Ageless Holyfield prepares to fight Savarese

The 44-year-old boxer is hoping for another title shot.

ATLANTA (AP) — When Evander Holyfield first started boxing professionally, someone asked how long he planned to trade punches. He thought 28 sounded like a reasonable age to hang up the gloves, so he went with that.

Of course, here he is now, more than a decade and a half beyond his retirement goal — still stepping into the ring, still striving to be the undisputed heavyweight champion before they count him out for good.

“I realized that 28 is not as old as I thought it was,” Holyfield said with a chuckle. “I fought George [Foreman] when I was 29 and George was 42. I kind of thought, ‘Shoot, man, I’ll definitely be gone by that time. That would be real old.’ Well, now I’m 44, and I don’t think it’s old at all.”

Indeed, Holyfield is getting ready to step in the ring again Saturday night in El Paso, Texas, to face another geriatric heavyweight, 41-year-old former contender Lou Savarese.

Muddled division

If the “Real Deal” passes the fourth test in his carefully scripted swan song, he hopes to land another title shot against one of the myriad champs in the muddled division. Within two years, in the World According to Evander, he’ll have all the belts around his waist and surpass Foreman as the oldest heavyweight champ ever.

Then, and only then, will Holyfield walk away from the sport, content that he accomplished everything he set out to do in a career that will go down as one of the greatest in boxing history, no matter how the final chapter plays out.

“My momma always said, ‘Son, some people may know more than you. Some people may be stronger than you at certain things. But when it comes down to working, it’s up to you to let someone outwork you,’ ” Holyfield recalled. “That’s something that always stuck with me. It’s up to me to work hard. It’s up to me to pay the price.”

Plenty of people worry that Holyfield may be paying too high a price for what seems an improbable goal: reuniting all the heavyweight belts around his still-narrow waist, at an age when most boxers have long since retired. His outlook was especially grim during a six-fight stretch that produced only one win and prompted the state of New York to strip him of his license after a dismal 2004 loss to Larry Donald.

400 rounds

Holyfield seemed to another of those ex-champions who hung on far too long. It’s still a lingering question as he approaches his 400th round as a pro — he’s at 392 — and many of those were fought against bigger men.

Holyfield insists his health is fine, especially after a nearly two-year layoff helped him heal nagging shoulder problems and buy into a training philosophy more in keeping with a man his age. He’s won three straight — albeit, not against the strongest competition — and is a fighter looking forward, not backward.

The heavyweight division does seem ripe for the picking, the title belts split among a group of obscure fighters from former Soviet republics.

This isn’t like it was during Holyfield’s prime, when he battled it out with an imposing list of titans such as Tyson, Lennox Lewis and Riddick Bowe. These days, the belts are held by Wladimir Klitschko of the Ukraine (IBF), Ruslan Chagaev of Uzbekistan (WBA), Oleg Maskaev of Kazakhstan (WBC) and Sultan Ibragimov of Russia (WBO).

“These guys can’t beat Evander Holyfield,” said his trainer, Ronnie Shields. “No way in the world. Looking at these guys, he’s got a chance against anybody.”