HOLYFIELD PROMISES KNOCKOUT IN THREE.

Byline: Steve Carney Daily News Staff Writer

Nice guy. Broad smile, warm handshake.

But those are the same hands Evander Holyfield uses to beat his foes to a bloody pulp.

During a news conference Friday in Burbank, Holyfield announced that next Saturday he's going to do the same to Lennox Lewis, another somewhat gentlemanly fellow in a sport populated with thugs, braggarts, criminals, glad-handers, con men and patsies.

Not only that, but the knockout will come in the third round of the fight at Madison Square Garden in New York, producing an undisputed heavyweight boxing champion for the first time since 1992. Holyfield holds the WBA and IBF championship titles, while Lewis is the WBC heavyweight champion.

Holyfield says this is no prediction.

``The weatherman predicts. A prediction is when you don't have anything to do with it,'' Holyfield said. ``I'm confident. It's about time I stepped up and let people know how confident I am.''

See? Nice guy.

While explaining how he was going to deliver a brain-jarring blow, the boxer's 6-year-old daughter, Emani, jumped up and down chanting for her daddy and asked, ``Are we going to `The Tonight Show' after this?'' while flashing the same smile as her father. Only with fewer teeth.

Although the news conference drew mostly reporters to the Smoke House, the 53-year-old Burbank steakhouse, waiters and tourists poked their heads next to the champ's to get their souvenir snapshots taken. The owner asked Holyfield to pose with him and a basket of the restaurant's garlic bread, ``acclaimed as the world's greatest since 1946.'' Look for that photo on one of the dark, paneled walls in about a week.

The ever-gracious Holyfield even apologized for initially forgetting to hold up three fingers for the cameras after his announcement he'll knock out Lewis in the third round.

And when asked why the third round, Holyfield replied, ``Three is a good number - there's the father, son and the Holy Spirit.''

``My life is about going out and spreading the Word to others,'' he said. ``The mistakes you have made, you will overcome them if you don't quit.''

Despite the spiritual ponderings, even Holyfield isn't immune to trash-talking, to engaging in a bit of prefight hype, a tradition as old as the sport. Almost as old as George Foreman.

Previously, Lewis called Holyfield a hypocrite, asserting that he has fathered children out of wedlock, in contrast to the strong religious beliefs Holyfield espouses.

Lewis wasn't at the press conference Friday, aimed at pumping up interest for the bout that will cost pay-per-view customers $49.95.

``I believe in the word of God, and I have fallen short,'' Holyfield said of Lewis' accusations. ``He gets to see how the love of God forgives people when they fall short.''

This is the guy who forgave Mike Tyson for biting a chunk from his right ear during a 1997 bout.

``There isn't anything wrong with Lennox's heart, or his desire. If he was a quitter, he'd quit in the first round,'' Holyfield said. But ``he'll be happy to get out of there in the third round, after all the things I'll do to him in the first two rounds.''

CAPTION(S):

Photo

PHOTO A knockout in three rounds, Evander Holyfield promised Friday in Burbank of his March 13 title fight with Lennox Lewis.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News