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September 1998
Each month we bring you a selection of articles from the current and past issues of BOXING MONTHLY. To buy the magazine, see our subscription or back issues pages, or use our world distribution map to find a news-stand copy. Why not use our Interactive Forum to express your own boxing comments and opinions!
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BEAN THERE, SEEN IT, DONE IT
Holyfield steps down a level for mandatory defence against strangely favoured Vaughn Bean. |
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PREVIOUS hometown defence saw Holyfield come off the floor
to stop sub Bert Cooper in 1991
- Get Big Pic Evander Holyfield's heavyweight title fight with Vaughn Bean on 19 September is an
example of what is wrong with boxing today. It is a fight that means nothing to the casual
fan, who wants to see Holyfield taking on Lennox Lewis. But Holyfield's purse demands and
American TV alliances (Holyfield boxing for Showtime, Lewis for Home Box Office) have all
but knocked out that fight. So, Lewis meets Zeljko Mavrovic on 26 September
(previewed elsewhere in this issue)
while a week earlier we have Holyfield returning to his home state to take on Bean at the
Georgia Dome, in Atlanta. The fight is on the Showtime network, where the fight is part of
the subscription programming and not on pay-per-view, coming as it does the night after
the PPV event between Oscar De La Hoya and Julio Cesar Chavez. Lewis meets his World Boxing Council mandatory challenger in Mavrovic, while Holyfield
also fulfils a sanctioning body requirement when he takes on Bean, who is ranked No.1 by
the International Boxing Federation. The fact that Bean ever got to be a mandatory challenger causes those who follow boxing
to shake their heads wearily. It just does not make sense. He is best known for losing a majority decision to Michael Moorer in a previous
mandatory bid for the IBF belt in March 1997 at Las Vegas. His promoter, Butch Lewis, was
loud in his view that Bean was victim of an outrageous decision, and such was the fuss he
raised that his boxer was allowed to keep the IBF No.1 position. Holyfield, who stopped Moorer to add the IBF belt to his World Boxing Association title
last November, does not wish to vacate either championship. That is why he is going
through with the mandatory defence against Bean and will then face the WBA's leading
available challenger (which, presumably, will be Henry Akinwande, whose hepatitis B
problem caused cancellation of his scheduled June date with Holyfield along with the whole
Madison Square Garden show). Akinwande, I thought, had an excellent chance of upsetting Holyfield due to his height
and reach plus having Emanuel Steward on board as trainer. But Bean is another matter. Bean, who will turn 25 a couple of weeks before the fight, is a capable boxer with
quick hands, quite clever defensively, what the old-time American fight people used to
describe as shifty but against a lacklustre Moorer he blew his big chance by being too
defensive. He was able to score points, but not enough of them because he did not throw
enough punches. It seems he got the fight with Moorer because he had been active and was unbeaten, even
though he had not beaten one world-class heavyweight. Since losing to Moorer he has
knocked out four nondescript opponents, none of the appearances going past three rounds. Does he deserve to be fighting for the title? Of course not. But this is a nuisance
fight that Holyfield has to get out of the way, which is why his promoter, Don King
(quickly back in business after his July fraud-charges acquittal), is putting it on. Butch Lewis, he of the tuxedo, bow-tie and no shirt fashion statement, was unavailable
to discuss the fight in time for this preview but he implied to Jon Saraceno of USA Today
that his boxers only chance is if Holyfield performs at less than his best. Lewis told Saraceno: "Holyfield may have a [Bobby] Czyz or [Ray] Mercer [off-night], and
my guy gets lucky." But while Holyfield had a war with Mercer, he still won - and Mercer would, I think, be
considered a tougher proposition than Bean. As for the Czyz fight, true, Holyfield looked
sluggish, but admits that he did not take his opponent seriously. Against Bean, Holyfield will be boxing at home in Atlanta for only the fourth time in
his 14-year pro career and it could be his last opportunity to do so: he turns 36 in
October and retirement cannot be too far away. So it seems reasonable to expect that
Holyfield will be eager to put on a strong showing. Also, this is a title fight. He will
have more motivation than for the 10-rounder with Czyz. Holyfield may not be able to reach the emotional level of the two fights with Mike
Tyson, but he should be able to lift himself sufficiently. Bean, a Muslim from Chicago, can best be described as undistinguished. Looking back on
ringside notes I made at the Moorer-Bean bout, one in particular stands out: "B. quite
clever at making M. miss but lapsing into survivor-type fight." In the Showtime TV commentary, Bobby Czyz remarked: "This is one of the worst world
heavyweight title fights I've ever seen". But Bean's right-hand counters had Moorer puffy
around the eyes and bloody inside the mouth. In the official scoring, Bean was one point
away from coming out of it with a draw. But Moorer was, of course, singularly unimpressive on a night when Teddy Atlas, working
with the southpaw for the last time, resorted to such theatrical urgings as producing a
mobile phone and telling the boxer that the fighter's son was on the line crying because
the TV commentators were saying his daddy didn't want to be champion any more. If Bean, with a heaven-sent opportunity in front of him against a passionless Moorer,
could not take advantage of the situation, then how is he going to pull off a stunning
upset against Holyfield? At 6ft and 212lbs (15st 2lbs), Bean is not a big heavyweight. He has an impressive
knockout record (25 KO's in his 31 wins) until you look at the hand-picked opposition he
has faced. This is a fighter whom Holyfield should walk through. What makes it a little bit interesting, though, is Holyfield's age, inactivity (he has
not boxed in 10 months), the possibility that he will not be up for the fight. There is,
one supposes, always the chance that Bean, having had the experience of a 12-round title
fight against Moorer and knowing he came close, will fight with more confidence, more
assertiveness, against Holyfield. It is, though, difficult to get enthusiastic about the fight. On the plus side,
Holyfield brings a sense of presence to the ring. His star-power elevates an essentially
meaningless bout. He agreed to share promotional expenses to bring the fight to Atlanta
after local businesses failed to come up with the money, a rebuke, perhaps, for those who
have labelled him greedy for his purse demands for meeting Lennox Lewis. If the fight turns out to be competitive, all to the good. If Bean goes into
safety-first mode again, it will merely be what many expect. |
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