Friday night in Utah — not exactly Las Vegas — the former Republican heavyweight Mitt Romney will face the former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield in a charity boxing match. The bout will benefit CharityVision, an organization that provides sight-restoration surgery for people in very poor countries around the world. It will not benefit the dignity of Mitt Romney.

But then, it’s not as if he hasn’t lost big contests before. In a phone interview, I asked the former Massachusetts governor and G.O.P. presidential nominee if anything in politics had prepared him for what he might face at the hands of Holyfield.

“I think just the embarrassment of having everybody looking and laughing,” Romney said. “I do remember Newt Gingrich and I, during a debate, we were talking about Rick Perry,” he went on. “And Newt Gingrich said to me, ‘You know, Rick is a good guy, but he doesn’t know how to dance.’ Newt meant dance around tough questions and then make them work to your advantage. And he complimented me on my ability to dance. So I will be doing a bit of dancing and dodging Friday night.”

An edited transcript of our conversation follows.

I see you’re scheduled for an official weigh-in with Holyfield. Are you going to strip down to your skivvies?