Caesars Palace

LAS VEGAS -- No one has blinked yet in the heavyweight battle pitting casino giants Caesars Palace and the MGM Grand, and sports cable networks HBO and Showtime over a coveted Nov. 4 fight dateFor the moment, Caesars Palace plans to stage Riddick Bowe-Evander Holyfield III that night. Their two previous encounters were both highly successful -- artistically andfinancially.Less than a mile a mile down The Strip, The Mirage has scheduled former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson in his second comeback bout against a yet unnamed opponent.

LAS VEGAS -- In their first major decision as Mike Tyson's new co-managers, John Horne and Rory Holloway named little-known Philadelphia trainer Willie Rush to oversee the former heavyweight champion's comeback.Rush, 56, was a journeyman heavyweight who helped develop Meldrick Taylor into a gold-medal winner in the 1984 Olympics. He rejoined Taylor last year for his unsuccessful title challenge against super-lightweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez."Mike worked with Rush in two or three of his amateur fights in the '80s, and he remembered it as a good experience," said Horne.

LAS VEGAS -- The morning after one of the strangest nights in sports history, the only certainty was that the heavyweight championship again had changed hands when gritty, determined Evander Holyfield regained the title from Riddick Bowe.Their electrifying rematch Saturday night at Caesars Palace was upstaged by a sky diver who made an unscheduled landing on the ring apron 1:10 into the seventh round, resulting in several minor injuries to ring-siders and a 21-minute delay before the fight was resumed in the cool desert air.But Holyfield was able to survive a final rally by Bowe to win the 12-round decision by a total of three points on the cards of judges Jerry Roth (115-113)

LAS VEGAS -- There is nothing like a devastating loss for a heavyweight contender to discover his true friends.It seemed everyone has been dumping on Tommy Morrison after his one-round knockout at the hands of Michael Bentt in Tulsa, Okla., last week.It was bad enough that the loss cost the Oklahoma native a potential $8 million payday with World Boxing Council champion Lennox Lewis at the new MGM on March 5, but now Bob Arum, president of Top Rank Inc., has severed promotional ties with Morrison.

NEW YORK -- Rock Newman mapped out plans yesterday for Riddick Bowe's next two defenses of his International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Association titles and announced that Bowe's anticipated rematch with former champion Evander Holyfield has been put on hold until Sept. 10.Newman, not to be upstaged by rival Don King, who was holding a cross-town news conference to promote the Lennox Lewis-Tony Tucker heavyweight match in Las Vegas on May 8 for the World Boxing Council title, said the Holyfield bout at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas would be delayed to avoid possible conflicts with the NBA Finals in June and the baseball All-Star Game in July.

LAS VEGAS -- By process of elimination, Riddick Bowe, the unbeaten (30-0) title contender from Fort Washington, Md., appears next in line to take a whack at undisputed heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, who is planning his next defense here, Nov. 13.And after watching Holyfield's uninspiring 12-round victory over flabby ex-champion Larry Holmes at Caesars Palace on Friday night, Bowe's manager, Rock Newman, was all but measuring Riddick for his heavyweight...

LAS VEGAS -- The strong betting on Larry Holmes in his title fight with heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield tomorrow night has apparently caught some of the leading sports books by surprise.Holmes, who opened as a 7-1 underdog a month ago, has been bet down to 4-1 by his supporters."We have a lot of money being bet on Holmes and grocery money on Holyfield," said Russ Culver, who manages the sports book at The Mirage.Added Vinnie Magliulo, who operates the betting parlor at Caesars Palace, "The public is buying this fight and rooting for Holmes, and that's quite a turnaround."

NEW YORK -- Larry Holmes took undisputed heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield to school yesterday.With the strains of "Pomp and Circumstance" playing in the background at the St. Regis ballroom, Holmes, wearing cap and gown, was bestowed by promoter Bob Arum with a degree as "Doctor of Pugilism."The former heavyweight king, 42, who challenges Holyfield at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on June 19, waved his mock sheepskin and said, "I never thought I'd get one of these. I stayed a whole day in school -- once."

Just 24 hours after putting injured Mike Tyson on hold, heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield's advisers have offered a late November title fight to unranked Francesco Damiani, of Italy, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.As of last night, Damiani had not accepted the offer from Holyfield's promoter, Dan Duva. Damiani (27-1, 23 KOs) has been idle since losing his World Boxing Organization crown to Ray Mercer in Atlantic City last January.Holyfield pushed for a championship match next month after his scheduled Nov. 8 showdown with Tyson was postponed indefinitely when the former champion suffered a rib injury in training, Oct. 8.Efforts to reschedule the $100 million fight before Tyson's pending Jan. 27 trial in Indianapolis for alleged rape of an 18-year-old beauty pageant contestant proved futile.

After an all-day meeting in New York between promoters Dan Duva and Don King reached an impasse over a new date for the postponed Nov. 8 Evander Holyfield-Mike Tyson title fight in Las Vegas, Tyson was told to wait his turn for a chance to regain his crown from undisputed champion Evander Holyfield.Duva said Holyfield will defend his title against a yet-unnamed opponent on an unspecified date at a site to be determined. However, Duva did say the bout, to be announced in a few days, would be on Home Box Office rather than pay-per-view.