This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Mitt Romney tried to look as mean and tough as he could, standing toe to toe with five-time world heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield and staring grimly into the eyes of his foe.

But he couldn't hold that pose for long as a smile begrudgingly forced its way onto his face. After all, it's all for fun —­ and for charity.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and 2012 Republican presidential nominee, and Holyfield appeared Thursday night at Xcel Fitness Center in Holladay for their official weigh-in. The duo's fight is Friday night at the Rail Event Center in Salt Lake City.

The weigh-in was quite the staged event, with emcee Tim Hughes, flanked by two flapper girls, dramatically announcing the boxers and their official weights — as recorded by an official of the Pete Suazo Utah Athletic Commission.

If you think this will be a fair fight — or a real fight — think again. The 68-year-old Romney tipped the scales at a trim 179 pounds. Holyfield, 52, recorded a well-toned 236.5 pounds.

Friday's Romney-Holyfield showdown will raise about $1 million for CharityVision, a 20-year-old nonprofit dedicated to saving the eyesight of impoverished people in developing nations. Romney is a friend of the group's founder, Bill Jackson, and Romney's son Josh serves as president of CharityVision.

"I want to thank Evander Holyfield," Mitt Romney said of his Friday night opponent, who agreed to bring his talents and celebrity to Salt Lake City to help raise money for the charity.

Romney described Holyfield as a religious man, who has 11 children of his own, wanting to give back as a Christian.

Doug Jackson, the founder's son and CEO of CharityVision, said the boxing legend agreed to the bout for hardly any compensation, basically to cover his expenses.

About 400 people paid $25 for tickets to the weigh-in and, with folks paying extra to get a picture with Holyfield, organizers estimated that the charity raised more than $10,000.

The Romney-Holyfield matchup won't be the only fight on Friday's card. Four other contests — a heavyweight, two middleweights and a lightweight — are slated. The lightweight duel, between Leon Spinks III and Rashad Ganaway, will be a title fight for the World Boxing Council U.S. title.

As the boxers stripped to their trunks for the weigh-in, one of the highlights was when Wes Capper, an Australian middleweight who will be fighting Kenton Sippio-Cook, revealed his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle boxer shorts. The other combatants will be Fereti Spitsenberg vs. Gary Cobia in the heavyweight tilt and Christian Nava vs. Jordan Smith in the other middleweight matchup.

After the weigh-in, Holyfield took the microphone for about 20 minutes, telling his story of getting into boxing as an 8-year-old poor kid, the youngest of nine children in his family, who was made to believe by a 62-year-old white man at the Boys Club in Atlanta that if he didn't give up and kept a good attitude, he could be the heavyweight champ.

But it was his mother who persuaded him to go back to the club when he wanted to quit after his first defeat because he finally had faced another kid who hit back.

We'll see Friday how much Mitt hits back — or gets hit, for that matter.

prolly@sltrib.com