"If you back off Tyson at all he gets very strong; it is what he wants. I could see Tyson beating Lewis in the right circumstances." Predictably, he can see no possibilities for Ruiz, the earnest son of a broken Puerto Rican family and devoted husband of a high school sweetheart he married at 17, and father of two children. Ruiz stood to applaud Holyfield when he was presented with the "man of the year" trophy awarded by DARE, an organisation committed to fighting drug problems, and later explained his commitment to youth work back home in Massachussets.His father, of whom he knew little, died as the result of alcoholism recently. "Boxing," says Ruiz, "steered me clear of drugs and drinking and the problems that come in the streets, and I will always owe it that. Evander Holyfield is a great fighter but he has had his time." Has boxing? Angelo Dundee, who in the end tracked down an audience, insists it has not.

"My kid [the bantamweight challenger Johnson] came out of one of the toughest corners of America," he says. "He has been to college, is a musician and fights beautifully. Okay, boxing has had a rough time, but the cream comes to the surface. The game will go on."Dundee would say that, as inevitably as Don King mangled the French language in this resort's bizarre reproduction of the French capital. The "over-and-under" bet, which is normally concerned with the round at which a fight finishes, was devoted to how long it would take King to utter a mispronunciation of the French at his press conference Twenty eight seconds was the nominated dividing line. He did it in two seconds with "bonjeer," shortly before referring to the artist Telise La Truck.As Dundee was saying, most things in boxing never change..

Perhaps the choice of name for the fixture was ill-starred but it is difficult to regard the response of owners and trainers to the six free-to-enter races worth a total purse of £400,000 in tomorrow's Shergar Cup at Ascot as anything but disappointing. Just 48 horses were declared yesterday for the second running of the team international challenge tentatively styled as racing's Ryder Cup. With prize money guaranteed to ninth place in each race, only the horse that finishes last in the opener, the sole contest to attract the maximum field of 10, will go home empty-handed. Bearing in mind the constant whingeing from industry professionals about poor financial returns, pitiful is another word that springs to mind. Perhaps the choice of name for the fixture was ill-starred but it is difficult to regard the response of owners and trainers to the six free-to-enter races worth a total purse of £400,000 in tomorrow's Shergar Cup at Ascot as anything but disappointing. Just 48 horses were declared yesterday for the second running of the team international challenge tentatively styled as racing's Ryder Cup. With prize money guaranteed to ninth place in each race, only the horse that finishes last in the opener, the sole contest to attract the maximum field of 10, will go home empty-handed.