Put down your dukes

Hearing reports from 44-year-old Evander Holyfield’s heavyweight title bout loss to 32-year-old Sultan Ibragimov in Russia over the weekend made me think of the movie ‘‘Rocky IV.’’
Unfortunately, it made me think of Apollo Creed.
Creed got killed in the ring by Ivan Drago, the half-man, half-cyborg heavyweight whose punches had the power to liquify internal organs and stop a charging rhinocerous. Anyway, given Holyfield’s age and his new diversion of following retired champ George Foreman into the indoor barbecue grill industry, I really worried that he would become another Apollo Creed.
He didn’t kiss the canvas on Saturday, but he lost a unanimous decision.
That makes him 5-5-1 since he last wore a championship belt in 2000, but all of his victories have come against no-names.
The writing should be on the wall, on large block letters.
Roger Mayweather, Ibragimov's trainer, and the uncle of unbeaten welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather, said after Saturday’s fight: "If he couldn't get past this shot, it's time to walk away. He's won the championship four times. What's left to prove?’’
Exactly. Holyfield owns a 42-9-2 record and four titles. He overcame a heart condition in the mid-1990s (he says a faith healer fixed everything) and he stood up to Mike Tyson (he has the gnawed-on ear to show for it).
There’s nothing more for him to do than rest on his laurels and sell his barbecue grills, but it doesn’t sound as if he’ll be content to do that.
‘‘My goal is still to be undisputed heavyweight champion of the world,’’ he told reporters after his fight.
If he really insists on continuing such a quixotic quest, he may become something else.
A once-great boxer who loses his health to such an extreme that he can no longer enjoy the riches he accumulated.