Boxing: Massive payday thrown in doubt

By JAMES LAWTON

Mike Tyson threw the richest fight in history into doubt yesterday after an attack on Lennox Lewis and his entourage in New York that stunned observers and had Lewis claiming he had been bitten on the foot.

The incident apparently sprang from Tyson's notoriously short-fused anger that Lewis should arrive late for a press conference to announce their April 6 fight in Las Vegas.

It cast still more doubts on the mental stability of the fighter who six years ago was stripped of his licence by the Nevada State Athletic Commission after his disqualification for biting the right ear of Evander Holyfield.

Yesterday, the demons were raging again as Tyson threw punches - and received a long right from Lewis which appeared to leave bruising on his forehead - and screamed obscenities.

When Lewis appeared on the stage to take his place on one of two pedestals, Tyson advanced aggressively, took off his beret and threw a left hook at a Lewis bodyguard.

Lewis then threw his right hand before both fighters were engulfed by a press of bodies. Tyson later yelled obscenities, apparently at some heckling "white man" whose identity was not known to anyone else, and Lewis, with his suit torn, said repeatedly: "I just don't believe the guy bit me on the foot."

One immediate reaction was that Tyson had pulled a piece of hype, spectacular even by modern standards, but if this proves to be so, the risks are huge.

Tyson's history of imprisonment for rape and road rage, his behaviour in the ring against Holyfield and the fact that the Nevada commission told him two years ago to take his show "on the road" away from Las Vegas until he could prove that he could control his behaviour, were all deeply worrying factors for the authorities before they approved the April fight at the MGM Grand Casino.

There is also the doubt about Tyson's ability to elude a fresh indictment for rape, though the feeling is that the commission has been assured by the Clark County attorney-general's office that Tyson will not be charged.

Marc Ratner, chief executive of the commission, said that he and the commissioners would study a videotape of the incident before their licensing meeting next week.

He added: "It would be naive of me to say the financial impact of this fight for Las Vegas is not huge, huge, but the commissioners know that they have to do what is right for the sport."

Given their past record, that last remark will probably provoke a hollow laugh or two, but there can be no doubt that Tyson has again taken his sport to the brink of credibility.

His behaviour yesterday inspired one boxing expert, the former Ring editor, Bert Sugar, to declare, "I think the folks have seen the Lewis-Tyson fight right here in New York. I think that has to be it."

But then boxing in America is not famous for its squeamishness when there is the scent of big money in the air.

When Tyson bit Holyfield he said: "I went back to the streets. It was in my blood, my anger just came boiling up."

Yesterday it was sizzling again.

When he yelled his obscenities, his eyes rolled. He looked like a man totally out of control.

One question is whether Tyson is exhibiting the classic signs of someone who, deep down, does not want to fight.

He has repeatedly dragged his feet on a contest which has been talked about for several years, but each time the rival TV networks Home Box Office and Showtime have come close to agreement, Tyson has insisted he needed another fight - invariably against meaningless opposition.

Before his last contest in October in Copenhagen, against the mismatched Brian Nielsen, he admitted that he would prefer to fight Hasim Rahman - Lewis's conqueror in one of boxing's greatest upsets - than the former champion.

But Lewis's emphatic knockout of Rahman in November cleared away the last hurdle to a fight which it is calculated will gross more than $US150 million ($353 million).

Or so it seemed.

Tyson's latest behaviour speaks of someone dangerously separated from the realities of his situation.

He desperately needs earnings from a Lewis fight to settle debts with Showtime, and now he faces an expensive divorce from his second wife, Monica.

Yet Tyson seems untroubled by the possibility that he has ruined his chance of the pay-day which could solve all his financial problems.

After yesterday's mayhem, he was reported to have happily chatted with passersby in the street and signed autographs.

"He seemed to be having fun," one observer said.

But, as always, it was dangerous fun.

Tyson, arguably the most controversial fighter in the history of boxing, was the most feared heavyweight of the 1980s and set to become one of the best of all time before his upset defeat by James "Buster" Douglas in 1990.

In 1992, he was sentenced to 10 years' prison, with four years suspended, after being convicted of raping Desiree Washington, a Miss Black America contestant.

Two years after being released from prison in March 1995, he was disqualified in round three of his world title rematch with Holyfield after biting the champion.

He was subsequently banned from the sport for a year and fined $3 million, before winning back his boxing licence in 1998.

In July 2000, after beating fellow American Lou Savarese in a fight in Glasgow, he abused Lewis, saying: "I want your heart. I want to eat your children."

- INDEPENDENT