DETROIT – Detroit trainer Emanuel Steward said he probably wouldn’t help Evander Holyfield attempt to resurrect his boxing career despite his ties with the former heavyweight champion.

Holyfield, 41, who lost in his last fight in October to James Toney, wants to become undisputed heavyweight champion again and would like Steward as his trainer. But Steward, who helped mastermind Holyfield’s dramatic title victory over Riddick Bowe in 1993, is busy preparing brothers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko for separate heavyweight championship bouts in April. Plus, he is working with plenty of local fighters at his Detroit Kronk Gym, including Tommy Hearns’ son Ronald.

“Evander’s people called me before, and I told them I wasn’t interested,” Steward said Tuesday. “I’ve never committed to training Holyfield, although some people think I have.”

Steward was responding to reports that Holyfield’s new backers, Avondale Management Group, were eager for him to train the boxer for a series of fights that would bring him the three heavyweight belts.

“I just haven’t got time,” said Steward, trainer of recently retired WBC heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis. “I’ve got a lot going on.”

Many have called for Holyfield (38-7-2) to retire because he has won only two of his last eight bouts.

“I don’t think he’s necessarily finished,” Steward said. “He’s not a shot fighter. He just hasn’t been fighting smart. He’s been throwing too many punches in his last few bouts and running out of gas.”

Holyfield became undisputed heavyweight champ when he KO’d Buster Douglas in 1990.

To win three belts again, he would need to beat WBA champion John Ruiz and Flint native Chris Byrd, who successfully defended his IBF belt against Holyfield in December 2002. Holyfield then likely would have to fight Vitali Klitschko, who is favored to beat Corrie Sanders for the vacant WBC title April 24.

“Both the Klitschko brothers would be bad fights for Holyfield,” Steward said. “They are both too big and talented for Evander at this stage.”

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(c) 2004, Detroit Free Press.

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AP-NY-03-09-04 2208EST