Evander Holyfield will return to the ring for the first time in 10 months in Atlanta on September 19th to defend his International Boxing Federation version of the world heavyweight title against Vaughn Bean of Philadelphia.

Bean, who is 25 next month, has lost only once in 30 professional fights but has beaten no one of note and is expected to pose little threat to the 35-year-old champion who will not be putting his World Boxing Association title at stake.

In Bean's only previous worldclass pairing he was comfortably out-pointed in March 1997 by Michael Moorer, who then went on to lose a rematch with Holyfield.

The Holyfield-Moorer bill in Las Vegas lost an estimated $12 million, and Holyfield has agreed to underwrite next month's promotion. The Georgia Dome, with a hint of optimism, will be set up for 45,000 paying customers.

Holyfield was due to defend his WBA title against Britain's Henry Akinwande at Madison Square Garden in June, but the bill generated poor ticket sales and was then called off when Akinwande contracted hepatitis B.

Although Holyfield has been offered a lucrative match with Lennox Lewis, the World Boxing Council champion, no agreement has been reached. Lewis has to beat Zelko Mavrovic of Croatia on September 26th in Connecticut, and the WBA will probably ask for a Holyfield-Akinwande match before any unification fight goes ahead.

Meanwhile, England's Scott Welch has sustained rib injuries in training and has withdrawn from his fight for the vacant European heavyweight title against Germany's Axel Schultz on August 22nd.