Evander Holyfield is one stubborn sonofagun. He’s returning to the ring on Aug. 19.

He’s 33, but 33 going on 18, he likes to say. He looks fit and says courtroom battles that have sapped his energy for three years, though still ongoing, are in his rear-view mirror.

Joe Mesi will not fight on July 8 in Louisiana as scheduled because his hand is sore and also because he doesn’t want to jeopardize a higher-profile bout down the line.

The 2½ year probe into the business dealings of Top Rank and its CEO Bob Arum is at end and no indictments are forthcoming.

Former welterweight champion Cory Spinks, in preparation for Saturday’s IBF junior middleweight title fight against Roman “Made in Hell� Karmazin from St. Louis (ShoBox), is keeping his focus by training in solitude in Orwell, Ohio.

Taylor’s earned a date with an easy mark, Wright’s earned a few months off to sulk, Mayweather’s got bigger fish to fry and Margarito, well, Kassim Ouma would sign on the line for him in a heartbeat but Ouma’s with Golden Boy and Margarito’s an Arum guy, and you’ve probably heard how well those two entities are getting along lately.

His last official duty with the Nevada State Athletic Commission came on May 13, and since then, Marc Ratner hasn’t spend much time wallowing in nostalgia.

New York City fight guru Johnny Bos says Calvin Brock took what was handed to him on Saturday night when he stepped in with Uzbek heavyweight Timor Ibragimov in Las Vegas.

Rocky Juarez will get it on again with World Boxing Council super-featherweight champion Marco Antonio Barrera at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas on Sept. 16, and the 26-year-old Houston fighter is pumped.

OLN, the Outdoor Life Network, will add boxing to its lineup beginning July 27.