It was a night of surprises, dissapointments, and a little comic relief in the heavyweight division Saturday night in New York's Madison Square Garden.

In a fight card that many thought would not live up to the hype, Don King's heavyweight round-robin didn't exactly set off fireworks. But it came close. In a night that saw Chris Byrd overcome a 56-lb disadvantage, Evander Holyfield lose virtually every round of his fight, and John Ruiz's manager Norman Stone get kicked out of his corner by officials, the heavyweight scene, if not brimming with talent, is at least overflowing with drama.

In the opening bout, Evander Holyfield made Larry Donald look like Larry Holmes, losing almost every round as Donald outjabbed, out-punched and outworked the 42-year-old, and was awarded with a unanimous decision. I scored it 119-109, giving Holyfield the 10th round almost out of sympathy. In the post-fight interview, Holyfield looked a little irritated as HBO's Larry Merchant asked him the inevitable questions concerning retirement. But the "Real Deal" wouldn't take the bait, saying only that he fought better tonight than in his last fight. In his last nine fights, Holyfield is now 1-5-2 with one technical win.

The most impressive victory of the evening was made by Hasim Rahman, who scored a 4th round TKO over Kali Meehan. Rahman was in shape, refocused, and all business from the opening round as he took the fight to the Australian. Rahman was up on his toes and jabbing, looking much better than he'd looked in previous fights. After winning the first three rounds, Rahman battered Meehan against the ropes, landing monster consecutive right hands as the crowd roared with approval. As the bell sounded, Meehan's corner threw in the towel and just like that Rahman, a man on fire, was back in the heavyweight picture.

Chris Byrd overcame a 2nd-round knockdown and 270 lbs of Jameel McCline to retain his IBF championship by winning a split decision over his good friend. McCline seemed to dominate the first half of the fight with a frenzied attack, but Byrd came on strong in the second half as the big man began to tire. In the 10th round of a fight which at times resembled a giant swatting at a fly, McCline threw everything but the kitchen sink at Byrd, at one point chopping down at the back of his head. But it was Byrd's quick little flurries and evasive defence that secured the win in a fight that was too close for comfort. I scored it 115-112 for McCline.

In the main event, John Ruiz vs. Andrew Golota was all it was supposed to be - a foulfest. But there were some good punches landed, too. Ruiz came out of his corner quickly in the first round, throwing punches and surprising a lot of people. In the 2nd, Golota knocked him down twice, the second time as Ruiz was already on his way down, igniting the fury of Ruiz's obnoxious trainer Norman Stone. After Ruiz had a point deducted in round 4 for hitting on the break, the foul-mouthed Stone continued his verbal assault on the referee, calling him an "asshole", "fucking jerk-off", and "coward with no balls". A real class act, commentator Roy Jones Jr. observed.

In the 5th round, Stone was ejected from the corner, relegated to watching the fight in the dressing room on a little tv, looking like Papa Smurf and making the audience laugh has the cameras showed him jumping up and down, cheering his fighter.

The absence of his trainer must of inspired Ruiz, because after fighting his trademark jab-and-hold style throughout the middle of the fight, he actually dominated the last four rounds and showed some good boxing skills, employing a double left hook to the head which he used effectively throughtout the fight. In the 9th round, an inevitable fight broke out in the stands (probably between Poles and Puerto Ricans), and a Polish chant for Golota couldn't do much as the "Foul Pole" couldn't seem to solve Ruiz's frustrating style. Ruiz won a unanimous decision, though I didn't think he did enough to overcome Golota's early lead. I had it 114-111 for Golota.