We take you now to the hallowed grounds of Nevada and the sports news of the day:

LAS VEGAS -- Evander Holyfield, the black Hercules who engaged in three momentous battles with Riddick Bowe, and left Mike Tyson without a rabbit in his hat, won an unanimous decision over "The Quiet Man," John Ruiz Saturday, August 12, 2000 before a crowd of 9,000 fans in the ballroom at the Paris hotel. In beating Ruiz, Holyfield lays claim to the WBA's version of the heavyweight title for an unprecedented fourth time. This time out, Holyfield didn't need God in his corner. He had Richard Steele, Don King's trusted aide-de-camp. They go together like a ball into a Lacrosse stick. You must remember, Ruiz came into this fight as handicapped as a cornet player with loose teeth. I mean, chances of beating a Don King fighter in Las Vegas is about as questionable as the airworthiness of the Air France Concorde. Give me a cortisone shot. A tranquilizer. I can't take the pain.

Holyfield's 20th championship opponent was not of the caliber of say, a Lennox Lewis, or Mike Tyson. John Ruiz was not fistiana's idea of the perfect storm. In his only real test against a proper opponent, he was knocked out by David Tua in 19 seconds. With a record of 36-3, the decision to class him as the leading contender for a WBA title shot, sounded the alarm for anyone concerned about the integrity of the sport. Tua ( 36-1) would be a more realistic opponent. Holyfield's camp wants no part of him. Neither does Tyson's people. Only Lennox Lewis has agreed to fight him.

I nearly freaked out. At the opening bell Ruiz went after the aging Holyfield like a out-of-control bull elephant. He hit Holyfield with line drives and base hits. Holyfield was dodging punches like a traffic cop who couldn't control the high-speed chases zipping past him. He fought in spurts. He couldn't get punching room because Ruiz stayed inside. At best, Holyfield won 4 of 12 rounds.

Ruiz fought better than his resume. Relentlessly aggressive, he bored forward like a tropical storm, fighting for all three minutes of all 12 rounds. There were no knockdowns. But Ruiz had purchased a ticket on the Titanic and it was too late to get off:

Navigation room-- we have an emergency. Stormy seas and low visibility ahead. 10-4.

Holyfield's best round was the third. He had Ruiz on queer street. Five years ago Holyfield would have finished him off, but now his efforts to do so flopped as badly as Hillary Clinton's health care fiasco. Forget those slackers on TV island. The real survivor was John Ruiz. It wasn't the slam-dunk Holyfield thought it would be. Ruiz's effort to survive was as heroic as the hostages of Jolo Island.

Again in the 12th-round, Holyfield came on strong. He loaded the bases with one shot. A left hook sent Ruiz to the canvas, blood oozing from both nostrils. Steele called it a slip, but ShowTime's replays showed it to be a knockdown. Evander looked older and moved slower, and as he tried to finish off his battered foe nobody recognized the old fire. Ruiz staggered back to his corner -- lucky to be conscious.

For the rest of the fight, Holyfield fought like he had tendentious in his right elbow and had been advised to rest.

Steele blundered again in the 10th. He called a low blow on Holyfield as Ruiz dropped to one knee. Again, ShowTime's replays contradicted Steele's affirmation. Evander reached back into years of experience to pull out more dirty tricks than a tar pit has dino-bones. He used rubber bullets on an opponent who refused dispersion, creating a direct safety hazard.

We take you now to Las Vegas and the decision.

It was a shark attack - not one that terrorizes beachcombers, but rather one that fills up Don King's pockets. This channel needs a 911 button. The decision was a microcosm of how things are handled in a Don King production. Judges Duane Ford and Dave Moretti favored Holyfield 114-113, while Fernando Viso had Holyfield at 116-112.

After the decision was announced, no one shouted his name. No gregarious alum rushed forward to slap him on the back and say, "Good job, Evander." Strange how time can rob celebrities of their values. Even someone as legendary as Holyfield. He looked like he couldn't have gone one more round with Mickey Rooney.

I spent hours in front of the TV, hitting play, pause, rewind and play on the VCR's remote control to see if my eyes had deceived me. The result was the same, Ruiz 8-rounds to 4.

Is television or the boxing commissioners at fault? Who can we blame? Richard Nixon isn't with us any more. John Gotti is in prison. Ringside annalists questioned the decision the way Dan Quayle questioned the way Murphy Brown glamorized women choosing to raise their children in fatherless households. Commentator Bobby Czyz chastised the decision with the ferocity of an animal-rights demonstrator opposed to the fur trade.

Ruiz would have gotten a fairer shake in Beirut than in Las Vegas. Afghanistan. It is an article of faith among boxing fans that any opponent who steps into the ring against a Don King fighter in Vegas has a better chance going one-on-one with Amtrack. Fair decisions here are as rare as aprons in the kitchen. Why do we keep our heads in the sand as these people continue to show a total disregard for the rules of Marquess of Queensbury? They don't have to be role models. But don't insult us or spit in our faces. Is that too much to ask?

Lets be realistic. Boxing as a legitimate sport is overshadowed by most other sports because of the suspicious way it is judged. Football shows the score after each touchdown or extra point. Baseball shows the score after each inning. You are never in the dark as to who is ahead in tennis, golf, hockey or soccer. Only boxing wears a mask and carries a gun. It is run by the kind of people a terrorist organization would like to roster. Its a familiar litany. Key people getting under-the-table payments to make sure the "money" fighter wins.

You don't believe me? Well, didn't promoter Bob Arum just paint a definite picture of boxing's underbelly -- from veiled payments to money laundering, shadowy bagmen to profiteering ? That should open a few eyes.

The way decisions are judged in boxing today is an ugly fraud. A package wrapped up: "Do not open before Christmas." The Oscar winners are not as secretly guarded. Yes, slimeball has been very good to the gods of boxing and they have every reason to believe it will continue. Thus, in their hoped-for, never ending hurrah, the gratifying dynasty will sail on, with no governing, or interference by legal authority. I'm shivering and shi-ver-ing.

Don King has many gifts. One of them is his quite natural capacity to avoid answering incriminating questions tossed to him by commentators. He guards himself against questions as if he were careful not to violate the Cosa Nostra oath of silence. Frank Costello would have loved him. Robert Kennedy would have urged the Department of Justice to investigate him.

With the charm of Camelot, Don King dodged answers to questions about the outcome of the fight tossed at him by Jim Gray, fight analyst for the cable outlet ShowTime channel. Gray evidently knew the answer before he asked King, "...are you surprised by the outcome?" Before motor-mouth could shift into second gear, Gray interrupted: "er..the way the outcome occurred."

At this moment, what ShowTime channel needed was a snooze button. What could be more exciting than listening to Don King rattle on about how he spent enough money on a diamond for his wife to support free prescription drug coverage to every senior in America. I'll tell you what: Trampoline. Tae Kwen do. Triayhlon. Synchronized Diving. Watching grass grow.

Gray tried to get a word in edgewise, but King could even have the last word with an echo.

Asked about his association with Mike Tyson, King rattled on like a primetime version of an obscure congressional candidate who was given a six o'clock convention slot. Part of his speech was sentimental, an emotion at which he excels. He and Tyson were still brothers (spelled $$$$). He helped make Tyson what he is today -- a man with the social responsibility of Jack the Ripper. Tyson's own shadow won't keep him company, but King would -- for a price. He raised a right thumb more often than Julius Caesar, praising his latest accomplishment.

Unless you were among the crew of the Kursk, trapped in a bed of Barents Sea, you were a ShowTime hostage listening to boxing's own lion in the winter avoiding Gray's questions. The interview historically was as one-sided as a lynching. Gray tried to get a straight answer from King, but it was tantamount to asking Dracula to give you a blood transfusion. King dodged the issues better than Valachi before the Bureau of Narcotics. He spoke volumes, but said nothing that left nothing practically unsaid.

When you think about it, the Daltons were pikers compared to these guys. The Daltons were slaughtered trying to hold up two banks at one time in Coffeeville. Don King Productions held up 9,000 people --- and escaped without a scratch. It's staggering. In Philadelphia, they call it mugging. If this was hockey, Holyfield would have been sent to the penalty box for a year. If Mike Tyson would have rough-housed Ruiz this way they would have sent him to Pelican Bay State Prison. Called the American Civil Liberties Union. Reported him to the Better Business Bureau. This was the most irresponsible bit of referring I've ever seen.

It was reminisce of the old John Dillinger Gang, with Don King as the mastermind of the heist and Richard Steele the driver of the getaway car. You don't have to be Marilyn Vos Savant to figure out there was a fly in the ointment --- well, it really wasn't a fly in the ointment, that would have been an improvement. It was like "lie" in the ointment.

In defending the legitimacy of his belt, Holyfield said, "They can look at it any way they want. It is not what people say that matters. I am WBA champion. Lewis has two belts, and I have one. No one is bigger than the rules and regulations. He didn't beat Riddick Bowe. He didn't beat Mike Tyson. Evander follows the rules and regulations."

Rewind the tape: Evander follows the rules and regulations? The last time I read the Marquess of Queensbury, head-butting, rough-housing, elbowing and hitting low were not part of the rules and regulations. From where I sat, Holyfield made Fritzie Zivic look like a choir boy -- and Zivic taught the Mau-Maus how to fight. You picture Andrew Golota's watching his tapes.

Ruiz complained about Steele's officiating following the fight. "He gave me a couple of shots that were below the belt, and Richard Steele came before the fight and told me anything below the belt, or anything with a head butt, an elbow, he would take away points." I didn't see one point taken away. I guess either he came into my room and lied to my face or he wasn't really watching the fight."

Maybe Steele or the three judges weren't watching the same fight I saw. What I saw was Ruiz rushing out of his corner as the bell sounded for round one, both guns blazing. Holyfield, a 4 -1 favorite quickly learned that Ruiz was not intimidated by his years of experience. As the rounds went by, ShowTime commentator, Bobby Chez kept remarking, "What's wrong with Holyfield? There must be something physically wrong with him."

Watching Bobby rant and rave when the decision was announced was like watching the weather channel during hurricane season. The faint of heart switched channels. He bravely denounced the decision as a fraud. The judges and referee as flatly incompetent. He said if Holyfield would have fought him like he fought Ruiz, he could have beaten him easily. He amply used his reportorial skills and celebrity acumen to raise awareness of another bad decision that put boxing in jeopardy as a ligament sport.

( Note to the bawanas of the World Boxing Association version of the heavyweight championship): If Evander Holyfield is the true champion then the Liberty Bell isn't all it's cracked up to be. The Kentucky Derby is a hat. Wrestling gets its fighters out of the monastery. Mitch Blood Green is a rocketscientist.

"I wasn't able to knock him out even though I thought I hit him with hard punches," said Holyfield. "He fought a defensive fight."

Up periscopes! Attention! Didn't you see Ruiz expose Holyfield's declining skills much as Lewis had in a draw and win over him that crowned Lewis 'undisputed' heavyweight champion? Some insist Holyfield dominated the final round to pull out the win. Ford and Moretti had the fight even in rounds, 6-6, but they have Evander a generous two-point round in the third at 10-8, although Ruiz was never knocked off his feet. Does this smell like limburger?

Granted, Ruiz barely survived the third round, after Holyfield rocked him with a powerful right with 25 seconds to go and sent him staggering across the ring. A younger and better Holyfield would have finished off Ruiz. The fact is, he didn't. He went hitless for most of the proceeding rounds.

After Holyfield delivered a low blow, Steele allowed Ruiz 45 seconds to recover in Holyfield's corner. If the shoe was on the other foot, there is little doubt that Steele would have disqualified Ruiz. As it was, his decision to let Holyfield get away with his constant fouling served the interest of special pleaders against the public good -- a standard of the King-Steele playbook.

What's going on here? The people know there is only one legitimate heavyweight champion. And Lennox Lewis holds the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation portions. Have we gone so far down the drain in boxing that we permit exesses of human behavior we wouldn't allow South American dictators? What kind of people are we allowing to run the faltering sport of boxing these days?

On the brighter side, let's be thankful that Mr. King has no political ambitions. With the help of Jesse Jackson, he just might make it to the Oval Office. There's a sobering thought for the millennium.

Stay tuned.

A Bit About Bill Kelly