Evander Holyfield came back to boxing early Sunday morning with a victory, but it was anything but a triumphal one.
The former heavyweight champion scored a unanimous 12-round decision over Alex Stewart in a match that drew loud boos from the crowd at the Convention Center."I thought I fought a pretty good fight," said Holyfield, fighting for the first time since he lost the title to Riddick Bowe on Nov. 13.
"He was a game fighter. I know everybody wanted me to take him out in the first or second round."
Holyfield not only failed to take Stewart out, he never had him in serious trouble and he fought without much fire. In fact, it seemed what Stewart failed to do was as much a factor in Holyfield's victory as what the ex-champ did.
Judge Eugene Grant scored it 119-109 while Frank Brunette and Al De Vito each had it 118-110.
The Associated Press scored it 116-112 for Holyfield.
Holyfield hopes to get a rematch with Bowe in November.
His rematch with Stewart certainly did not come close to rivaling their action-packed first fight in which Holyfield stopped Stewart on a bad cut over the right eye in the eighth round Nov. 4, 1989.
Holyfield, who weighed 218, 10 pounds less than Stewart, opened a cut above Stewart's left eye 42 seconds into the second round. The cut, however, did not trouble Stewart for the rest of the fight.
Holyfield, who at times seemed to be fighting in slow motion, was much more active than Stewart, who often looked like a man kept up past his bedtime. The fight ended at 12:45 a.m. EDT.
Holyfield's best round may have been the 11th when he hurt Stewart with four or five good shots to the head, wobbled him with a big right hand with 50 seconds left in the round and then nailed him with a right-left just before the bell.
By then, however, quite a few of the estimated 9,000 fans were already headed for the exits.
Holyfield, who earned at least $2 million, won for the 29th time against a single loss.
Stewart, who marked his 29th birthday Saturday, got $400,000 in absorbing his fifth defeat. The London native, residing at Safety Harbor, Fla., has won 32 times, all by knockout.
In London, Nigel Benn floored Lou Gent three times in the third round, then stopped him after dropping him twice in the fourth round and retained his World Boxing Council super-middleweight title.
Referee Larry O'Connell called a halt with Gent down on one knee at 31 seconds of the fourth.
Benn, whose record improved to 37-2, said he wants a title unification fight with World Boxing Organization super-middleweight champion Chris Eubank.