Angelo Dundee

Larry Holmes won, but there were few cheers. Even in victory, Holmes couldn't win. Nineteen years ago tonight, on a Caesars Palace parking lot, Holmes essentially closed the curtain on Muhammad Ali's spectacular career, as riveting a career as that of any athlete this century. Ali, 38, coming back after a two-year retirement, was beaten badly by Holmes. After the 10th round, Ali sat, as helpless on his stool as he was against Holmes' superior speed.

What: The Purina Incredible Dogs 1999 Calendar; 1999 Boxing Calendar. Price: For dog calendar--a donation to Tony La Russa's Animal Rescue Foundation, 1-800-567-1ARF; for boxing calendar--$16.95. There are probably many other glossier sports-related 1999 calendars floating around, eager to be pinned to the walls in January or when the last Mark McGwire commercial is aired, whichever comes last.

George Foreman suddenly quit his pursuit of Alex Stewart during the fourth round Saturday night, put his hands to his sides, and glared at a man sitting in the second row. . . . "Bill, be quiet!" Foreman admonished his publicist, Bill Caplan, who had been urging him to throw more left jabs. "You're telling the other guy what I'm going to do.". . . . Stewart quickly got Foreman's attention back by landing a punch to his unprotected face. . . .

John Bray, a former national amateur heavyweight boxing champion, was arrested here Friday on suspicion of possessing a seven-pound bag of marijuana, Los Angeles police said. Bray, 24, was taken into custody around 4:30 p.m. outside a gas station at Winnetka Avenue and Ventura Boulevard, where he allegedly had confessed to firing a gun in the parking lot of a nearby hotel just moments earlier, Officer Carole Hughes said.

For the 30th consecutive time, a beaten, bloodied Mike Tyson opponent was led away, to quiet privacy, with friends. Pinklon Thomas' destination Saturday night was a beige mobile home behind a parking lot grandstand at the Las Vegas Hilton. But his modest entourage of five was held up for a half-minute by the slower progress of Suzanne Somers' much larger and much slower-moving entourage. From high up in the $50 cheap seats, guys leered over the rails and whistled.

Sugar Ray Leonard traded leather with Robert (Boo Boo) Sawyer, a southpaw pretending to be Marvelous Marvin Hagler. You could tell he wasn't because his head wasn't bald. One other thing was apparent: Leonard's frequent smiles and easy banter with a friendly audience ("Looking good, Ray") in the Sugar Ray Leonard gym last week told that he was happy to be back--even though Hagler has vowed to change that mood April 6, saying with a scowl, "There's no friends in that ring."

Two 6-foot-5 heavyweights with condor-like wingspans will meet in a pay-per-view bout tonight at the Thomas & Mack Center for a wedge of boxing's heavyweight championship pie. Both Lennox Lewis and Tony Tucker are identified with single memorable performances, Lewis' last Oct. 31 in London, and Tucker's here six summers ago.

"Ali" opens with a shot of Will Smith as a bundled-up 22-year-old Cassius Clay doing late-night roadwork in preparation for his 1964 heavyweight title fight with Sonny Liston. It's an arresting visual, of a lonely sphinx in sweats, and it tells you a lot about why a film that is as impressive as this one ends up less satisfying than it should.

Shane Mosley did not score a knockout victory over David Estrada, but he did enough encouraging things to make his return to the welterweight division a success Saturday night at Caesars Palace. Showing some of the defensive skills and punching power that made him a three-time world champion, Mosley won a unanimous 10-round decision to highlight ESPN's first pay-per-view boxing card.

At the opening of the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville this week, Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon felt gratitude for the presence of the boxing legend, but wistful for the champion he once knew. "I gave thanks for Muhammad Ali on Thursday," Wilbon wrote. "Despite the shaking brought on by Parkinson's syndrome, he was capable ... of walking the 24,000 square feet of exhibits and displays.