Boxing: Holmes lines up one last fight - against Foreman

Former world heavyweight champion Larry Holmes says he may be fat and 55 but he still wants one more fight - against former champ George Foreman, 56.

"I'm not trying to make a comeback. I'm not interested in making another career," Holmes said yesterday. "I just want to fight Foreman."

Bulging out of his dark suit and admitting to weighing 120kg, Holmes said he was frustrated at never having fought Foreman when the two were younger.

"This could be for the AARP championship," quipped boxing historian Bert Sugar, referring to a US organisation for retired people.

Holmes said that while he has not communicated with Foreman, he has heard he was back in training.

"I talked on the phone the other day with George's former son-in-law, and he says George wants another fight before facing me," Holmes said.

The two were set to come out of retirement for a showdown in 1999, but the fight fell through.

"I'm 120kg and I'm fat," said Holmes, who reigned as champion from 1978 to 1985. "As you get older you don't push away from the table and the TV as fast. But I've still got a good jab and good reflexes."

Foreman first won the title in 1973 against Joe Frazier, but lost it to Muhammad Ali a year later in the "Rumble in the Jungle".

He came back after a lengthy retirement to reclaim the crown at 45 by knocking out Michael Moorer in 1994. He has thrived outside the ring as a pitchman for items such as cooking grills and as a TV boxing commentator.

Holmes has kept busy with personal appearances and endorsements. Casino Fortune, an online casino company he works for, said it was willing to promote the fight and hold it in one of its properties in Trinidad, Barbados, Botswana or Namibia.

"This could bring some notoriety back to boxing and that would be good," Holmes said. "You've got guys fighting in the heavyweight division nowadays that nobody even heard of."

Holmes last fought in 2002, taking a 10-round decision over Eric (Butterbean) Esch. Foreman lost a 12-round decision to Shannon Briggs in 1997 in his last fight.

- REUTERS