Holyfield Oozes Confidence to Win Bout in BeijingRelaxed and confident, this is what Evander Holyfield appears less than two weeks ahead of a world title bout against his American compatriot John Ruiz."Everything is great....Everything is going well", the former four-time world heavyweight champion talked of the preparation for his third clash with Ruiz, who beat Holyfield to take the World Boxing Association heavyweight crown in March. "The facility is nice, and I have the opportunity to work on different technical issues that are necessary to be the five-time heavyweight champion of the world," said Holyfield. With an view of regaining the WBA crown and become world champion for the fifth time, Holyfield has arrived here on July 11, almost two weeks ahead of Ruiz's arrival. "I am very confident, I will win, I will be a history maker, and people can see that I got it in Beijing," said Holyfield. Holyfield, who has a 37-5-1 record, is bidding to become the first fighter to claim the world heavyweight title on five separate occasions. Besides exuding confidence, Holyfield seemed very relaxed as he, following a training session on Wednesday noon, attended a birthday party held in the hotel where he stays. Holyfield, neatly dressed in a Chinese-style suit, stole light from those hotel staff members who celebrated their birthdays collectively, drawing sounding applause from the crowd and numerous flashes from the cameramen. Holding in arms a life-size Panda toy he was gifted at the party, Holyfield smilingly accepted lots of requests from the hotel staff to pose with him for pictures. There is only one thing that maybe spoil his happiness at the party. A reporter quoted Ruiz as saying that he would beat Holyfield in just a few rounds of the August 5 bout. "Everybody has his opinion," Holyfield reacted with a "wait-and- see" attitude. The winner of the Holyfield-Ruiz fight is expected to face the winner of the WBC and IBF title bout between Lennox Lewis and Hasim Rahman, which is tentatively scheduled for October. |
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