Warrior Should Listen To His Heart

Listen carefully and you already can hear the signs. Words are slightly slurred. There is a rheumy quality to his speech.

Evander Holyfield doesn’t run in the ring. He is a warrior. He is an artful counterpuncher, which means he takes a good punch to give an even better one. He willingly takes his punishment, but that punishment has taken its toll.

Outside the ring he is the most gentle man in this nastiest of sports. Inside the ring he is all heart and no quit.

But listen to him now and you can hear the inevitable damage his warrior’s heart had done. He has fought two terribly fierce fights with Riddick Bowe. He has retired and returned. They all return, even Muhammad Ali, because they miss the rush of the ring.

Listen to Holyfield now and you wish he wouldn’t climb into the ring tonight to fight Mike Tyson for the heavyweight championship.

Five years ago, when they originally were scheduled to fight, this night could have been something special. Holyfield would have hit Tyson. He might even have been able to tie up Tyson, frustrate him and counterpunch him.

Maybe Tyson would have gotten sloppy. Maybe the same carelessness that cost him against Buster Douglas would have cost him against Holyfield.

But that was five years ago. That was before the two brutal Bowe fights. Now Holyfield has taken too many punches. He quit once because of a heart condition. Now, you don’t worry about his heart, but his head.

Tyson fights Holyfield tonight and, sadly, this is the best the heavyweight division has to offer.

Bowe has blown up like a balloon at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. His last fight, with Andrew Golota, belonged on a vaudeville stage. George Foreman and Larry Holmes are on some kind of sad seniors’ tour. Michael Moorer, Oliver McCall and Lennox Lewis are imposters. Axel Schulz is a journeyman.

The division is a shelf full of tomato cans. It is so bad, there is hope Roy Jones Jr. will try to grow into a heavyweight.

Little Roy Jones Jr., the heavyweight game’s savior?

We’ve been the victims of too many mismatches: Tyson vs. Peter McNeeley, Buster Mathis Jr., Frank Bruno and Bruce Seldon. These were fights that made millions and lasted seconds. McNeeley, Bruno and Seldon weren’t knocked out. They passed out, practically fainting at the sight of Tyson’s evil stare.

Tonight’s fight is symptomatic of what is wrong with the game. Boxing’s best fighters play this silly game of avoidance, a muscled musical chairs.

By the time Bowe fights Tyson, he’ll be more prepared for the sumo-wrestling circuit. By the time Foreman finds another meaningful bout, he’ll be enjoying the senior citizen’s discount at the neighborhood buffet.

In every other sport, the best test themselves against the best. Not boxing.

Imagine Pete Sampras keeping his No. 1 tennis ranking while refusing to play Thomas Muster. Or Tom Lehman only playing in golf tournaments that Tiger Woods didn’t enter.

Of course, there will be that brief exciting moment tonight when the fighters climb into the ring at the MGM Grand. We’ll try to fool ourselves into thinking Holyfield can win. He has a puncher’s chance. He can get lucky.

We’ll remind ourselves that, unlike the previous four fighters in Tyson’s comeback from the big house, Holyfield won’t be scared. He won’t crumple at the first left to the rib cage.

We’ll tell ourselves that Tyson hasn’t taken a punch in more than five years. What if he misses one of those vicious uppercuts and Holyfield nails him on the chin with a sharp counter?

But Holyfield never has been hit with a force quite like Tyson’s. He won’t run, but he won’t last.

He will get knocked down and he will pull himself back up - several times. He will take more punishment than he should - again.

Holyfield isn’t as strong as he was in the Bowe fights. He doesn’t react as well as he once did. He will last, maybe, four rounds, before the accumulation of punches will drop him for good. Tyson will stand over him briefly, shrug his familiar what-did-you-expect shrug and collect his $30 million.

And let’s hope Holyfield gets up, walks out of the ring and stays out.