COLUMN: Royce Feour

     Opinions about who will win Saturday's Evander Holyfield-Mike Tyson heavyweight championship fight are like noses -- everybody has one.
      But some opinions are better than others.
      And venerable Eddie Futch is about as good as they get.
      How many other people have trained six world heavyweight champions? Futch has trained Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Larry Holmes, Michael Spinks, Trevor Berbick and Riddick Bowe.
      And Futch picks Holyfield to stop Tyson in the ninth round.
      "I think Holyfield will out-box him again," Futch said. "If he is effective early, he might stop him a little earlier. I think it could end earlier, but not that much earlier."
      Holyfield stopped Tyson in the 11th round of their first fight on Nov. 9 at the MGM.
      But Futch still gives Tyson, a 2-1 favorite, a chance to win the rematch.
      "Sure, with his power," Futch said. "He has always had quick hands and good power. A man could be way ahead and get hurt."
      Futch doesn't discount a possible scenario of Holyfield winning the fight in the later rounds, but suddenly being knocked out by Tyson.
      Futch doesn't believe either man will benefit by the postponement of the fight. The rematch had been scheduled for May 3, but Tyson suffered a cut over his left eye in training, forcing a delay.
      "I don't think that is going to be a significant factor," Futch said.
      In analyzing the fight, the question is what Tyson can do differently than he did in the first fight.
      Team Tyson changed trainers in an attempt to improve his performance, bringing back Richie Giachetti to replace longtime Tyson friend Jay Bright.
      Giachetti trained Tyson for four fights in 1990-91 after he lost to Buster Douglas and before he went to prison in 1992. Giachetti also trained Holmes when he was the heavyweight champion.
      But Futch doesn't think the switch will make any difference.
      "I haven't seen Giachetti change a fighter," he said.
      Futch said he knows what Tyson needs to do.
      "He's got to learn how to make (his opponent's) punches miss and counter off those misses. Something like I had Joe Frazier fight. He has to take charge, bob and weave and use his power," Futch said.
      One huge advantage Tyson has enjoyed is that his opponents have been intimidated, Futch said.
      That was particularly true of Spinks in 1988 in Atlantic City and Frank Bruno and Bruce Seldon last year at the MGM.
      "He keeps them from going all-out," Futch said of Tyson's intimidation factor.
      One of Futch's biggest questions is about Tyson's reflexes.
      "I don't know how good Tyson's reflexes will be in the fight," he said. "Even without four years out of competition, everybody loses some reflex action."
      Futch said Tyson depends on his punching power and is not a fighter who moves around the ring much.
      "He doesn't do much orthodox counter-punching," he said.
      Futch noted that in both of Tyson's losses, to both Douglas and Holyfield, he claimed not to remember anything in the fight after a certain period.
      "That's possible," Futch said. "I had that happen to fighters of mine."
      There is also a psychological factor to consider.
      "Knowing he's in the gym (training for the man) who beat him and knocked him out, that's tough weighing on his mind. He has been looking at the man all of these months," he said.
      Futch was asked how Holyfield could look so bad, even in winning, against Bobby Czyz, then bounce back to pull the shocking upset of Tyson almost eight months ago.
      "That's the reason I picked Tyson (the first fight). I had Bowe knock him out," Futch said.
      Bowe stopped Holyfield in the eighth round in 1995 at Caesars Palace in his last fight before he met Czyz.
      "I said, 'This guy's done,' " Futch said.
      Holyfield later said he didn't take the Bowe or Czyz fights seriously.
      But in a major fight, one he gets up for, there is no discounting Holyfield's tremendous courage.
      "I knew he would fight," Futch said. "He's got a big heart. He got in super condition. Apparently, he hadn't taken them (Bowe and Czyz) seriously."
     
      Royce Feour's boxing column is published Friday. He can be reached by phone at 383-0354, by fax at 383-4676 or by e-mail at Royce_Feour@lvrj.com