Fight for the Ages, Part II : Boxing: This time Evander Holyfield meets Larry Holmes, a 42-year-old grandfather who says he has been in the ring with better.

LAS VEGAS — A couple of years ago, they wouldn’t have tried to pull off something like this.

Just imagine: A 29-year-old heavyweight champion, Evander Holyfield, fighting a paunchy, 42-year-old grandfather, Larry Holmes. But that’s what they’re going to do outdoors at Caesars Palace tonight, before 15,000 and millions more on pay-per-view television.

How could this have come about? How can it be that Holyfield, nearly two years after having won the heavyweight championship, still hasn’t fought a leading challenger?

Two reasons:

--George Foreman, another 42-year-old former champion, fought 12 highly competitive rounds with Holyfield 14 months ago. The public bought that fight--Holyfield-Foreman is the pay-per-view revenue leader by a wide margin--and the public will buy this one, too.

--There is enough perception that Holmes might be able to do what Foreman couldn’t.

Holmes’ comeback, he admits, was inspired by Foreman’s. But where it took Foreman five years to get a title shot, Holmes pulled it off in 14 months. Not many paid much attention when Holmes beat five nobodies in Florida and Hawaii.

But then he got a match with a young title hopeful, unbeaten Ray Mercer, the 1988 Olympic gold medalist. Holmes, a decided underdog, beat Mercer on a convincing decision, and soon Holyfield’s promoter, Dan Duva, was on the phone.

So here we are at Caesars, where Holmes--a big underdog again--has never lost. He is 12-0 here in fights between 1977 and 1983. Holyfield, in his third title defense, is 4-0 at Caesars.

The Atlantan who was thrown out of the 1984 Olympics because he knocked an opponent stiff with a left hook just as a referee ordered “Stop!” won the title in 1990 next door, at the Mirage, by knocking out Buster Douglas.

Then he went a hard 12 rounds with Foreman and was in serious difficulty with journeyman Bert Cooper last November before stopping him in seven rounds.

So why isn’t this guy fighting top-of-the-line heavyweight challengers, such as Riddick Bowe or Razor Ruddock? Well, it’s not that he hasn’t tried.

Holyfield and Mike Tyson were to have fought last November, but Tyson’s rib injury and his subsequent indictment, conviction and imprisonment on rape charges ended that. And negotiations were under way for a Holyfield-Bowe match until Holmes upset Mercer.

Bowe is under the impression that he finally will get Holyfield--if Holyfield wins tonight and Bowe beats Pierre Coetzer on July 18.

Holyfield says he respects tonight’s challenger, but that he doesn’t have to like him. Holyfield was angered two weeks ago when Holmes accused him of having used steroids to build himself up from a mid-1980s light-heavyweight to a 210-pound heavyweight.

Holyfield heatedly denied it, offering to be tested for steroid use.

Ron Stephens of Atlanta, Holyfield’s physician, said this week: “I’ve known Evander since he was 14. You’re talking about a guy who would never even drink a beer. He would no more take that stuff (steroids) than drive his car off a bridge.”

Holyfield and his trainer, Lou Duva, seem to go out of their way to stroke Holmes, who defended his title 20 times.

“He made everyone else look like amateurs,” Holyfield said. “When he was in his prime, it was like a guy taking candy from a baby. People called his opponents bums because he was so much better.

“It’s not a man’s years you fight, it’s his spirit. And Larry’s got a great spirit.”

Said Duva: “We’re more concerned about Larry’s experience and his boxing ability than we were about George Foreman’s power.”

Rock Newman, Bowe’s manager, predicted that Holmes will succumb to Holyfield’s expected aggression.

“This won’t be like the Foreman fight, where Foreman just stood there and kept Holyfield at bay a lot of the time,” he said. “Holyfield has some flaws, but he is a very aggressive, very accurate puncher. And he’s going to hit Larry with so many punches, he just won’t be able to stand up under it.”

But when Holmes’ adviser, Harold Smith, said that Holmes has forgotten more about boxing than Holyfield has learned, he may have been close to the truth.

Holmes asks critics to simply inspect the record.

“I’ve been a professional since 1973,” he said. “And before that I was a sparring partner with Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and Earnie Shavers. I was the champion for 7 1/2 years. I could name you fighters I’ve been in the ring with who were better fighters than Holyfield, and most people have never even heard of them.”

But at 42, can he be competitive?

“You mean did my mind make a date my body can’t keep?” Holmes said. “That’s my line. Look at me. I’m in shape, I’m crafty. I’m going to knock him out. I don’t care what the critics say, I am the best and I proved it by beating the best fighter out there, Ray Mercer.”

Holmes says that most trainers don’t know much about their business, and while he ate breakfast Thursday, he talked about what he calls a lot of wasted training time.

“Look at guys who use all that time hitting speed bags,” he said.

“What does that do? Nothing, in my opinion. Oh, it’s good for show and it sounds good. But when you hit a guy, his head don’t go back and forth like that.

“And all that sparring doesn’t do much for you either, not if you already know how to box. When I was champion, I sometimes sparred 15 rounds in one day. For this fight, I sparred nine rounds total and that was probably too much.

“And look at all that roadwork boxers do. It doesn’t mean anything. Do you ask a race horse to run five miles to get ready for a one-mile race? In Easton (Easton, Pa., where he lives), there’s a 77-year-old guy who whips my butt on the road. And there’s a guy 62 who goes right by me, too.

“I didn’t do much roadwork for this fight. But am I in shape to go 12 rounds? Yes I am. There’s a lot of myths in boxing about training. I see guys 27, 28 years old in this sport who should not even be boxing because they’ve learned how to hit speed bags and do roadwork but never learned how to box, and Ray Mercer’s one of them.

“A guy can look stale, not right in a fight, and it can be because he’s overtrained as well as undertrained. I concentrate on going into a fight fresh and healthy. I even made sure my hands weren’t sore from hitting the heavy bag.”

As for those questioning how his 42-year-old legs can possibly go a hard 12 rounds against the champion, Holmes instead raises questions about the champion’s legs . . . and his mind.

“I’m not going in there and run around the ring,” he said. “If he’s the champion, he has to come after me, right? My legs are fine. When you say my legs can’t go 12, I’m insulted.

“When I was champion, I would throw 70 to 90 punches a round and land maybe 40. Now I’ll throw 50 and land 35 or 40.”

The former champion also wondered how the heavyweight champion is sleeping this week.

“If he believes after his last two fights, like everyone else does, that he’s easy to hit, then he knows he has a serious problem Friday night,” Holmes said.

“I defended the title 20 times. There was a lot of pressure on me to do that. Ask yourself this: Could Holyfield defend the title 20 times, like I did?

“Do you think he’ll sleep well tonight? Or if he does sleep well, is it because that little voice tells him: ‘Hey, stop worrying. I get $18 million even if I lose.’ ”

Tale of the Tape Heavyweight fight between Evander Holyfield and Larry Holmes, to be held tonight in Las Vegas.

HOLYFIELD HOLMES 29 years Age 42 years 210 lbs. Weight 233 lbs. 6-2 1/2” Height 6-3” 77 1/2” Reach 81” 46” Chest (normal) 43” 48” Chest (Expanded) 46” 17” Biceps 16” 13 1/2” Forearm 13” 32” Waist 38” 23” Thigh 26” 13 1/2” Calf 16 1/2” 19 1/2” Neck 17 1/2” 7 1/2” Wrist 8 1/2” 12 1/2” Fist 13 1/2”