Evander Holyfield, at 49 years old, says he’s still active and would like to fight for the heavyweight title against one of the Klitschko brothers. (AP)

LAS VEGAS — Evander Holyfield is five months shy of his 50th birthday but the former undisputed heavyweight champion still believes he will be the current  undisputed heavyweight champion.

“I’d like to fight a Klitschko,” Holyfield said Saturday at ringside during the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather-Miguel Cotto fight. “I want to be a champion. I’ll fight any one of the champions.”

Holyfield has been out of the ring since last May, when he knocked out Brian Nielsen. Holyfield says he is still active and hopes to have a fight before the end of the year. But there’s a catch: He says he will only fight again if it is a title fight.

“If I have to fight somebody else, why fight?” Holyfield said. “I’m only interested in championship fights.”

Holyfield could technically fight for a title without going through one of the Klitschkos. Alexander Povetkin holds the WBA “regular” heavyweight title — the organization bizarrely elevated Wladimir Klitschko to “super champion” shortly after he won the title from David Haye — and rumors persist that Povetkin’s promoter, Sauerland Event, is interested in making a Povetkin-Holyfield fight later in the year.

“At the age of 50, I thought I’d be to be out of the game,” Holyfield said. “I thought I would have accomplished all I wanted to accomplish. But I still want to fight for the title.”

– Chris Mannix

Seth Mitchell said he would consider a fight against one of the Klitschko brothers, for the right price. (Mel Evans/AP)

LAS VEGAS — Megafights like Saturday night’s showdown between Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto generally bring many of boxing’s biggest names to town. That includes Seth Mitchell, the former Michigan State linebacker and current heavyweight prospect, who last weekend defeated Chazz Witherspoon in a third-round knockout.

Mitchell sat down for a quick conversation with SI.com while in town for Saturday’s fight.

You were a football player. How in the heck did you get into boxing?

I went to Madison Square Garden and saw [Ravens safety] Tom Zbikowski’s pro debut, in 2006. I played against him in college. I thought, ‘if he could do it, I could do it.’ I had no experience. I was a very casual fan. I watched the major fights. I was a Tyson fan growing up. But I didn’t know a lot about it.”

What made you think you would be good at it?

Athletics is my gift. Not sport, athletics. I’ve always stood out when it comes to competing. I only played football for three years, and I was an All-American. My drive, my will, I figured I would have success.

Did you take to it quickly?

The transition from always running sprints to running three and four miles, it’s different. You have to train yourself to go hard for three minutes versus in football, you get a 30-35 second break. And you can’t train to take a punch. That was the toughest part. Playing middle linebacker in football, I was always tight when I would take on and engage those blockers. Where in boxing, you have to relax. It took me sometime to learn to relax in the ring.

You got buzzed pretty good by Witherspoon in that first round, didn’t you?

I was hurt. I had been buzzed three times before, but that time I was hurt. I have to start keeping that left hand up.

Did you learn anything from that?

If you had asked me how I would have reacted before, I would have told you that is how I would react. That I would be OK. But I didn’t know. Now I know I can recover. I know I have that drive and that will. I have to keep that left hand up. I have to keep my head on a swivel.

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With no heavyweight rivals, Wladimir Klitschko must set his sights on history to stay interested. (PATRICK STOLLARZ/GETTY IMAGES)

DUSSELDORF, Germany — Three thoughts from Wladimir Klitschko’s fourth-round knockout win over Jean-Marc Mormeck:

Well, that was predictable. I understand that there are no heavyweights that can reasonably be expected to challenge one of the Klitschko’s. But Mormeck was a terrible choice. The 39-year old former cruiserweight titleholder (with knockout losses to O’Neil Bell and David Haye on his résumé) had no business being in the ring with Wladimir. His heavyweight résumé consisted of wins — decision wins — over Vinny Maddalone, Fres Oquendo and Timur Ibragimov. He isn’t ranked in the top eight by the WBA (an organization that ranks Hasim Rahman as its No. 1 contender), WBO or IBF and isn’t ranked by the WBC at all.

This was considered a massive mismatch, and it lived up to its billing, with Mormeck driving his head into Klitschko’s chest trying to get inside and Klitschko pot-shotting him from the outside when he couldn’t. Mormeck connected on three — three –punches before a brutal combination put him down and out in the fourth. In a word: pathetic.

So where does Klitschko go now? There is a mandatory title defense due against Tony Thompson — the same Thompson who Klitschko knocked out cold in 2008 — which Klitschko’s manager, Bernd Boente, told me would take place in July. Down the road, Klitschko and his trainer, Emanuel Steward, both seem locked in on a fall fight with Chris Arreola, last seen getting his face carved up by Vitali Klitschko in 2009. Arrreola has lost some weight and put together a seven-fight winning streak, albeit against largely anonymous competition, and Klitschko told me in the ring after the fight that he believes he has proven himself worthy of a title shot. Klitschko’s motivation to fight Arreola is simple: He’s an American. Klitschko badly wants to fight in the U.S. and sees Arreola, who has an aggressive style, as part of the plan. Look for the two sides to work on putting that fight together in October or November, likely at Madison Square Garden.

Is there anyone else? Klitschko rattled off a list of contenders — Tyson Fury, David Price, Seth Mitchell, among others — after the fight but really, there is no one who can touch him. Klitschko is simply too big and too talented. His footwork is flawless, his power is concussive and his long, stinging jab is a potent weapon. To stay motivated, Klitschko must set goals. His win over Mormeck was the 11th straight defense of his title; Joe Louis holds the heavyweight record for title defenses with 25. Klitschko will be 36 this month, making Louis’ mark a daunting task. But with so many inferior opponents in front of him and no real threat on the horizon, he needs to strive for something.

– Chris Mannix

Bernd Boente, who manages Wladimir Klitschko, won't bring the heavyweight champion to Brooklyn if it means a co-promotion with Golden Boy. (AP)

DUSSELDORF, Germany — As Wladimir Klitschko prepares to defend his heavyweight titles against Jean-Marc Mormeck on Saturday, his team already knows when, where and against whom they would like his next fight to be: October, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, against Chris Arreola.

The problem? According to members of Team Klitschko, Golden Boy Promotions, which signed a three-year deal to be the official partner of the new building, is blocking the fight.

“The people who run the building came to us and asked us to bring a Klitschko fight to the Barclays Center,” said Klitschko’s manager Bernd Boente. “When we said yes, they said we had to take Golden Boy as a co-promoter. We’re not going to do that. I don’t want to do a co-promotion with an American who has nothing to do with the Klitschkos. Why should we? We’re about to do our seventh stadium event. We do huge shows all over Europe. We have fought at Madison Square Garden. They bring nothing to the show.”

Boente says if Golden Boy were in his position, they wouldn’t do a co-promotion either. He cites the Bernard Hopkins-Chad Dawson fight, which originally was slated for the Prudential Center in Newark only to be moved to Los Angeles when the Prudential Center insisted the show be a co-promotion with Main Events.

“If the Barclays Center wants a Klitschko fight, there can’t be any preconditions,” Boente said. “If they want to deal with Golden Boy and their crappy fighters, fine. I can’t understand why an arena is doing an exclusive deal with an American promoter. What do they bring to the table? A Klitschko fight is a worldwide event. It would be covered by 150 countries. It would be huge with the Russian speaking community [in Brooklyn]. I just don’t understand what they are doing.”

Both Boente and Tom Loeffler, the managing director of K2 Promotions, said they would be open to putting Golden Boy fighters on the undercard. Loeffler said one possible matchup could be middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin against Brooklyn’s Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin, one of Golden Boy’s top prospects.

“But [Golden Boy CEO] Richard Schaefer is not standing up at a Klitschko press conference,” Boente said. “We don’t need him.”

– Chris Mannix

HELSINKI — Unified heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko told SI.com that he is doing well after being hospitalized briefly on Friday with stomach pains and that his title defense against Jean-Marc Mormeck on Dec. 10 will go on as scheduled.

“I’m alright,” Klitschko said in a text message. “[The fight] is ON!”

Klitschko’s manager, Bernd Boente, told a German news outlet that Klitschko displayed symptoms of renal colic, a pain commonly caused by kidney stones.

“The fight isn’t called off yet,” Boente said. “Wladimir is doing well. There will be further examinations on Saturday, but we’re assuming that the fight will be able to take place.”

Klitschko (56-3) will face Mormeck (36-4) at the ESPRIT Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany. The fight will be televised by ESPN3.com.

– Chris Mannix

Heavyweight titleholders Vitali (far left) and Wladimir (far right) Klitschko are co-producing a musical version of "Rocky" set to debut in 2012. (AP)

A musical version of Rocky is set to debut in Germany in November 2012, Sylvester Stallone announced Monday in Cologne.

Stallone is teaming up with heavyweight champions Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, who will co-produce the musical and train the actors in boxing.

Rocky: The Musical will debut next year in Hamburg. Casting has yet to take place.

The feature film Rocky won three Academy Awards in 1976, including Best Picture, and spawned five sequels that altogether grossed more than $1.25 billion worldwide. Stallone has long fancied the idea of bringing his most beloved film character to the stage.

“At the end of the day, Rocky is a love story and he could never have reached the final bell without Adrian,” Stallone said at Monday’s announcement. “To see this story coming to life on a musical stage makes me proud. And it would make Rocky proud.”

Budgeted at $15 million, Rocky: The Musical will have its world debut in German before Stallone brings an English-language version on tour around the world.

Former heavyweight titleholder David Haye retired from boxing Thursday on his 31st birthday, staying true to a promise he made when he started out as a fighter.

Whether the retirement is genuine or merely a ploy to finalize contract negotiations with Vitali Klitschko remains to be seen, though Haye denied suggestions of gamesmanship.

So what’s next for the loquacious Londoner, whose most recent outing was a lopsided decision loss to Wladimir Klitschko in July? British oddsmaker William Hill opened action on Haye’s next career move within hours of the announcement.

Hill installed Haye at 6/1 to fight in WWE and 8/1 to switch to mixed martial arts and join the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Should he turn to entertainment, Haye is 3/1 to appear on I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!, 7/1 to skate on Dancing on Ice and 8/1 to tango on Strictly Come Dancing (where other British punchers have enjoyed mixed results).

Haye also opens at 50/1 to succeed Daniel Craig as the next James Bond and 250/1 to win the 2012 London mayoral election.

Since it would surprise exactly no one if Haye came out of retirement to fight Vitali, who holds the WBC heavyweight title, the oddsmaker installed the brash two-division champion as a 4/1 underdog to defeat the elder Klitschko brother.

“Haye is an even bigger price to defeat Vitali than he was when he took on Wladimir and if he will have to make sure that he is serious about the challenge if he is to avoid a double Klitschko KO,” William Hill spokesman Joe Crilly said.

– Bryan Armen Graham

LAS VEGAS — Unified heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko told SI.com that he is targeting former cruiserweight titleholder Jean-Marc Mormeck for his next fight.

“If he wants it, I will [fight him],” Klitschko said.

Mormeck, 39, has won three straight fights against limited opponents — Vinny Maddalone, Fres Oquendo and Timur Ibragimov — since moving up to heavyweight in 2009. His last significant fight was a seventh-round knockout loss to David Haye in 2007.

At 5-foot-11, Mormeck (36-4, 22 KOs) would face a significant size disadvantage against the 6-6 Klitschko (56-3, 49 KOs). The fight, which could be finalized in the next week, is expected to take place Dec. 10.

– Chris Mannix