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Holyfield could be getting to Lewis
NEW YORK (AP) -- Perhaps Evander Holyfield's insistence that he will knock out Lennox Lewis in the third round Saturday night is beginning to get to Lewis.Perhaps that was Holyfield's purpose.
"I do look at that as an insult," Lewis said. "For me, he's ging to wake up and apologize."
The 36-year-old Holyfield, WBA-IBF champion, and the 33-year-old Lewis, WBC champion, will fight Saturday night in a soldout Madison Square Garden in what Lewis calls a match "between the two best heavyweights on the planet."
Holyfield was a slight favorite to win the pay-per-view (TVKO) fight. At the Caesars Palace Race & Sports Book in Las Vegas, you had to bet $150 on him to win $120. If you liked Lewis, you bet $100 to win $120.
The odds Wednesday on Holyfield winning by a third-round knockout were 22-1. It was 30-1 Lewis would win by a third-round KO.
"If he is going to say something like that, he'd better try and live up to it," Lewis said Wednesday at the final pre-fight news conference. "I definitely will be there in the third round. It will be something he's said again that he's not going to live up to."
"The third round is my best round," Holyfield said. "My first round and my second round aren't bad either."
Holyfield, a born again Christian, publicly acknowledged in September that five of his nine children were born out of wedlock, and Lewis has called him a hypocrite.
Holyfield, a former cruiserweight champion, won the undisputed title by knocking out James "Buster" Douglas in the third round Oct. 25, 1990. He also wo his rematch with Tyson in three rounds but that's when Tyson was disqualified for biting Holyfield's ears. In 21 fights as a heavyweight, Holyfield's only other win in three rounds or less was a second-round knockout of Adilson Rodrigues July 15, 1989.
Of Lewis' 34 victories, 15 have been in three rounds or less. One of them was a second-round disqualification in 1989.
Lewis, however, has had problems in the early rounds. He was knocked out in the second round by Oliver McCall Sept. 24, 1994, and he was serious trouble in the first round, but then stopped Shannon Briggs in the fifth round last March 28. He also lost three of the first four rounds on two official cards in his seventh-round win over Frank Bruno Oct. 1, 1993.
While Lewis will have to be careful against the aggressive Holyfield in the early rounds, there are those who also question his stamina. He has been as far as 10 rounds twice and he also has gone 12 rounds twice. Holyfield has gone 12 rounds seven times, but he lost two of those fights. He went into 11th round to win the WBA title from Tyson Nov. 9, 1996.
"We're looking for a tough, brutal fight," said Emanuel Steward, who trains the 6-foot-5 Lewis and who trained Holyfield for his one win in three fights against the 6-5 Riddick Bowe.
"After five rounds, it will become a battle of wills," said Don Turner, Holyfield's trainer.
Lewis is expected to weigh-in Thursday at about 245 pounds and outweigh the 6-2 1/2 Holyfield by almost 30 pounds.