Date: Thursday, November 7th, 1996
Reporter: Jody Heaps

LAS VEGAS - Thursday. In the days preceding a bout of magnitude, when reporters are feverishly hunting and pecking for stories like chickens in a yard, fighters become increasingly careful to hide their secret ring strategies under an avalanche of meaningless clichés, platitudes and generalities.

And the always polite, and unusually accessible, Evander Holyfield is no different.

"I will box when I need to box, and brawl when I need to brawl," he said.

"If I hit him with a good shot, I can get him out of there," he said at another time.

But as a 12-1 underdog, what specific strategies will Holyfield employ this Saturday night in his fight with Mike Tyson for the WBA heavyweight championship? How will he attempt to thwart Tyson's relentless attacks? And what possible game plan can he design to hurt his stronger, faster and younger opponent?

In an open workout held earlier this week, Holyfield went three spirited rounds against sparring partner, Gary Bell, who is similar in shape, size and style to Tyson.

Bell, imitating Tyson's unique crouch, came quickly out of the corner, bobbing and weaving, and aggressively attacking Holyfield with wide, overhand rights.

Holyfield rarely retreated. Instead, he moved side to side, countering primarily with left hands. He often threw uppercuts, a predictable but in theory, effective, weapon against the shorter Tyson, who fights leaning forward, his gloves positioned on the sides of his chin.

"Holyfield's fast," said Bell who has compiled an 11-0 record as a professional. "And right from the beginning of camp, we've been working at countering those overhand rights and slipping those wide shots and making him miss".

"A lot of times, after Tyson throws and misses, he comes up square (his feet and body parallel to his opponent), and Evander will take advantage of that," said Bell, meaning that Tyson, in that position, will be a bigger, more stationary, target.

After his workout, Holyfield, a deeply religious man, who begins his morning training sessions in a prayer circle with his entire camp, politely answered questions. And along with his standard answers, he talked about how the spirit of God was with him. He seemed to be saying that God was fighting through him, and he was fighting for God.

"I am a believer in God," he said. "And God has always been my strength. And I know that's enough to see me through."

While Holyfield may be counting on divine intervention as an effective ring strategy, a little more power and a little more speed certainly couldn't hurt.