LAS VEGAS, Nev. — In boxing’s golden ’50s, middleweight champion Sugar Ray Robinson toured Europe with an entourage that included a masseur, barber and dance instructor.
In the next two decades, heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali traveled with his personal army of trainers, cooks, sparring partners and countless sycophants who served as a Greek chorus for his doggerel and rival-baiting.
But nothing quite compares with the assortment of specialists serving as a support team for Evander Holyfield, who will challenge James “Buster” Douglas for the heavyweight championship Thursday night.
The cast includes Dan Duva, promoter; Lou Duva, training camp supervisor; George Benton, head trainer; Ronnie Shields, assistant trainer; Shelly Finkel, financial adviser; Tim Hallmark, conditioning expert; Chaz Jordan, strength coach; and the most recent addition, Marya Kennett, ballet instructor.
“Evander’s body was very tight when I started working with him three weeks ago,” said Kennett, who has a dance school in Goshen, N.Y. “I’ve just helped him to loosen his muscles and gain more flexibility.”
Kathy Duva, publicist for Team Holyfield, likens the molding of the former light-heavyweight champion into a full-fledged heavyweight to piecing together a bionic man.
“Remember the introduction to the Superman series?” she said. “Well, Chaz Jordan has made Evander more powerful than a locomotive, Tim Hallmark has made him faster than a speeding bullet, and now Marya Kennett has made him nimble enough to jump over Buster Douglas after he knocks him out. Evander is our real-life Superman.”
Hyperbole aside, Holyfield, 6 feet 2 and 210 pounds, resembles a Greek statue compared to the paunchy champ.
“Evander started as a light-heavy and ended up Robocop,” fight analyst Ferdie Pacheco said.
Still, fight experts have a tendency to compare Holyfield to Michael Spinks, who, with the help of a conditioning coach and nutritionist, became the first light-heavyweight champion to win the heavyweight title; he upset Larry Holmes in 1985. But, the next year, Spinks was tossed around the ring by Mike Tyson, who quickly knocked him into retirement.
Holyfield insists his imposing musculature is not disguising a hollow shell.
“People say I’m a blown-up heavyweight, like someone pumped air into me,” he said. “But it’s not like I’m putting sand in my pockets. What are big guys made of, anyway? People act like they are born heavyweights. Usually, babies weigh 7 to 8 pounds.
“I always had a big upper body,t major step was building his endurance. In his early pro career after winning a bronze medal in the 1984 Olympics, he had a tendency to tire quickly.
“It was mostly a mental thing,” Holyfield said. “I’d been fighting three rounds as an amateur for so long, I kind of felt that, after the third round, the fight was over.”
So Benton used psychology in Holyfield’s sparring sessions.
“We’d shorten rounds from three to 2 1/2 minutes,” Benton said. “He’d spar more rounds and still feel refreshed, full of fight.”
That convinced Holyfield he had the stamina to go 10 hard rounds. It was his stamina that carried him through 15 brutal rounds with Dwight Qawi for the cruiserweight title in 1984.
Benton said, “In that Qawi fight, he went from being a boy to a man.”
Hallmark was hired to put Holyfield through a rigorous strength regimen as he graduated to the heavyweight ranks.
“I’ve put 25 pounds on Evander over the past 4 1/2 years,” Hallmark said. “My responsibility is to make sure he can fight at a rapid pace for 12 rounds and have a quick recovery rate in the minute between rounds.
“When he first started with me, his heartbeat dropped to 150-155 between rounds. Now it’s down to 140-145. The recovery rate is the true sign of fitness.
“We use a regimen that incorporates kinesiology, mental visualization and cardiovascular conditioning. Evander concentrates on explosive movement with bounding and jumping exercises.
“If I can get his legs to where they contract hard and fast, the power movements carry into his punches. His neck used to be 17 inches; now it’s 19. His chest, shoulders and quaddleweight in the ’50s.
“The greatest heavyweights of all time — Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali — never weighed more than 205 in their prime, and Marciano and Dempsey were both closer to 180.
“The advantage of the smaller heavyweight is that he’s quicker and can put more punches together. And Evander throws enough punches to take a man out, or he wouldn’t have 20 knockouts on his record.”
Holyfield’s stoic personality also could help him overcome distractions from the recent firing of longtime manager Ken Sanders and the divorce proceedings initiated by his wife, Paulette, the mother of his four children.
“Evander is a very mature, deeply religious individual,” said Dan Duva, who negotiated Holyfield’s $8 million purse for fighting Douglas. “He is so focused on this fight, it’s unbelievable.
“He made a business decision to get rid of Sanders. No one pushed him.
“Naturally, he’s deeply disappointed over the divorce action, but the most important thing in his life right now is winning the heavyweight championship, something he’s worked toward the past six years. When it’s over, then he’ll deal with everything else.”
Said Holyfield: “This is payoff time. I’ve been fighting for 18 years as an amateur and pro. Now this is like the final test, and I feel I’m ready for it. Ring the bell, let’s get it on.”
?ormer light-heavyweight champ into a genuine heavyweight to building a bionic man.
