THE House OF Pain

It’s 6 a.m. and already steamy at the Main Boxing Gym in a seedy part of downtown Houston, where the sign outside advertises “House of Pain.”

Inside, the heavyweight champion of the world is holding hands with his sparring partner and massage therapist as they begin a group prayer before training.

“All you guys are welcome to join in,” assistant trainer Tommy Brooks tells a crowd of about 30 people in the gym. One by one, they do, eventually forming a circle as a man offers a “Boxer’s Prayer.”

Large doors are opened on either side of the gym to get more air into the fabricated metal building that lacks air conditioning. The early morning sun streaming through one door adds to the suffocating heat.

Gospel music begins to blare from a nearby boom box as Evander Holyfield stretches with sparring partner Gary Bell and a few others. The lighthearted banter stops briefly as Holyfield closes his eyes, seemingly deep in thought, and begins singing.

“I will celebrate, sing unto the Lord,” he sings, sweat dripping from his face. “I will praise him. Hallelujah, Hallelujah.”

The time left before Holyfield steps into the ring for his rematch with Mike Tyson is now being counted in days instead of weeks. But you couldn’t tell it inside the gym, where trainer Donald Turner enjoys coffee and a donut and trades laughs with a small group of camp regulars.

For nearly five months they’ve been here every weekday at a training camp lengthened after Tyson cut his eye sparring and postponed the fight from May 3 to June 28.

“If they think they’re pulling something by postponing the fight, it’s not going to work,” Turner says. “He’s even better now than he was for the first date they had.”

On this day, Holyfield stretches, hits the pads and jumps rope. He was supposed to spar four rounds with Bell but the plan was dropped.

“He went to the chiropractor yesterday and says he feels a little sore,” Bell says.

It was Bell who pushed Holyfield for the first fight on Nov. 9, and Holyfield responded by stopping Tyson in the 11th round.

Bell, undefeated in 14 fights himself, plays the part of Tyson in the ring, rushing at Holyfield and winging punches like the ex-champ. He even has a part in his hair like Tyson.

“Before the first fight I was getting to him real easy but he’s much stronger this time,” Bell says. “Last camp I was pushing him around the ring, shoving him. Now, I can’t do that. And I never catch him with the same punch twice. He’s smart, he adjusts to it.”

Holyfield still gets in some sparring on this day. But instead of the 237-pound Bell, he playfully trades punches with some kids whose parents brought them to the gym.

Laverne and Denton Thomas brought 2-year-old Denton Jr. and his baby sister, still sleeping in the early morning hour. They put big red gloves on Denton, but he still needs a hug from his dad before reluctantly getting in the ring. Holyfield drops to his knees and sticks out his jaw for the youngster to take a swing at.

“We’d rather see Evander as a role model than Mr. Tyson,” his father says. “That’s one reason I brought him here. And he’ll remember this the rest of his life.”

Unlike Tyson, who works out behind closed doors in Las Vegas surrounded by bodyguards, all are welcome at Holyfield’s camp.

Houston computer programmer Richard Waters has taken advantage of that, day after day, week after week, getting up at 4:30 a.m. to faithfully stand in a corner of the gym.

“I wouldn’t miss it; it’s like gladiators preparing for the arena,” he says. “My boss lets me arrange my schedule so I can be here. My girlfriend thinks I’m crazy.”

Later, in the trendy River Oaks area of Houston, a rush of cool air hits like a jolt as Holyfield walks past a black Mercedes sports coupe through the garage and into his house.

Inside, a cook makes some turkey sandwiches and Holyfield, still sweating from his workout, runs up the stairs to take a shower. A few minutes later he’s on his way out the door with the sandwiches, heading for the airport and a weekend at home in Atlanta with his new wife, Janice, and his six kids.

It’s his last weekend at home before heading to Las Vegas for the biggest fight in boxing history. He’ll make $35 million, the richest purse ever. Yet Holyfield is as relaxed as someone heading out for a friendly game of golf.

“I’m the man and he can’t handle me,” Holyfield says. “This individual can’t get over the fact that I did it before. He may fight a better fight but I will have enough if he does. I don’t forget what I went through and what I did to do it.”

Holyfield is prepared for the inevitable questions of why a 34-year-old man who has made more than $100 million--most of which he still has--wants to return to the ring and risk getting pummeled. He would seem to have no more mountains to climb after beating the feared Tyson.

“What motivates a man who has money and family and is happy?” Holyfield asks. “If the love of the sport is there it doesn’t get old. He loves what he’s doing.

“I made my niche by beating Tyson. The man gave me an opportunity so I’m going to give him an opportunity. When I’m gone from this sport I want to have made my mark.”

Whether that mark is as a good heavyweight champ who had one lucky night against Tyson or someone who handled him twice won’t be known until sometime late next Saturday night.

It was, after all, what most considered a fading and shot Holyfield who went into the first fight a huge underdog.

After losing his heavyweight titles to Michael Moorer in April 1994, Holyfield came back a year later to win a bruising 10-rounder against Ray Mercer, then ran out of gas and was stopped by Riddick Bowe in the eighth round of their third fight.

When he looked bad before finally stopping Bobby Czyz in the fifth round on May 10, 1996, Tyson’s people came calling.

“After that fight (strength coach) Tim Hallmark and myself both said at the same time that Tyson would want to fight me after a performance like that,” Holyfield recalls. “Tyson knew I could still fight but his people kept telling him I couldn’t.”

Holyfield holds the WBA heavyweight title but doesn’t seem to get the deserved credit for beating Tyson.

Oddsmakers who had made him up to a 20-1 underdog in the first fight still make Tyson a 2-1 favorite in the rematch. Tyson himself admits he underestimated Holyfield and believes he will knock him out in the rematch.

“I never thought he could fight that good,” Tyson says. “Now I have a great deal of respect for his boxing skills and, with that respect alone, I’ll be a lot more intense for this fight.”

Tyson switched trainers and has been working on his jab and moving his head more. Still, it’s been just a few months since they first met, and Holyfield says there’s only so much Tyson can do in that time.

“I don’t think there’s anything he can do to change the outcome of the fight,” Holyfield says. “He may change things that will help him last a little longer or not get hurt. But it won’t be enough to win. It won’t change the outcome of the fight.”

Later, at the Houston airport, Holyfield walks through the terminal almost unnoticed. Tyson may travel with bodyguards and an entourage, but Holyfield is alone.

A few people finally recognize Holyfield as he waits to board his plane, asking for autographs as the champ talks about his future.

Beating Tyson a second time may not be enough. There’s the fragmented title to unify and a possible rematch with Moorer.

“At any given time this game can end for you and I pray and ask the Lord that when it’s time to let me know,” Holyfield says. “I used to be afraid because people talked about me staying too long or not knowing how to quit. But every time I try to retire I want to go to the gym again. Maybe when the whole world says I’m the best man around, that will be it.”

That could happen if all goes as planned next Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden, where a sellout crowd of more than 16,000 will pay up to $1,500 a seat to watch boxing history.

“I know he can be hit. I know he can be hurt,” Holyfield says. “I’m going to be able to hit him and hurt him. Hopefully, me doing that early will make him cave in a lot quicker this time.”

With that, the heavyweight champion of the world walks alone to the plane, carrying his turkey sandwiches with him.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Rematches at a Glance

Three fighters have regained the heavyweight title in rematches with the men who won it from them. Five other fighters failed to regain the title in rematches with their conquerors.

REGAINED TITLE

* Floyd Patterson knocked out Ingemar Johansson in the fifth round on June 20, 1960, in New York and became the first man to regain the heavyweight championship. Johansson won the title by stopping Patterson in the third round on June 26, 1959, in New York. In a rubber match, Patterson knocked out Johansson in the sixth round on March 13, 1961, in Miami Beach, Fla.

* Muhammad Ali won a 15-round decision over Leon Spinks on Sept. 15, 1978, in New Orleans. Spinks had won the title on a 15-round decision on Feb. 15, 1978, in Las Vegas.

* Evander Holyfield won a 12-round decision over Riddick Bowe for the IBF and WBA titles on Nov. 6, 1993, in Las Vegas. Bowe had won the IBF, WBA and WBC titles on a 12-round decision on Nov. 13, 1992, in Las Vegas.

FAILED TO REGAIN TITLE

* Bob Fitzsimmons was knocked out in the eighth round by James J. Jeffries on July 25, 1902, in San Francisco. Jeffries had won the title on an 11th-round knockout on June 9, 1899, on Coney Island in New York.

* Jack Dempsey lost a 10-round decision to Gene Tunney on Sept. 22, 1927, in Chicago. Tunney had won the title on a 10-round decision on Sept. 23, 1926, in Philadelphia.

* Jersey Joe Walcott was knocked out in the first round by Rocky Marciano on May 15, 1953, in Chicago. Marciano had won the title on a 13th-round knockout on Sept. 13, 1952.

* Floyd Patterson was knocked out in the first round by Sonny Liston on July 22, 1963, in Las Vegas. Liston had won the title on a first-round knockout on Sept. 25, 1962, in Chicago.

* Larry Holmes lost a 15-round decision to Michael Spinks on April 19, 1986, in Las Vegas. Spinks had won the title on 15-round decision on Sept. 22, 1985, in Las Vegas.

NOTE: Ezzard Charles lost a 15-round decision to Walcott in a bid to regain the title on June 5, 1952, in Philadelphia. But that was the fourth title fight between the two. Charles retained the title twice on decisions over Walcott before Walcott became champion with a seventh-round knockout of Charles on July 18, 1951, in Pittsburgh.