GREAT BRIT; LEWIS UNANIMOUS PICK; HOLYFIELD BATTLES IN VAIN.

Byline: Michael Rosenthal Staff Writer

The judges got it right this time, although Evander Holyfield didn't make it easy for them here on Saturday.

Holyfield was better than he was when he and Lennox Lewis fought to a controversial draw in March in New York - much better. But better against a behemoth like Lewis, who has almost every physical advantage, just wasn't good enough.

Lewis used a stiff left jab, a surprising right uppercut and a lot of resolve to unanimously outpoint one of the sport's most admired figures and become the undisputed No. 1 heavyweight in the world before a crowd of 17,916 that pulled evenly for the fighters.

Judge Jerry Roth scored it 115-113, Chuck Giampa 116-112 and Bill Graham 117-111. The Daily News had it 116-112 in favor of Lewis.

Punch stats supported the decision: Lewis outlanded Holyfield 195-137 overall, 76-52 in jabs and 119-85 in power punches.

Still, there was some controversy.

One, while Lewis walked away with the WBC and WBA belts, his promoter failed to pay the IBF its $300,000 sanctioning fee and the organization withheld its belt, but the dispute apparently will be resolved when the money is transferred.

And, two, many experts at ringside scored the fight for Holyfield.

There might be just enough people certain Holyfield had won to force a third lucrative bout between fighters deemed the best in their division. They each earned $15 million and could commmand a similar payday if they do it again.

At the moment, Lewis is thinking only of Saturday.

``It was tougher than the first time,'' said Lewis, who had an estimated 6,000 raucous fans from England in Las Vegas to support him. ``He trained for this fight and he used different tactics.

``. . . I just didn't want to let (my fans) down, to let myself down. This was my dream. I didn't want to go home without the belts.''

Holyfield accepted the defeat graciously.

``It's not so much what I think, but how reality is,'' he said. ``The only thing I looked to do was my best and that's what I did (Saturday).''

His best was good.

Holyfield (36-4-1, with 25 knockouts) will be 37 next week but fought with the vigor of a youngster.

In vintage Holyfield form, he went after Lewis (35-1-1, 27 KOs) from the opening bell and never stopped. He was in shape and remarkably determined to win the undisputed title for a second time at an age when most fighters are left with only memories.

At times, he scored big - in an unforgettable seventh round, for example.

He hurt Lewis with a left hook and then a right and another left a few seconds later. He had his chance to stun the world one more time, but his efforts to knock out the bigger man fell short. He would not get another such opportunity.

Lewis did much of what he did in the first bout. He measured Holyfield with his left jab and followed with more than enough rights to win over the judges.

A powerful right uppercut, which he underused in the first fight, might have been the key to the fight. Holyfield simply couldn't figure out how to avoid it.

Lewis, too, had his chance to end the fight early. He hurt Holyfield with a big left hook in the ninth round, but Holyfield tied Lewis up enough to survive the round.

Many experts at ringside were surprised at the decision. Some scored the bout for Holyfield, perhaps because of his aggressiveness and periods of passiveness on Lewis' part, passiveness that appeared to suck the spirit out of an estimated 6,000 fans from England. They had been wildy enthusiastic in the beginning but went almost silent in the second half of the fight.

One television executive suggested that Holyfield had the edge in some eyes because Lewis, who is a good three inches taller and 25 pounds heavier, allowed Holyfield to be the aggressor from the outset.

However, few will look at this as anything resembling the March debacle, when Lewis appeared to win easily but received only a draw. And, by all estimations, it was a more entertaining fight.

The seventh round alone made it worth the effort. No one who saw it will forget it.

And there was the pivotal fifth, when Lewis was cut near his right eye from an apparent butt and then almost pushed Holyfield through the ropes, which seemed to fire up both fighters. There was as much action in those rounds as the entire first bout.

Clearly, this is what the sport - suffering from a series of setbacks in recent months - needed: a good, relatively clean fight.

``It was good a fight,'' another television executive said smiling.

Good enough that we probably will see more of Holyfield, who stunned the boxing world by knocking out Mike Tyson in 11 rounds in November of 1996 but looked his age in the first bout against Lewis.

Again, a third fight with Lewis would be attractive. And he spoke after the fight of his desire for another bout with Mike Tyson. He certainly earned it on Saturday.

In preliminary bouts, Fabrice Tiozzo of France stopped Ken Murphy of Chicago after seven rounds to keep his WBA cruiserweight championship.

Tiozzo (41-1, 26 KOs) outlanded Murphy (21-2-1, 15 KOs) at least 2-1 and won every round on every card.

Murphy went down with seconds left in the seventh as much from an accumulation of punches as a single blow.

Tiozzo, who weighed only 189-1/2 pounds, has said he plans to move up to heavyweight in the near future.

WBA super lightweight champion Sharmba Mitchell (46-2, 29 KOs) retained his title when he easily outpointed Elio Ortiz (17-4, 13 KOs).

Mitchell, from Takoma Park, Md., knocked down his Venezuelan opponent in the opening seconds and hurt him several times but couldn't put him away.

The judges scored it 114-112, 118-108 and 119-109.

And Gilbert Serrano of Venezuela took Italian Stefano Zoff's WBA lightweight title when Zoff (29-7-2, 11 KOs) couldn't continue because of cut over his swollen right eye.

The fight was stopped at 31 seconds of the 10th round. Serrano (18-4-2, 16 KOs) was leading the fight by a wide margin on all cards.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

PHOTO (1 -- color) Lennox Lewis raises his arms in victory as Evander Holyfield returns to his corner after the 12th and final round.

(2) Referee Mitch Halpern stops Evander Holyfield from being pushed out of the ring by Lennox Lewis. The fight at the Thomas & Mack Center was a clean one, which the sport of boxing badly needed.

Laura Rauch/Associated Press

BOX: Scoring by round