"Iron" Mike Tyson

By Frank Gonzalez

26.01 - This week the sports media has noticed Boxing in a big way. On television, newspapers, and the Internet, all you see it Tyson, Tyson, Tyson. Tyson is a man who never grew up. Tyson has been a criminal since childhood when he was a ‘purse snatcher’. His victims were old ladies. They were his early Peter McNeeleys. Reared by the New York’s correctional institutions and later by Cus D’Mato, who trained young Mike Tyson to become a boxer, Tyson has never quite made the conversion from child to man. Physically, he has always been big, threatening looking figure, emotionally, a mess. Mentally, he seemed lacking the facility for comprehension. Spiritually, he seems devoid of any moral character, simply a follower of whatever is chic in the eyes of his peers. This has been the information learned of Tyson since he first hit the scene in the mid 80’s.

In 1983, Mike Tyson was the National Golden Gloves Silver Medallist. In 1984, he won the U.S.A. Amateur Boxing Federation Gold medal by TKO over Orbit Pough. He lost the U.S. Olympic trial Box Offs to Henry Tillman in three rounds. In his professional debut, he amassed a record of 28-0. Of the 28 wins, 24 came against guys no one ever heard of before or since. The three ‘known’ names were, Jesse Ferguson (old) KO 6, Mitch Green (only known because of street fight with Tyson in Brooklyn) W10, Marvis Frazier, KO 1. Then he fought Trevor Berbick on November 22nd 1986 and won the WBC Heavyweight Title.

Like Sharks and Lions or Aliens with six mouths of razor sharp teeth, we find ourselves fascinated by things we fear. We fear Tyson. He is an accident waiting to happen. We want to see the accident when it happens, without necessarily being there. Even fans of Boxing that actually like Tyson would probably never invite him over for dinner in fear that he might try to rape your sister, wreck your home, then drive off and get away with it all. Money buys of freedom in America, and Tyson has been the beneficiary of tons of money since he captured our imaginations years ago.

Whether you loathe Tyson or love him, you’ll have one thing in common—the desire to see him fight. It’s not that he’s even a good fighter, but that he fights like a man possessed by a demon. His strategy is simple; throw lots of big punches and try to knock out the other guy as soon as possible. That works well against unskilled fighters or those who took the money under the table to drop to the canvas and earn their biggest payday.

There was always big money for those who managed and or promoted Mike Tyson. From 1985-88, Bill Cayton managed him. Through his own devices, Don King managed to replace Cayton in 1988. It is reputed that Don King stole countless millions from Tyson. After his divorces with Robin Givens and Don King, he ended up with Shelly Finkel, his current manager.

As for Boxing fans and their fascination with Tyson, some want to see him knocked out, and others to see him knock someone out. People seem to always be willing to pay to see his fights, even though his competition was almost always guys no one ever heard of. His fights are famous for being quick, thanks to carefully arranged match-ups.

Buster Douglas, practically a ‘nobody’ in 1990, shattered Tyson’s ‘myth of invincibility.’ Douglas shocked the world by thoroughly manhandling and then knocking out Mike Tyson in Tokyo Japan. After that, Tyson lost not only his titles, but also his best weapon, the fear factor. After the way Douglas whipped Tyson, he no longer intimidated other fighters. Tyson proved to be beatable with the right strategy. His troubles outside the ring were catching up to him.

In 1992, he was convicted of raping 18 year-old Miss Black America contestant, Desiree Washington. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison but only served three years. A money making machine like Mike Tyson would never do 10 years unless he shot the president…maybe. This is America, the land of the “free,” where everything has its price, even the legal system. He didn’t get out early for good behavior. In prison, he claimed to become a Muslim. I just thought he liked those woven caps they wear. He did something really strange too while in jail; he got a tattoo of Mao Tse Tung, the communist guru of China. Interesting for Tyson, whose life is about big money, fame, negative celebrity and living a totally capitalistic lifestyle. Tyson is an enigma, whose thoughts and feelings seldom come to terms with each other.

After serving his shortened sentence at the Indiana Youth Center, Tyson returned to Boxing in August of 1995, when he fought Peter McNeeley, making $25 Million for a one round knock out of an unranked, ‘nobody’ opponent.

In May of 1996, he paid Lennox Lewis $4 Million to step aside and allow Tyson to fight Bruce Seldon without putting the title at stake; Tyson agreed to relinquish that title after the Seldon fight. In Atlantic City, Seldon took an obvious dive from a punch that didn’t even graze him.

In November of 1996 he gambled his WBA title against Evander Holyfield. Seeing how Evander had been through so many wars with real fighters, Tyson considered him to be washed up and an easy target at that point. A win over the much respected and legendary Evander Holyfield would bolster his former image of being a dominating fighter. It didn’t work out that way. Although Holyfield was indeed past his prime, he was still a “good” fighter, and that proved too much for Tyson to handle. A good fighter is one that knows how to defend himself and throw telling punches in return. The collection of Iron Mike’s many knockout fights against lesser or paid off opponents never prepared Tyson for competition with quality fighters like even an aging Holyfield. It kind of reinforces the notion of “You are what you eat.” Holyfield mastered Tyson with smart Boxing strategy, tenacity, and a few good hooks to the head. Holy had dropped Tyson in the 6th round and again in the 10th. In the 11th, with Tyson taking a pounding without returning any punches, referee Mitch Halpern did the right thing and halted the contest. It was Holyfield by TKO.

Knowing the financial potential for a rematch, Don King orchestrated a second fight between these two. By the third round, Tyson knew he was in for another beating and probably getting knocked out again, so he chickened out in the middle of the fight, in the vilest way; he fouled himself out. Got disqualified by referee Mills Lane for biting Holyfield’s ears, both of them. Not only was one of the most disgusting demonstrations of poor sportsmanship ever seen, it was a criminal act committed in front of millions of people, as the fight was televised worldwide. He should have been arrested on the spot, but he wasn’t. Tyson was fined $3 Million (a fraction of his purse) and suspended from Boxing in Nevada for one year. For maiming Holyfield for life, he got a slap on the wrist. Tyson only fights about once a year anyway, if that much. Once again, for those who can afford it, justice was served, with champagne and caviar.

Tyson had a few more legal problems after that for unrelated issues but was never taken back to jail. Apparently his parole officer was especially fond of Tyson. The average person would have been back in prison immediately.

Having no titles left, he was magically elevated in the rankings of whichever sanctioning body stood to make money from his name. Francois Botha is not a hard puncher, he’s slow, plodding, the perfect opponent for Tyson coming back from the ear biting debacle with Holyfield. Mike used dirty, arm-twisting tactics against Botha in January of 1999. To everyone’s surprise, Botha learned from Holyfield to tie Tyson up when he gets close, push him back as often as possible and catching Tyson with a one-two and hold more often than not. Botha’s confidence grew with each round as he managed Tyson well enough until he got careless late in the fifth, dropping his arms and taunting Tyson who was lucky enough to connect with a short hook that knocked the South African out.

Against Orlin Norris, Tyson delivered a deliberate uppercut AFTER the bell to end the first round. Tyson got a ‘No Contest’ where he should’ve been disqualified in the Norris bout in October of 1999. The Nevada State Athletic Commission was in confusion as to how to deal with a fighter who brings so much money to their casinos. Both of his last two fights were in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In 2000, Tyson took his show to Europe where he beat up on Julius Francis in England. Tyson knocked Francis to the canvas five times before the ref waved the contest off and Francis remained down in the second round. Questions of Tyson’s ability were not answered in a fight against a human punching bag, who offered no resistance. That seemed to suit Team Tyson just fine.

Then Tyson fought Lou Saverese in Scotland, TKOing the slow motion Saverese out in one round. Then it was back to the U.S. in Detroit, where he took on a mentally unfit Andrew Golota in October. Golota quit in the third round. Three fights in one year, a marathon for Tyson--even if they were easy fights.

In 2001, he fought old and slow Brian Nielsen in Denmark. He threw the kitchen sink at Nielsen but couldn’t knock him out. Any long time fan of Boxing could see that Tyson’s punches were slower and less effective than in the past, even if he was only fighting easy fights. Nielson was supposed to be an easy fight, but in his own way, Nielson hung around for 6 rounds until the opening of the seventh, when Nielsen quit on his stool. Going the distance was probably not part of the deal and Nielsen knew his place. After the fight, Tyson was asked whether he felt ready to take a world title fight, with the Heavyweight division in a scramble at that moment. Tyson said he felt he needed “one or two more tune-up fights.” Lennox Lewis had lost his titles to Hasim Rahman and their rematch was coming up soon. Surely if Rahman could pull out another win over Lewis, Tyson would be ready.

On November 17th, of 2001 Lennox Lewis fought a rematch with Hasim Rahman, who knocked Lewis out earlier in April in the fifth round. Lewis had regained the Heavyweight Championship of the World. The first fight Lewis said he wanted after Rahman was Tyson. Tyson was the missing piece in Lewis’ legacy, and he wanted to beat Tyson before he retired from Boxing. Earlier, Tyson made remarks about wanting to “eat Lewis’ children,” etc. Now, however undeservedly, Tyson would get his big chance.

Tyson had made plans to fight Ray Mercer, complicating matters for the Lewis fight. He opted out of the Mercer fight and verbally agreed to fight Lewis. Although Tyson is not the champ, he has the draw power for money, which enabled the negotiations to make it a 50/50 split on the purse, $20 Million each.

With no need to promote a fight that everyone is overanxious to see, a press conference was arranged where both fighters would supposedly stare each other down, while sports writers would elaborate on their every breath. Tyson is introduced first. When Lewis is introduced, Tyson rushes across the stage to Lewis’ side in menacing fashion prompting Lewis’ security guard to do his job and protect his client. The bodyguard put his hand out to stop Tyson and Tyson threw a punch at him that missed. Lewis immediately threw an overhand right that caught Tyson on the head, producing a small cut. Supposedly Tyson bit Lewis’ leg in the melee that ensued.

Tyson knew that approaching Lewis in such a manner would result in chaos. He has to know that he would put the Nevada State Athletic Commission in a position to refuse him a license to box there, where the fight is schedule for April 6th, 2002. It appears that Tyson is trying to sabotage this fight from ever happening. Maybe he lost his appetite for Lewis’ children? Maybe Tyson is sick, maybe what he has is an ailment known as fear.

WBC: Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson Want to Fight

25.01- "Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson want to fight; the world wants to see them. We expect the best performance from both in a bout that must be the pride of world boxing, not its shame.

"The World Boxing Council has been notified by both parties that they have reached an agreement for the mandatory defense ordered by the WBC between heavyweight world champion Lennox Lewis, of England, and official challenger Mike Tyson, of the USA.  The WBC is canceling the scheduled purse offer, which would have been held if no agreement had been reached.

"It has been the general consensus that this heavyweight title fight has aroused high expectations for a long time in all the world;  we in the WBC still believe that both fighters, champion and challenger, will prepare themselves to give us the great show the world has been waiting for and that boxing needs.

"The World Boxing Council ordered this mandatory fight, which will be sanctioned by our organization in any city or country where it is held.

"The spectacle witnessed at the press conference on January 22 was rather unpleasant, above all because this is only one more link in a chain of violent and regrettable actions that must be broken.

"The WBC will seek an agreement with the boxing authorities where this bout is staged in order to impose strict measures of order and safety, beginning with the promoters and following with any other person involved, so such measures guarantee a good show as well as the safety of the public and the protection of the fighters, which unfortunately was out of control during the press conference of January 22.

"The wording of the Code of Ethics, as well as the sanctions and measures to be implemented, are being prepared to be submitted for the approval of the WBC Board of Governors, and to be immediately implemented during any world title fight sanctioned by the WBC."

WBC President Jose Sulaiman Released from Hospital

22.01 - WBC President Jose Sulaiman was released from a New York hospital earlier today after being treated for a concussion sustained at the Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson press conference at the Hudson Theater. 

According to eyewitnesses, Tyson rushed Lewis and tackled him shortly after Lewis walked onto the stage, they wrestled on the floor, and members of both fighters' camps became involved in a brawl that lasted for several minutes before it was broken up.  President Sulaiman, who was standing behind a curtain near the stage, was knocked over backwards by the rush of bodies, hit the back of his head on a table, and briefly lost consciousness.  The press conference was cancelled shortly after it started.

President Sulaiman said today, "The WBC is very concerned about what happened at the Lewis-Tyson press conference.  I feel very badly about this.  Today's events are but one of the very many instances that have recently taken place that degrade boxing.  It would be discriminatory to single out Mike Tyson because many other boxers have behaved similarly at other press conferences.  I will call for a meeting of the WBC Board of Governors in order to establish a specific code of ethics for public presentations like this, with serious sanctions for anyone who disregards them, and we will look for the concensus of all the boxing commissions of the world.

"I would like to report to the many members and friends of the WBC that I'm in very good shape.  I was taken to a hospital and examined by a neurologist and, after some minor treatment, was cleared and released.  My family and I would like to thank everyone who called from around the world to express their concern for my well-being."