Evander Holyfield

As Evander Holyfield flipped through the pages of a children's book with his daughter in the back of a stretch limo, en route to an appointment with a documentary film maker in Hollywood, the people traveling with the heavyweight champion were earning their pay in crisis management. Did Jack Nicholson, as rumored, have flu, they asked via their cell phones. If so, did he still plan to attend Friday night's Laker game against Seattle?

You won't believe what Mike Tyson's going to do now. The former world heavyweight boxing champion rarely fails to grab attention, whether it be with his powerful brawling style, his stunning fall from sporting grace, his ear biting of Evander Holyfield, the facial tattoo or his appearances in "The Hangover" films. Tyson, 45, now is preparing for some reflection, as defined perhaps only by him. First, he'll enter the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame on Saturday before Wrestlemania XXVIII that night.

Former heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield must pay $19,270 a month in child support for his 7-year-old daughter, a state appeals panel ruled. The panel upheld a Superior Court judge's decision to increase Holyfield's monthly support for his daughter Emani by more than $10,000. Emani, one of the boxer's nine children, lives in the Los Angeles area with her mother, Ia Brown.

Fits me like a pair of handcuffs, this street. Hollywood Boulevard. Sirens in the distance. Marlowe's playground. There is nothing like the counterintuitive gesture to tickle my interest, so here I am checking out a team boxing league, across from one of my favorite Hollywood joints, the Frolic Room, the kind of place cockroaches go to retire. Counterintuitive? Because the sport of boxing is down for the count. Remember the days when everyone knew the name of the heavyweight champion?

Marking time. That is what Evander Holyfield is doing, staying busy until he finally gets his shot at undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, now tentatively slated for June, 1990. At the same time, Holyfield, a gentleman, had been doing his best to convince people that he really wasn't not looking past menial tasks such as beating up heavyweight Alex Stewart Saturday night at the Atlantic City Convention Center. "I'm not taking this fight easy," Holyfield said the other day.

Buster Douglas will defend both his heavyweight championship and his honor here tonight. You wouldn't think the man who beat up Mike Tyson for 10 rounds and then knocked him out would have to answer questions about his heart, his courage and his dedication, but that's the baggage this unlikely champion carries into the ring tonight against Evander Holyfield. And that's not the only excess baggage he'll be toting. He weighed in at 246 pounds Wednesday, far more than the 232-236 most had expected.

Boxing's heavyweight division, previously thought to be dominated by only two men, may have to make room for a third after what transpired Saturday night in Atlantic City's Convention Hall. Alex Stewart, a 13-1 underdog and thought to be a near-setup for Evander Holyfield in his countdown to a bout with champion Mike Tyson, unexpectedly fought with skill, heart and courage. He also fought from the second round on with a deep cut on the outside of his right eye, and that cost him the fight.

Evander Holyfield will risk what is shaping up as boxing's richest fight, his match against Tyson, when he enters the ring against undefeated Alex Stewart tonight. The bout at the Trump Plaza Hotel is a matchup of unbeaten heavyweights, but the word on the boardwalk is that one of them, Stewart, has fought 24 journeymen and is in over his head against Holyfield, perceived as the only credible opponent for Tyson, the undisputed heavyweight champion.

What's another battle to a champion who has survived so many? Every time he laces up the gloves, it seems, Evander Holyfield gets caught in an extraordinary struggle against challengers old and young, big and small, lean and fat. And always, he wins. And always, he takes as much as and sometimes more punishment than his challenger. Yet he wins.

A couple of years ago, they wouldn't have tried to pull off something like this. Just imagine: A 29-year-old heavyweight champion, Evander Holyfield, fighting a paunchy, 42-year-old grandfather, Larry Holmes. But that's what they're going to do outdoors at Caesars Palace tonight, before 15,000 and millions more on pay-per-view television. How could this have come about?

Los Angeles was host to the Summer Olympics 25 years ago. This third part of a 16-day series looks back at Day 3, Monday, July 30, 1984: The big news The U.S. boxing team was out to match the 1952 and 1976 U.S. teams that had each won five Olympic gold medals. Paul Gonzales, a light-flyweight from East L.A., got it off to an impressive start by routing his toughest competition, Korea's Kwang Sun Kim, at the Sports Arena. Though Kim was ranked No. 2 in the world and Gonzales No.

The World Boxing Assn. is reviewing Nikolai Valuev's win over Evander Holyfield by majority decision in a Dec. 20 heavyweight title bout. The organization says in a statement on its website dated Monday that it had ordered a panel of judges to study the video of the fight. The WBA says it "always cares about and respects the fans' and the media's opinion." One judge scored the bout a draw and the others had Valuev winning, 116-112 and 115-114. -- SOCCER Bradley sets camp roster U.S.

Nikolai Valuev probably ended Evander Holyfield's last chance at winning a fifth heavyweight title, narrowly retaining his WBA title by majority decision Saturday night. The 46-year-old American, attempting to become the oldest heavyweight to win a major belt, started the fight by moving around the ring in this city's Hallenstadion to neutralize Valuev's long reach advantage.

MOSCOW -- Evander Holyfield's quest for a fifth heavyweight title ran into a roadblock Saturday: Sultan Ibragimov. Ibragimov kept his World Boxing Organization title with a unanimous decision over Holyfield, who turns 45 next week and was trying to become the second-oldest heavyweight champion. Fighting before a home crowd, Ibragimov improved to 22 wins and one draw with a slick, counter-punching display. Holyfield dropped to 42-9 with two draws.

Evander Holyfield is in the middle of what you'd expect a 44-year-old former world champion boxer to do on a routine weekday around his Atlanta neighborhood. "No. 5 combo with a sweet tea," Holyfield ordered at the McDonald's counter last week. Seconds later, a small crowd gathered, praising Holyfield for his 1996 and 1997 victories over Mike Tyson, and asking for any mementos he could provide. But Holyfield's relaxed diet and basking in past accomplishments are only temporary activities.

Evander Holyfield outworked and outclassed Lou Savarese on Saturday night in El Paso, winning a 10-round unanimous decision to remain undefeated in his latest comeback. Holyfield, the 44-year-old former heavyweight champion, started and ended the fight with a hard left to the head of the 41-year-old Savarese. In between, Holyfield was in control. The judges scored it 98-90, 99-87 and 96-91.

"In my opinion, I was the best that's ever been." Evander Holyfield, four-time heavyweight champion, on his legacy.

Heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield will defend his title against former champion Larry Holmes in June at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, said Holyfield's manager, Shelly Finkel.

Evander Holyfield was suspended indefinitely by New York boxing officials in the wake of his lopsided loss Saturday night to journeyman Larry Donald. Ron Stevens, chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission, told the New York Daily News on Monday that Holyfield was suspended because "to my practiced mind, Holyfield shouldn't be fighting anymore. It's the responsibility of the state athletic commission to save a boxer from himself."

Giving away 56 pounds and several inches, Chris Byrd survived a second-round knockdown and a bigger man's punch to retain his International Boxing Federation heavyweight title Saturday night on a split decision by the narrowest of margins. As crafty a fighter as the heavyweight division has seen recently, Byrd needed all of his skills to come on strong in the later rounds to win a split 12-round decision over Jameel McCline.