Bowe Wins As Foreman Postures Meanwhile, Holyfield’s Career May Be At An End

George Foreman might have claimed Evander Holyfield was on the verge of having a heart attack in the ring against Riddick Bowe on Saturday night, but Holyfield was enjoying breakfast at his hotel at 7 o’clock Sunday morning.

“I feel fine,” Holyfield said as he sat in a booth at a coffee shop, even though he looked as if someone had punched him in the face - which is exactly what happened, of course, about 65 times with jabs alone, by unofficial count. Welts covered Holyfield’s brow and his eyes were mere slits.

These are the ribbons of battle for Holyfield and Bowe, who ended their boxing trilogy. Bowe got off the canvas in the sixth round, where he landed for the first time in his professional career, and came back to stop Holyfield in the eighth round.

And Foreman, the last heavyweight champion people got excited about, was there at ringside, telling pay-per-view fans that Holyfield should not be allowed to fight. Was Foreman setting up the public for a possible gazillion-dollar bout between himself and Bowe? Probably.

Thirty minutes after the fight, a crowd gathered near ringside at Caesars Palace. People were thrusting slips of paper for autographs. A man stood signing and talking. It was neither Bowe (38-1, 30 knockouts) nor Holyfield (31-3, 22 knockouts). It was Foreman, writing and pontificating and claiming he had seen medical evidence that there is something wrong with Holyfield’s heart.

“Dr. Homansky had me in his office before the fight and showed me pictures of Evander’s heart,” Foreman said. “He showed me that there’s a problem there, that he can’t recover. His heart’s not working hard enough.”

That was news to Dr. Flip Homansky, the ringside physician and chief medical officer for the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

“I don’t even have an office,” said Homansky, who specializes in emergency-room medicine. “George feels he has to control things. Look, 20 minutes after the fight, Evander was leading the prayers. Frequently, Evander has to dig deep and then he gets his second wind.”

Holyfield actually had been misdiagnosed with a heart problem after losing his title to Michael Moorer 20 months ago. But tests at the Mayo Clinic convinced Homansky and other state commissioners that Holyfield does not have a heart condition.

Holyfield was in desperate shape at times Saturday night. But this was a brutally honest fight by two men who bring out the best and worst in each other. Each recovered just when it appeared he was going into oblivion.

For the first time in their three bouts, there were knockdowns: the left hook by Holyfield that chopped Bowe down for a 7-count, and then two knockdowns by Bowe in the eighth. The first was positioned by a right that knocked Holyfield flat on his face and seemingly out.

Somehow, he rose but clearly was out of it. He stood awkwardly, arms at his side, while Referee Joe Cortez shouted, “Raise your arms!” But Cortez also allowed the fight to continue. Bowe moved in, unloaded a pair of roundhouse rights and Holyfield went into the ropes, sagging to the mat. Cortez did not bother counting and quickly waved the bout over 58 seconds into the round.

And while they hugged after the fight was over, with Bowe telling Holyfield, “I love you, man,” they attacked each other even after the bell ended the second round.

This was most likely Holyfield’s final chapter. “I’ll have to think about whether I want to keep taking this,” Holyfield said.

With another $8 million payday, Holyfield’s career earnings have reached about $120 million.

Bowe will continue. And to keep the heavyweight pot boiling, Bowe’s manager, Rock Newman, tossed in the name of Mike Tyson on Sunday. Newman even spoke to Tyson’s promoter, Don King, Sunday morning. The two promoters plan to meet this week.

But Newman does not really believe that Tyson’s handlers, who put their fighter in with Peter McNeeley and then had planned to send him against Buster Mathis Jr. before Tyson broke his thumb last week, would take on the imposing Bowe.

And Newman contends Foreman wants no piece of Bowe, who is almost 20 years younger.

So what’s next for Bowe?

“South Africa,” Newman said. Newman mentioned the name Andrew Golota, a heavyweight who fights out of Chicago. Newman claims he has been talking with South African officials.

In other words, the future is just as it is the morning after every major heavyweight fight these days: uncertain. Home Box Office is talking of a Bowe-Lennox Lewis battle. But Lewis still would rather fight Frank Bruno, the World Boxing Council title-holder and a fellow Briton.

Essentially, Newman now considers Bowe the world champion.

Bowe does retain his World Boxing Organization crown, which used to have less prestige than that of the three major sanctioning bodies.

But the Bowe-Holyfield bout, which may have helped determine the people’s champion, helped to prove how none of the sanctioning bodies’ titles in the heavyweight division are being taken very seriously these days.