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The HBO Countdown to the rematch between Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield for the Undisputed Heavyweight Title on HBO Boxing After Dark.
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00:08it was eight months ago when the boxing world turned upside down
00:13that's a travesty that is ladies and gentlemen a travesty
00:19an outrage a highway robbery lennox lewis has just been robbed of the undisputed heavyweight
00:26championship of the world it wasn't supposed to end that way starting with the build-up and eager
00:34public anticipation this fight was going to create an undisputed heavyweight champ and the unified
00:40division on the night of march 13 lennox lewis set the tone early
00:47and he pinches against the ropes as lewis lands the right hand
00:52bigger man george bigger punch holyfield's prediction of a third round knockout didn't
00:59materialize
01:05from then on lewis dominated the action
01:15sometimes i i got in a hurry and i forgot about the game plan
01:20uh i did some things that i shouldn't have done uh or i were resting at a time when i
01:25should have been
01:25working with everything in his favor lewis didn't go hard for the knockout
01:33lewis has taken some of the power out of his punches and he's just thumping
01:37you know i failed to see what evander holyfield did to win that fight
01:42he basically had no answer for me
01:45the fight was somehow judged a draw
01:49now both fighters are left with unfinished business
01:52i realized my game plan has to be a lot better my foot speeds have to be a lot better
01:57i need to be aggressive i need to throw a lot more punches
02:00if the opportunity presents itself the lennox lewis will knock out evander holyfield
02:04this fight i believe that will send evander holyfield into retirement
02:08he can't take the kind of onslaught that i'm going to give out to in this fight
02:14will this fight truly be different how so
02:17tonight's holyfield lewis preview special seeks the answers
02:33also tonight a live heavyweight doubleheader undefeated derrick jefferson takes on rapidly
02:38improving maurice harris and top contender hasim rakman faces the russian veteran oleg maskayev
02:47is
03:46Tonight, Boxing After Dark comes to you live from the Atlantic City Convention Center down the south shore of New
03:52Jersey.
03:53First, you'll see a preview special looking ahead to next week's Holyfield-Lewis rematch.
03:58Then live heavyweight boxing.
04:00Undefeated Derek Jefferson taking on Maurice Harris.
04:02Hasim Rahman battling Oleg Moskayev.
04:06A perfectly beautiful weekend in Atlantic City.
04:09A cloudless day.
04:10Temperature all the way up into the 70s on the boardwalk.
04:13Brought an ecstatic crowd to this summer and sometimes winter resort.
04:19And on this happy weekend on the boardwalk, a good-sized and knowledgeable boxing crowd files in here for the
04:25two live fights you'll be seeing later on.
04:27But we'll spend the next 30 minutes looking ahead to next week's Holyfield-Lewis rematch.
04:31And let's begin with the obvious.
04:33It would be disingenuous of us to look ahead to another attempted heavyweight unification without acknowledging all the wreckage on
04:41the landscape.
04:41Starting with the federal indictments issued this past week against the leaders of the International Boxing Federation.
04:48Indictments which are the product of years of investigation.
04:50But which may be inevitably linked in the mind of the boxing public to the outcome of Holyfield-Lewis 1.
04:56Because it was the IBF which appointed the judge who somehow scored that bout for Holyfield.
05:03And in addition to those indictments, you have the lingering dissatisfaction with the general lack of exciting action in the
05:10first fight.
05:10You have the equally distressing result of De La Hoya Trinidad after an equally ecstatic build-up.
05:17The recent disappointments involving Prince Nassim Hamed and Mike Tyson.
05:21And the allegation that representatives of George Foreman paid under-the-table money to the IBF
05:27in return for the ranking of an opponent that Foreman wanted to face in a title defense.
05:32All in all, a year which began with considerable optimism has become another rough one for boxing.
05:38A sport which would appear to need, more than ever, or at least as urgently as ever,
05:43some kind of shot in the arm from Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis next Saturday night in Las Vegas.
05:48So let's talk about whether we're likely to get that shot in the arm.
05:51And working with me as always, HBO Boxing analyst Larry Merchant.
05:55Larry, let's go back to the events of March 13, particularly the decision which created such an outrage.
06:02How bad was it for that fight and for boxing?
06:05Well, looking back, it was as bad then as it is now.
06:10It was a very depressing injustice, depressing for the fans, for Lennox Lewis, and for boxing in general.
06:20Historically, you have to go back in the heavyweight division to Lewis Walcott.
06:25That's Joe Lewis, who infamously was awarded a decision after being thoroughly beaten up by Jersey Joe Walcott.
06:35Perhaps that same impulse to let a once great and popular champion hold on to his championship
06:42is what led to the draw that enabled Evander Holyfield to hold on to his championships.
06:50And, Jim, Joe Lewis, incidentally, went on to win the rematch.
06:54A good sign for somebody next Saturday night.
06:56And, of course, if you watched the live telecast of Holyfield Lewis 1,
07:00you'll recall that some of the most telling comments on the broadcast came at the end
07:04from the world's best fighter and light heavyweight champion of the world,
07:07boxing after dark expert Roy Jones.
07:09Roy, having seen what we saw from Holyfield Lewis in the first fight,
07:12is there a chance that we'll get the kind of excitement
07:15in the second fight that's necessary to wipe away the bad taste?
07:19Yes, there is a chance, Jim, mainly because of what happened in the first fight.
07:24By Evander being so good at coming back and winning these rematches,
07:28he's in the perfect position now.
07:29He wants to be the underdog.
07:31He wants to be the guy who has something to prove.
07:33That always makes Evander tick a little bit better.
07:36Dennis Lewis, on the other hand, wants to win over the American public
07:38and the rest of the world as far as saying that he's the best heavyweight champion.
07:42Well, to do that, he has to be a little bit more dominant than he was in the early fight.
07:46So everything is perfect for, really, an all-out war in the second fight.
07:50Well, maybe that's going to be encouraging
07:53and give us something different than what happened eight months ago.
07:55Maybe we had the blinders on then.
07:57The optimism of hoping for a heavyweight unification,
08:00the majesty of being in Madison Square Garden made us expect the best.
08:07It was supposed to be a magical night in the world's most famous arena.
08:11For the first time since 1992, two title holders came together
08:15to unify the heavyweight championship of the world.
08:18Now we're ready for the bout.
08:20Can it live up to its buildup?
08:22By the second round, Lennox Lewis had already taken control of the fight.
08:26Hit him with a left hook and a right hand and put him against the ropes.
08:30And I was just taking my time, positioning my punches.
08:33And he brings it against the ropes as Lewis lands a right hand.
08:38In the first two rounds, Holyfield drew only 24 punches,
08:42which seemed a curious way to set up his free-fight prophecy
08:45of a third-round knockout.
08:47What's the ground need to go up, y'all?
08:49Get out of here.
08:50Did he get into Lewis' head?
08:52Did he make Lewis fear round three?
08:56Holyfield landed a left hook inside and lands a right hand.
08:59And Lewis is stunned.
09:03Evander attacking, trying to fulfill the prophecy.
09:07He done with a good shot, but it didn't break him down enough.
09:10And it was almost like it was a victory for him to get past third.
09:15And so much for the round three knockout.
09:18And Holyfield goes very slowly back to his corner.
09:22He was happy.
09:23And I was kind of angry with myself.
09:26Now what am I going to do?
09:26With his leg cramping and his prophecy thwarted by Lewis,
09:30Holyfield uncharacteristically began to doubt himself.
09:33I hadn't made my mind up yet.
09:35Should I quit or not?
09:37I knew I didn't want to quit.
09:39Holyfield seems a little discouraged sitting in the corner.
09:43Now he has a long fight in front of him.
09:46As the fight moved into the fifth round,
09:48the gap widened between a tactically commanding Lewis
09:51and a surprisingly dispirited Holyfield.
09:53He was kind of laying back against the ropes,
09:56watching and waiting for me.
09:59Then I caught him with a couple good punches
10:01and tried to take advantage of it.
10:03Holyfield on the defensive.
10:05Right hand lands again.
10:07Thunder in round five for Lewis.
10:10One time left in the round.
10:12Finishing time for Lewis.
10:15Right now, baby Holyfield looks like an old fighter.
10:20By the seventh round,
10:21Leonard said he had established his dominance over Evander in every area.
10:25And at this point in time, Evander was very frustrated, confused, and bewildered.
10:30Once I got past the excuses that I was making for myself to quit,
10:36then I started doing better.
10:38Here comes the aggressiveness.
10:40Here comes the Holyfield rally.
10:42Here comes the indomitable warrior we've seen so many times.
10:46The fight started working out to my advantage once I made up my mind that there's no excuses.
10:52Round ten was Holyfield's best.
10:55Holyfield's trying to bait him into a slugfest and he wouldn't do it.
11:05This is the same jab that, you know, swolled up his face and kept him at bay for all of
11:10the fight.
11:11Evander just can't deal with it.
11:13Jab, jab, jab.
11:15At the end of the 11th round, Lennox was very satisfied with his performance.
11:19He felt that he'd won the fight.
11:20But I was very frustrated because I knew he could do a lot better.
11:23You gotta be a little more aggressive on me.
11:25You let me, goddamn man, next.
11:26But people, I would give him the round because you ain't doing nothing.
11:28Three minutes to go to a unified heavyweight championship.
11:33Unless our eyes have fooled us badly, Evander Holyfield needs a knockout desperately.
11:40As the fight's coming down to an end, I could hear the crowd.
11:42I could hear my heart beating and I realized that I was in full control,
11:46especially in this last round, and that the fight was mine.
11:48The question was, would Lennox Lewis show up for a big fight?
11:52The answer is yes, every time.
11:54The decision seemed obvious.
11:56The unanimous call for Lennox Lewis.
11:58But of course, in boxing, anything can and does happen.
12:02The decision is even a draw.
12:05Both champions retain their belts.
12:09That is, ladies and gentlemen, a travesty.
12:11It was a travesty.
12:13It was a travesty for heavyweight boxing.
12:14It was a travesty for me as well.
12:16Lennox Lewis has just been robbed of the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world.
12:21He won it and he didn't get it.
12:23The fallout centered on two judges, one of whom, Britain's Larry O'Connell, admitted his error in judgment two days
12:31later.
12:31I'm sad that I gave a draw.
12:33I've done what I saw.
12:34And you can only do what you saw.
12:35And if I made a mistake, and it's an honest mistake, that's the best mistake you can make.
12:39But even more startling was the scorecard of American judge Jean Williams,
12:42who stunningly gave Holyfield the victory, claiming she couldn't see Lewis' domination of Holyfield in round five.
12:49Lennox Lewis' back was to me, so I scored what blows that I could actually see to the best of
12:56my ability.
12:57But our replay showed Williams with an unobstructed view,
13:00in a round that was almost universally seen as Lewis' most dominant.
13:05I was really surprised. I was shocked. I was amazed.
13:10I failed to see what Evander Holyfield did to win that fight, even to win a draw in that fight.
13:15We didn't come to see a draw, but reality, this is what it is, and we got to face this,
13:20and we have to move on.
13:21Months after the controversial decision came down, a rematch was set up.
13:26This time, in a different city, in a different venue, in an attempt to eradicate boxing's latest black eye.
13:36Along the strip in Vegas, various of the big hotels banding together to help support this fight.
13:42The bout will take place in the Thomas and Mack Center on the campus of the University of Nevada at
13:48Las Vegas.
13:49And Larry Merchant, the result of that first fight, touched off a variety of investigations,
13:54suggestions about how to change the scoring of the sport.
13:57All in all, a raft of institutional fallout.
14:00How will it affect the rematch?
14:02It may be hopelessly naive to expect anything positive to come from all that sound and fury,
14:09but perhaps something really will.
14:11Foremost, boxing seems to recognize now that for these mega events, just as in other sports,
14:19it must appoint its most competent officials.
14:22No more hacks who are easily swayed by fans, by promoters, or by sanctioning bodies.
14:30Accordingly, the Las Vegas Commission has appointed three American experienced judges to do the rematch,
14:39ignoring the usual suspects offered up by the WBC, the WBA, and if you'll pardon the expression, the IBF.
14:49And amid all of that, almost unnoticed, Larry, is the change of psychology going into this fight
14:56as the two fighters dramatically, Roy, reverse roles.
15:00Lewis, going from underdog to favorite.
15:02Holyfield, despite his great record in rematches, now seen as the underdog here.
15:06Who benefits from that change?
15:08Well, I guess I'd have to say Evander Holyfield benefits because he likes to be seen as the underdog.
15:13However, in the first fight, the pressure was on both fighters.
15:17The pressure was on Lennox Lewis just as much as it was Evander Holyfield.
15:20Now, all the pressure is still not lifted off Lennox Lewis because people want to see
15:25what makes Lennox worthy of being the heavyweight champion of the world.
15:29But Evander has even more pressure because he didn't do what he wanted to do in the first fight.
15:34People want to see, well, is that same old Evander Holyfield, who loves to be the underdog,
15:39are going to show up that night.
15:41So, therefore, I think it has to be best for Holyfield, but all the pressure still is not on him.
15:46And there's pressure on both fighters, as we mentioned at the top of the show,
15:50to try to produce what the rest of us are looking for, excitement.
15:54Whether that happens or not, both fighters and their camps expect something entirely different this time around.
16:02That man don't realize that he had the golden opportunity to be the heavyweight champ of the world.
16:07But because he didn't give his all, he gets a draw.
16:11Now he's complaining about, they should have gave me.
16:14We don't get them kind of gifts away in America.
16:17You have to earn what you get.
16:20People were let down in the first fight.
16:22I wasn't really pleased with too much of my performance.
16:25But the second fight, he definitely won't have no answer for me
16:27because I'm going to go out there and pull out all stops.
16:30I prepared and I'm ready to show the whole world that no one can stop me
16:36and make me look bad if I choose not to look bad.
16:39But it was boxing which truly looked bad.
16:41A public outcry quickly ensued and a proposal to openly show judges scorecards.
16:46The Nevada Commission rejected that.
16:48The open scoring doesn't solve the problems.
16:50And with open scoring, if the judges are inept, they're going to make the same mistakes.
16:56That's why we're going to have judges who have been under the spotlight.
17:00And I believe that we're going to pick three of the top judges in the world.
17:03They will have over 200 world title fights between them.
17:10Afraid to let the fight go to the judges again,
17:13Lewis and Holyfield have promised this time to take matters into their own hands,
17:17vowing to make this bout a slugfest.
17:20I'm bringing my own two judges this time.
17:22Which means, yeah, these left and right.
17:25Whether you fight or not, I'm still going to win.
17:29If he don't fight, I'm going to run him out of the ring.
17:31I have to go out and do everything possible to try and knock him out.
17:35This fight, I believe that will send Evander Holyfield into retirement.
17:40An older Holyfield looks to defy the odds again.
17:43And to erase doubts, the first fight shed on his warrior image.
17:46And given his proven ability to bounce back in sequels, fans know he can never be counted out.
17:53Well, they fought the fight of the year.
17:56Evander has always fared well in the second fight against anybody.
17:59He's undefeated in return matches.
18:02445 after you've built a right hand.
18:06Bastard.
18:07A wise man learned from his mistakes when you've already been there before.
18:12You know if you come in with the same plan, it's not good enough.
18:16Because the last result, it wasn't enough.
18:19So I will have to add to it.
18:21When you get inside, it's short punches.
18:23But the biggest question is how can Evander expect to close the gap and keep Louis from extending his jab?
18:30My foot speed has to be a lot better.
18:32But I need to be aggressive if I need to throw a lot more punches and punches.
18:36If Evander believes that he can smother and pester me to death, he better be able to withstand the punches
18:43I'm going to be giving him.
18:45I will have to trap him in a situation and I have to make him pay for his mistakes.
18:49You've got to keep moving to keep Louis' turn.
18:52You must keep him reaching for Evander instead of Evander reaching for him.
18:57In Louis' camp, this is exactly what they're anticipating.
19:00He has to come out and try to make an intense brawl.
19:04And the fact that Lennox Lewis is looking forward to scoring a knockout himself, you're going to see a much
19:09more intense and furious fight.
19:12My strategy is quite simple.
19:15Go in there and hit.
19:16I'm going to go prove to the world that I am the best out there and I'm going to go
19:21out there and prove it.
19:22He can't really contend with a lot of my natural skills, my size, my speed, my reach, my weight.
19:28And it's going to be a fight that people will remember.
19:31And it goes without saying.
19:33Both camps are preparing and holding back their secret weapons.
19:37I'm not going to let nothing good out right here on TV because I know everybody's watching this thing too.
19:43But they know that something special is going to happen if he part that jail.
19:47If they figure out what we're going to do, that's fine.
19:53But I'm not going to tell you.
19:55The locale is different.
19:57The judge is more experienced.
19:59And the fighters insist they'll fight more bravely.
20:02But the hard facts remain.
20:04Lewis is still taller.
20:06Weighs 20 more pounds.
20:08Has a 6-inch reach advantage and a more powerful punch.
20:12So will all that physical dominance be enough for Lex?
20:15Or will Evander's heart of a warrior once again appear just when he needs it most?
20:26As they get ready to meet in Las Vegas, how the two fighters see themselves is, of course, significant.
20:32But sometimes gladiators don't view themselves as accurately as their peers outside the ring.
20:38So with an eye toward that, we asked our two experts here at HBO Sports, Roy Jones and George Foreman,
20:44to get into the ring and show us what they expect.
20:49George, I got you in the ring to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield, who
20:55we know you know oh so well.
20:58In the first fight, I think Evander Holyfield did some things that were very uncharacteristic of him.
21:02He came out jumping with the big punchers, trying to land the one bomb to knock Lennox Lewis out.
21:08We're used to seeing Evander Holyfield go out and be the smaller, quicker, faster counter puncher.
21:13We're not used to seeing him go out and try to knock guys out with one punch.
21:16Why do you think they came about?
21:18I think a lot of times Evander Holyfield was fooled by his victory over Mike Tyson, that he was somehow
21:23now some big puncher.
21:24Sometimes your major weaknesses is your overconfidence.
21:28We think Evander Holyfield will come out in the second fight and fight it much like he fought the Riddick
21:34Bowe-Evander Holyfield fight the second time around.
21:37Evander Holyfield is the best counter puncher in the business, in the heavyweight division.
21:41The big guys come to him, he back up and hits him on top and eventually hits you with combinations
21:46after you bring your body to him like a big punching bag.
21:49He was a much smaller guy against a much bigger guy.
21:52He went out there and showed that he had the heart and the courage to get the job done.
21:56On the other hand, Lennox Lewis, in the first fight against Holyfield, did not show that.
22:01He went out and he was kind of content with being a boxer, not showing a lot of power, not
22:06showing a lot of aggression.
22:07All he does is stick his left hand out there and stops everything.
22:11Lennox Lewis saw that this, although he was smaller in stature, this guy had slayed one giant, Mike Tyson.
22:17He said to himself, I'm not a fool, I'm not rushing in on this guy.
22:20And he was a little hesitant.
22:22Evander Holyfield was very effective.
22:24You charge him, he's going to get something going on you.
22:27Best to make him try to follow you around and do something he can't do.
22:30He had Evander Holyfield hurt around 2, 5, and 7, and he didn't follow up.
22:35He just reached out to tap him with the right hands just to score when we thought he should have
22:39committed to the punches like he did in the Razor Riddick fight and like he did in the Shannon Briggs
22:43fight.
22:44In the Razor Riddick fight, Lennox Lewis showed us that ability to go out there and want to hurry up
22:48and finish a man off.
22:50His stance was totally different.
22:51He didn't take many back steps.
22:53Everything was to go out there and get the job done.
22:55The same would be true to the Shannon Briggs fight.
22:57He displayed a lot of heart, a lot of courage, the ability to finish a guy.
23:01That is the Lennox Lewis that I think we would want to see face in Evander Holyfield in the second
23:06upcoming fight.
23:08What do you think would be the keys for Evander in dealing with the jab of Lennox Lewis?
23:13And how do you think Evander Holyfield has to go out in this fight?
23:16Evander Holyfield has got to close the distance without him knowing it.
23:19Don't get too close.
23:20Just get enough to where the jab is always elbow big.
23:23But he's got to get turned tiger early on, catch him cold and start landing body punches in the side,
23:28down here, hurting this guy so that the big guy drops his elbow, even bends his waist so he can
23:35get over the big shots on top and counter shots.
23:37The key for Lennox Lewis is to go out, change his style a little bit, throw more punches, be more
23:43aggressive like we have seen him be in some big fights, and maybe attack Evander's body, you think?
23:48You know, if I'm Lennox Lewis, I'd do the same thing.
23:50I'd be like an actor, rehearse, go to film, do everything round for round.
23:54I wouldn't change a thing.
23:55What happens if Evander fights the right fight and Lennox fights the right fight?
23:58Then we're going to see probably the best heavyweight fight of the century, which is why we have an excellent
24:03fight coming up again, the rematch between Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis.
24:07Thank you, George.
24:08Great.
24:10A month and a half ago, Vegas was the scene of what was called by its promoters the fight of
24:16the millennium between Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad.
24:19Now, against the odds, Holyfield and Lewis have a chance to provide a better, more exciting boxing match than did
24:28De La Hoya and Trinidad.
24:29But Roy Jones, I mentioned at the conclusion of the preceding feature piece, Lennox is still 20 pounds heavier, considerably
24:36taller, longer reach, and in the first fight, it looked as though that size was enough to block out a
24:41lot of opportunities for Holyfield.
24:43Is this result written in stone?
24:44No, no rematch is ever written in stone.
24:47This is why we have rematches.
24:49Different styles, make fights, different attitudes, different confidence levels.
24:54Evander has the opportunity to go back now and look at everything he did wrong and come back and correct
25:00all of these mistakes.
25:01Lennox Lewis, on the other hand, what does he have to do?
25:04He fought the perfect fight almost.
25:06The only thing that he can look forward to now is maybe capitalizing on the opportunities that he missed when
25:12he had Evander hurt.
25:12But other than that, he doesn't have a whole lot of improvement to do.
25:16In fact, his improvement may turn out to hurt him.
25:19So I don't think it's sketched in stone because you know how Evander Holyfield is in those rematches.
25:25His improvement may turn out to hurt him.
25:27Doesn't sound like it makes sense, but within the context of what you said, it does make sense.
25:31And surely one thing that Evander might do differently is not to wrap himself, Larry, in this evangelical certitude that
25:38God has ordained him as the winner of the fight.
25:40We're not hearing any of that stuff this time around.
25:42First off, Jim, let's recognize that Evander Holyfield was a great fighter.
25:48In fact, Ring magazine recently called him the third greatest heavyweight of all time, only behind Muhammad Ali and Joe
25:57Louis.
25:58And yet he did sort of just go bonkers before that fight.
26:02If Lennox Lewis had said some of the things that he did, they'd have taken him away in a straitjacket,
26:08for goodness sakes.
26:10How has he handled all of this?
26:13How has he looked back upon saying, in effect, that God was not only picking him to win, but betting
26:21the under, doing it in three rounds?
26:23He says he made a mistake.
26:25He also says he had a leg cramp.
26:27He says he had a cold during training.
26:30He says that the announcers, that's us guys, were biased against him.
26:36None of this has to make any sense except to Evander Holyfield.
26:41Well, whatever works, if it works for him, and it has worked for him, then maybe it'll work for him
26:49again.
26:49Maybe God's representatives and their supposedly infinite power had trouble getting a ticket to the first fight,
26:54because certainly it enjoyed that kind of public demand.
26:58As a fight, it was utterly forgettable.
27:00As a night, it was memorable.
27:02Indeed, unforgettable.
27:07For decades, Madison Square Garden was known as the mecca of boxing.
27:11On the night Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis came together to unify the heavyweight title,
27:17the Garden was once again the center of the boxing universe.
27:21Yes, prize fighting and Madison Square Garden have been around for a long, long time.
27:26The drama is implicit in this nostalgic sight for great fights.
27:31Madison Square Garden is a hallowed ground in the annals of boxing history.
27:36Who is, who has been, the heavyweight of the 90s?
27:42One man will be the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
27:48My goal is to be the undisputed champion.
27:51I will be undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
27:55Though both were veterans of many title fights,
27:58as the two men made their way into the arena,
28:00they understood this time, this place was different.
28:03It was an electrifying feeling walking into the place,
28:07just feeling the enormity of the fight and the crowd.
28:10Awash with stars from all walks of life,
28:13the capacity crowd sat in eager anticipation,
28:16perhaps naively unprepared for the shenanigans that would follow.
28:25Even though the result of the night was a letdown,
28:28the 20,000 fans who witnessed the controversial draw
28:31could take some solace in the fact they had indeed experienced history
28:35in the world's most famous arena.
28:412,700 miles west of the Great White Way,
28:45Vegas promises an entirely different atmosphere
28:48for next weekend's rematch.
28:51Indeed, the Thomas & Mack Center holds a similar-sized crowd
28:54to the capacity crowd in the Garden,
28:56but because of the difference in the two cities,
28:58it will be a different event.
29:01What we have on November 13th is not a rematch of a great fight,
29:06but of a great controversy.
29:08It would be great if this time all the excitement is generated
29:13after the first bell,
29:14and if all of the drama is generated before the final bell.
29:21The main questions here, it seems to me, are,
29:24does Evander Holyfield, at 37,
29:27still have enough bullets in his gun
29:29to fight more of those round threes from the first fight?
29:34And does Lennox Lewis, who's 34,
29:37have enough bullets in his gun
29:39to fight more of those round fives?
29:42Let's hope so, Jim.
29:43And let's count down to one week from tonight
29:47when the battle will take place
29:48in the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
29:51It'll be live on TVKO pay-per-view.
29:55Evander Holyfield versus Lennox Lewis the second time,
29:58and this time, we hope,
30:00we'll get a unified heavyweight champion of the world.
30:02Now let's turn our...
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