali-George Foreman “Rumble in the Jungle.”

But, King was asked, how successful could Holyfield-Ruiz III be, considering that few Chinese even know who Ruiz is and most don’t have the money to buy expensive seats.

“I can fill up a stadium with 80,000 people to watch this,” King said.

And, sad to say, he probably could.

GAME PLANS

If Oscar De La Hoya defeats Arturo Gatti on March 24, look for De La Hoya to move to 154 pounds and challenge World Boxing Council titleholder Javier Castillejo in June. . . . If Shane Mosley defeats Shannan Taylor tonight, look for Mosley to fight Vernon Forrest, also in June.

HBO is hoping to finally stage the long-discussed Roy Jones-Dariusz Michalczewski light-heavyweight fight this summer in an outdoor venue in New York, most likely the Arthur Ashe Tennis Center.