By Sanjeev Shetty BBC Sport Online

Whatever Annie Holyfield fed her young son Evander during his childhood all those years ago, it was probably the right stuff.

At the age of 39 and with all but his own senses telling him to retire, Holyfield continues to confound those who believe he should have called time on his career three years ago.

At first sight, an eighth round technical decision win over contender Hasim Rahman may not sound like a performance to strike fear into the minds of Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson.

But Holyfield, an old school warrior, did what few are prepared to do - he met and beat a top contender.

The Holyfield-Rahman fight took place in Atlantic City, a much more exotic location than Manchester, where Ricky Hatton and Eamonn Magee tussled for British bragging rights.

The two junior welterweights carried feelings of animosity into the contest and Magee immediately took the upper hand when he floored Hatton with a right hook in the first round.

That knockdown and a testing moment in the second round effectively decided the route of the contest - Hatton abandoned his usual high tempo style and was much more circumspect in his approach.

His workrate was still comfortably higher than Magee's and the unanimous decision for Hatton was an accurate reflection of the evening's entertainment.

The knockdown suffered by Hatton will hopefully serve as a warning to him and trainer Billy Graham that there are still chinks in the armour of the Mancunian.

But the fact that the winner was also able to change his style and box in flurries should not be forgotten - for Hatton, there appears to be more than one way to skin a cat.

Team Magee must wonder why, after such a promising start, did the Northern Irishman fade away through what looked like a lack of stamina and ideas.

After describing Hatton as one-dimensional, it seemed ironic that it was Magee who most embodied that description.

A final thought about Anthony Farnell, whose once promising career has stalled after two defeats in five contests.

A first round knockout at the hands of Takaloo last year was followed by a controversial decision defeat to South African Ruben Groenwald.

Both Farnell and promoter Frank Warren questioned the decision, but with three points deducted for continued low blows, the middleweight can have few complaints.

That Farnell struggled for the best part of seven rounds against such a moderate opponent indicates that he is still far from the world class level he hopes to operate at.