13.05.07 – By James Slater: For Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield, the comeback rolls on. Seemingly unfazed by the recent allegations of his steroid use and the bad press this has brought him, the forty-four year old marches onwards in his desire to once again rule his division. The next step takes place in Texas, Evander’s new favourite town in which to fight. His last three bouts, all wins, were boxed in The Lone Star State and fight three, against yet another big and brave white heavyweight in fellow veteran Lou Savarese, will follow suit. Big Lou has a good record of 46-6 (38) and is himself engaging in a return to the sport. His latest comeback, begun in January of this year, saw the six foot, five brawler take out Travis Fulton in three, and in his last fight, in March, Lou wiped out Matt Hicks in a single round. Now he faces the legend that is “The Real Deal.”
Savarese, from the state in which he will tangle with Evander, has met some of the greats in his up and down career. Back in 1997, when aged thirty-one and undefeated, Lou met Big George Foreman. A split decision loss was the result, but Savarese performed in an impressive manner. Then, a year later, Lou scored what is arguably his career best win. He scorched the man who gave us “The Biggest Upset In Boxing History,” in James “Buster” Douglas in a single round. Although “Buster” was aged Thirty-eight at the time, and much heavier than he’d been when slaying Mike Tyson in 1990, the win was still a smashing one for big Lou. He had made a name for himself in the Foreman fight, and now he was considered a title threat..
A points win over Lance Whitaker followed, before a decision loss to the next big thing at heavyweight in the unbeaten Michael Grant. Next up for Lou, however, was a huge fight with the come backing Mike Tyson. Fighting for the second time in the U.K, Tyson annihilated Lou in less than forty seconds – in a fight where “Iron Mike” even found the energy to knock down the referee, John Coyle! Savarese complained about what he felt was a premature stoppage, but unfortunately his big chance had come and gone. No-one remembered the fact that he’d finished on his feet, all talk surrounded Tyson. It was a big setback for the tough guy from Texas.
Lou registered four more wins, including a decent fifth round stoppage win over former champ Tim Witherspoon, before being stopped in four by the once beaten Kirk Johnson. Savarese all but disappeared after this loss. A points defeat to the little known Leo Nolan set him back yet again a year later, and since then Lou has only had three fights, all wins; two of which came this year. Now he faces one more legend from the great era of the early ’90’s in Holyfield. Lou managed wins over Douglas and Witherspoon, can he make it three by knocking off Evander?
At six foot, five and with genuine punching power, Lou certainly has to be given a shot at derailing the comeback of the man most wish would just retire. But, say what you will, Holyfield has certainly got some serious momentum going with his three bout win streak. Even knowledgeable experts are now asking themselves if Holyfield can indeed regain at least a portion of the world championship. We all know how bad Evander looked a few years ago, bad enough to have had his licence revoked. It must be conceded that for a man who was banned from boxing due to looking so shot, Evander has done a good job at rehabilitating himself.
He is going about things in a smart way with his latest assault on the world crown. Jeremy Bates was first – a quick and easy KO win, Fres Oquendo followed – a less than spectacular points win over a fringe contender, and then it was the popular Vinny Maddalone’s chance – a three round TKO win for the four-time heavyweight king. Now he meets a fellow veteran in Savarese. Is Evander handpicking his foes? Is the Pope catholic? He sure is, but you can’t blame him. Get people talking, keep winning, and eventually you will inevitably get a shot at one of the four belts. That’s Evander’s current thinking and it seems to be working for him.
Of course, there is always the chance that a “safe” opponent tears up the game-plan. And while Lou is limited, slow a-foot these days and not too hard to hit, he can punch. Let’s face it, Evander can’t go on forever, even when fighting only boxers of his careful choosing. It’s a cliché, but it only takes the one punch to end a fight – particularly among the big men. Lou Savarese obviously thinks he’ll be the man to land it on Holyfield’s jaw. Will he be?
Well, with all due respect to Lou, who, at age forty-one and after having only boxed a paltry six rounds in the last three years, ring rust is almost certainly going to be a factor working against him. Evander looked sharp last time out against the game Maddalone – another fighter who, though limited and well aware of it, wrongly thought he’d pressure “The Real Deal” into defeat.
He may have boxed, and defeated, much better men that Maddalone has done, but nowadays Lou is of a somewhat similar ability to the club fighter from New York, in my opinion. In other words, a fighter Holyfield will look a million dollars against. Look for a similar fight to the one we saw in Corpus Christi in March. The brave Savarese will give it his all, but will
be broken down and stopped while still upright in about three or four rounds.
Evander will take his latest comeback to 4-0 with three KO’s. And in doing so he’ll know the talk will continue with regards to his chances of realising his unlikely dream.