An unspoken threat of a WBC stripping has sent Evander Holyfield`s promoter looking for cover and could eliminate the heavyweight champion`s March 20 defense against George Foreman.
On the day the two sides had planned to announce the $29 million rematch, Foreman`s promoter, Bob Arum, was saying, ”It`s definitely off,” though he later removed the definite.
Friday, Arum was livid over Dan Duva`s inclusion of a clause giving Holyfield the right to withdraw from the fight if any of the three sanctioning bodies-in this case the Don King-influenced WBC-were to strip him for participating.
”We don`t give a hoot about those sanctions,” said Arum.
But Duva, Holyfield`s promoter, said, ”Evander has worked too hard and we`ve worked too hard to just give away a world championship.”
Duva said he believed ”it`s not a big problem” to get the WBC to, if not sanction Holyfield-Foreman II, at least not strip Holyfield. That was the arrangement when Holyfield took a Nov. 23 interim bout against Bert Cooper. Holyfield is now under contract to fight Mike Tyson, but the former champion now can`t fight as he awaits his Jan. 27 rape trial.