Stewart Disproves Notion That He’s Unworthy : Boxing: Huge underdog gives unbeaten Evander Holyfield a real battle before bout is stopped in the eighth round.

Boxing’s heavyweight division, previously thought to be dominated by only two men, may have to make room for a third after what transpired Saturday night in Atlantic City’s Convention Hall.

Alex Stewart, a 13-1 underdog and thought to be a near-setup for Evander Holyfield in his countdown to a bout with champion Mike Tyson, unexpectedly fought with skill, heart and courage. He also fought from the second round on with a deep cut on the outside of his right eye, and that cost him the fight.

Holyfield, fighting with great courage himself, preserved a multi-million dollar payday against Tyson, probably next June. Holyfield (23-0) got a TKO when the ringside doctor stopped the fight at 2:51 of the eighth round.

It was a brutal fight. Both heavyweights absorbed a tremendous amount of punishment. Both had to summon strength from deep within, but Holyfield had a good track record for tough fights. Stewart didn’t.

The Jamaican-born and London and Brooklyn-raised Stewart was 24-0 against mediocre opponents and had stopped each one inside of four rounds.

Holyfield had a tough fight in Las Vegas against Michael Dokes last March. Most have called that one the heavyweight bout of the eighties.

The fight was watched by a capacity crowd of 6,415 in the Convention Hall’s West Hall.

Holyfield was fighting with a cold, he said later.

“He was taking cold medication two days ago and had a vitamin shot,” said his co-trainer, George Benton. “If I’d suggested we postpone the fight, Holyfield would have fired me.”

Stewart’s manager, Mike Jones, came in late to the post-fight news conference and seemed to be disturbed with talk of a cold. “I think Alex’s performance might have had something to do with Holyfield’s performance,” he said.

Holyfield’s worst moments came in the furious fifth round when Stewart, at center-ring, rocked Holyfield with a left-right-left combination. Holyfield wobbled, backed up, dropped his hands and opened his mouth. He took a couple of more hard rights and a couple of left hooks, but survived the round.

Every judge scored the fifth as Stewart’s only round.

Holyfield’s manager, Dan Duva, was smirking at the post-fight news conference.

“OK, where are the wise guys who said Alex Stewart couldn’t fight?” he said. “He fought a beautiful fight.”

Added Holyfield: “Alex was courageous . . . and a lot quicker than I expected. I thought he was a two, three-punch combination fighter. He was throwing six, seven at a time tonight.”

Stewart, 223, had never fought a boxer of Holyfield’s caliber, and he went to school over the first two rounds.

Holyfield, 212, came out fast with hard, quick left jabs. When he got inside on Stewart, he stayed there, throwing short hooks and uppercuts. Thus, he was neutralizing Stewart’s primary weapon--a long, straight right that had stopped most of his opponents.

Stewart had a rocky first two rounds. In fact, his face was reddened by the accumulation of Holyfield’s attack before the first round ended. But he never lost his composure, and never let Holyfield bring in the finishing punch. He landed with just enough left hooks and short right hands inside to prevent Holyfield from opening up the throttle all the way.

Stewart, in a news conference before the fight, said, “No one is going to step all over me.”

The cut came midway through the second round, although no one was sure exactly when. Even Stewart afterward said he didn’t know if it was from a head butt or a punch.

“I’d never been cut before,” he said. “I wasn’t sure what to do. At certain times my vision (out of the right eye) was blurry.”

The cut was on the outside of the right eye socket, just below the end of the brow. And it was very deep.

The ringside physician, Dr. Frank Doggett, checked the cut after every round and let it go because it wasn’t bleeding directly into the eye.

Stewart lost the first four rounds, but was by no means out of the fight. He never stopped throwing punches and landed enough of them to keep Holyfield honest. Stewart’s gallant fifth was an important round for him, since he’d never gone that far.

But in the sixth, Holyfield backed up Stewart with left hooks and landed two punishing, short uppercuts on Stewart’s chin midway through the round. At this point, Stewart seemed to be slowing down and losing strength.

Holyfield finished the round by punishing Stewart on the ropes. When the bell rang, Stewart stumbled and couldn’t find his corner.

With Doggett watching, Stewart’s seconds battled furiously to stop the blood flow, but when the bell rang for the eighth, the blood was streaming again even as he hoisted himself off his stool.

There were no knockdowns. But if this battle turned on one punch, it was probably a powerful right to Stewart’s ribs midway through the eighth. It could be heard several rows back into the crowd. Stewart never threw another significant punch.

More important, his face was a bloody mask at that point. When Doggett looked at him on his stool, he told referee Tony Perez to stop it.

Stewart earned $225,000 Saturday. His previous biggest paycheck was $13,500. Holyfield made $1.2 million.