THE Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 has the evocative memory of the United States' boxing 'dream team' winning nine gold medals. It could, and Americans would say should, have been ten had Evander Holyfield not been disqualified in the semi-finals.

Instead the extremely gifted amateur had to settle for bronze, when most experts agreed that Holyfield would have gone all the way and claimed first place in the cruiserweight division.

Despite not being able to head home with the gold medal, a sign of the worth of having claimed any Olympic medal is the way he was treated when he returned back to his home state of Georgia, just a quarter the size of England in terms of square miles.

He had become the first Georgian to have ever fought and claimed a boxing medal. From that moment on, in his home city of Atlanta, the sport grew and grew.

"When I made the Olympic team in '84 that was the first time Georgia had had someone in the team," recalled Holyfield.

"A friend of mine made the team in Seoul in '88, four years later there were three from Georgia and that was all because of what I had achieved."

Reciting his memories of his days as an amateur, when he started at the age of eight at the Warren Boys Club in the south-east of Atlanta, was part of his reason for making an overnight stay on Newcastle's quayside this week.

As well as being the star attraction on the top table of a black-tie dinner at the city's Civic Centre on Tuesday night, his arrival was part of a programme organised by Glenn McCrory to create the awareness of his attempts to set up one of the best boxing academies in the world in the North-East.

McCrory, the region's very own former world champion at cruiserweight level, is scheduled to officially open the Northumbria Amateur Boxing Club at Lemmington Middle School in Newcastle later this year.

It is the Annfield Plain man's vision to unearth the best young boxers around in an attempt to deliver an Olympic hope by the time the 2012 Games arrive in London.

"A lot of research has gone into this," said McCrory.

"We've been over to Cuba, currently the world's best boxing nation, to see what they have been doing and we haven't over here.

"What we did learn is that the Cubans boast some of the best coaches around.

"Alberto Gonzalez is one of those and we will be bringing three of them over to work at our new academy."

Two rings and a 400-seater mini-stadium illustrate the effort and money that has gone into this venture.

There has been enormous backing from Sport England and Newcastle City Council too.

With such dedication on the set up there is a strong chance the Academy, which is open to anyone interested rather than McCrory and his men cherry-picking the best boxers around, could even produce an Olympic medal winner for Beijing in 2008.

What hosting the games will mean is that, unlike in Athens 2004, when Amir Khan was the only British boxer on show, the Great Britain squad will be able to select a fighter at each weight, regardless of whether or not they meet the qualification requirements.

Even so, four times world champion Holyfield feels more work across the globe will need to be done to increase the profile of the sport as a whole if McCrory's dream is to be fulfilled.

Now 43, and with an eye on fighting to become heavyweight champion once again, the four-time holder of the world belt has been saddened by the way the United States and Britain have been left behind by emerging countries from the former Eastern block and Cuba.

Rather than point the finger at the coaches, he suggests it is more down to the fact that there is now a lack of media attention on amateur boxing.

"When I was younger I was an all-rounder at sport," said Holyfield.

"I could have played (American) football, baseball or basketball but I wanted to box.

"I got into boxing because I aspired to make the Olympic team when I was a 19-year-old.

"I had watched the likes of the Spinks brothers (Leon and Michael), Sugar Ray Leonard (who all won gold in the 1976 Montreal Games) and people like that.

"I aspired to be like people like that. It inspired me to see them perform and win gold.

"Everyone who was on that team in 1984 was a good boxer at the age of ten or 11 because they had watched those guys from an early age.

"Nowadays kids don't come through until they are 19. That's not good, particularly when Cuba produce from childhood.

"The switch, that America has fallen behind the likes of Cuba, has taken place for the right reasons.

"It's about which countries really support boxing and I don't feel the States, or Britain do anymore, although it is changing.

"When America used to support amateurs we had great fighters; now they don't show boxing that much on television.

"When amateur boxing returns to the television screens on a regular basis then, and only then, will we see the tide turn once again."

Holyfield first became undisputed heavyweight champion in 1990 by defeating Buster Douglas but, after previously being undefeated, he lost to Riddick Bowe two years later.

That was short-lived, though. In the re-match, Holyfield took the honours.

In 1996 he became three-time world champion when he defeated Mike Tyson, and it was in the re-match that Holyfield was left with a chunk missing from his right ear after being bitten by Tyson.

He retained the IBF and WBA titles in 1999 by outpointing Lennox Lewis but the Brit had the last laugh six months later in Las Vegas, when Holyfield's crown was relinquished.

He has lost his last three fights, to Chris Byrd, James Toney and in 2004, Larry Donald, when he was stripped of his medical licence to box by the New York State Athletic Commission.

Now, though, he claims to be in the best shape he has been in for years and would love a crack at one of the belts again, with two of the holders coming from Eastern Europe.

Neither Russia's Nikolay Valuev nor Vladimir Klitschko have him running scared.

"I don't think anybody is as knowledgeable as those that were around a few years ago with me," said Holyfield.

"When you go into the ring you need knowledge. The heavyweights today are big and they throw a big punch but that's all they have.

"None of the fighters have to make adjustments to hold on to success for a sustained period. The champions keep changing all the time.

"I'm a lot better now. In 2000 I had three shoulder surgeries. The three fights I lost were because I didn't do what the doctor said.

"The doctors have made me take the tests and I passed them all.

"The New York commission said I couldn't fight there but I don't have to fight there.

"It's like George Foreman. He won it at 45 and he was not in the shape I am in. Why can't I do it?"

The early days, when he turned to sport instead of the crime which was prevalent in his poverty-stricken district, stick in his mind.

Training in the Georgian gym he now bankrolls to become the greatest boxer around still ranks high in the veteran's dreams. He is not about to give up.

"It's always been my goal to be the very best I can be. It reminds me of when I was a kid. I came from a family that didn't have money.

"I was told I was too small or there was something that was supposed to stop me from becoming the person I am today," said Holyfield, whose strong religious beliefs have led to him becoming a preacher.

"Tyson bit me on the ear but I forgave him.

"We had the biggest fight in history, he made $20m and I made $35m, that was a big business deal.

"It's not a hate situation and you have to forgive.

"Forgiveness is a big part of boxing, otherwise you wouldn't be able to get back into the ring."

Now he wants one final bout and finish his professional career as it started: As champion of the world.