| 22nd October 2006 06:21 PM |
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| MrPleasant |
Dazed and confused
Iron Mike Tyson's wild ride of self-destruction
BY TIM SMITH
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - It was a long way from the glittering palaces on the Las Vegas Strip where Mike Tyson made his fortune and carved his fame. But as Tyson entered the ring at the Chevrolet Centre Friday night, it was as if he was still one of the sport's shining stars. The crowd couldn't have cared less that he was fighting an exhibition against a former sparring partner who was partially blind in one eye.
For a moment, as the cheers from the half-filled arena rained down upon him, Tyson could have closed his eyes and imagined that it was similar to the night he fought Evander Holyfield or Lennox Lewis.
Of course, once he opened them and looked around, he would have been quickly transported back to reality. Here he was, a 40-year-old former heavyweight champion fighting in a meaningless exhibition to stave off poverty, the adoring crowd finally turning on him once it became clear that this was no real fight. Tyson, who decided not to wear headgear unlike his opponent, Corey Sanders, threw half-hearted shots in a choreographed four-round exhibition. He caused no hurt nor got any.
There were only two questions left hanging in the stale arena air: how many more of these exhibitions would Tyson subject himself to before throwing in the towel, and how in the world did the once "Baddest Man on the Planet" wind up here?
Tyson did not appear at a post-fight press conference to answer questions about his performance on Friday night or his plans for the future, including the 12-city worldwide tour promoter Sterling McPherson is trying to pull together.
Tyson's road to a boxing ring in Youngstown was paved by his extravagant spending habits, which forced him into bankruptcy two years ago, and his unwillingness to box in sanctioned matches.
Tyson estimates that he blew between $200 million-$300 million over the course of his career, leaving him $27 million in debt in 2003. At the time of his bankruptcy filing, Tyson owed the Internal Revenue Service $22 million. Though he received a $14 million settlement last year from a lawsuit he had filed against promoter Don King, Tyson remains millions of dollars in debt.
With no future job prospects, Tyson is hoping the proposed tour will help him earn enough money to get out of bankruptcy. One of his bankruptcy attorneys said that Tyson is sincere about erasing his debt.
"The money I make here is not going to help any of my bills really from a tremendous standpoint," Tyson said at a press conference last month. "But I'm going to feel better about myself. I'm not going to be depressed."
He is either sincere or desperate or both: following his loss to Kevin McBride last year, Tyson said he hated boxing and had been faking interest for the last 15 years.
"The best decision I ever made was to retire from boxing. Because I don't have any stress. I'm pretty simple," Tyson said. "I like the person I am now more than I did. I don't like 'Iron Mike' - I like Mike Tyson."
That is what makes this exhibition tour a dicey proposition. Are people going to pay to see a kinder, gentler Mike Tyson paw his opponent when he once gnawed one?
"It's a sideshow," says Bert Sugar, noted boxing historian. "Here's a man who doesn't want to fight, but he's fighting. It's an oxymoron. This is his coda, his exit strategy."
It is certainly not the exit strategy that many envisioned for Tyson, who became the youngest heavyweight champion ever when at 20 he KO'ed Trevor Berbick in the second round on Nov. 22, 1986. It looked like he would reign forever. And the financial windfall he would reap was beyond anything he could have imagined when he was growing up poor in Brownsville.
But his support system crumbled - trainer Cus D'Amato died, followed shortly by manager Jimmy Jacobs. Left to his own devices and with a lot of money on his hands, Tyson began a slow, destructive downward spiral. There was the time that Tyson gave a toll booth clerk his Rolls Royce. There was his stormy marriage, and subsequent divorce ($14 million in the settlement) from actress Robin Givens.
Through it all, Tyson remained boxing's biggest box-office star.
"Mike has always been an attraction," says Jay Larkin, a former programming executive at Showtime. "Now he's just a different kind of attraction. You could read this as a tragedy in the mold of 'The Harder They Fall.' But I don't think you have to. Mike made his life. Mike made his bed. He's made staggering amounts of money. But he also went through staggering amounts of money."
While no one is denying that Tyson has been taken advantage of by various managers and promoters throughout his career, his own spending habits contributed mightily to his current financial state.
"He had an accountant," says Shelly Finkel, Tyson's former manager. "But it didn't matter. He was in control of his own destiny. As we all are."
After Tyson parted company with promoter Don King in 1999, Jeff Wald, a friend of Tyson's, hooked up the fighter with Michael Karlin, a high-powered L.A. financial whiz whose management firm tried to manage Tyson's cash. But even those plans couldn't thwart Tyson from squandering his fortune on sports cars and motorcycles, gilded mansions and the care and feeding of Siberian tigers. He spent $1.6 million on a watch and a bracelet when he was in London in 2000.
"It's not like efforts weren't being made to help him financially," says someone with knowledge of the situation. "But what are you supposed to do when someone calls up and says, 'If you don't give me my money, I'm going to come over there and rip your head off.'"
There were always those around who were willing to lend Tyson a hand when he was down, because his popularity, even now, makes him a living, breathing ATM.
When Tyson walked out of an Indiana prison in 1995 after serving three years for raping beauty pageant contestant Desiree Washington, he stepped into a limo provided by King, who had secured casino deals and future fights worth around $120 million. Later Tyson accused King of stealing more than $100 million, but the promoter maintains he didn't rip Tyson off.
"There is the Mike Tyson with me and the Mike Tyson after me," King says. "When he left me he had a four-fight, $150 million deal that he walked away from. Then he went with Shelly Finkel and his purses were what we used to give him for training expenses." Finkel didn't want to comment on Tyson's present exhibition tour or how he has squandered his money. He says Tyson's attitude about boxing changed after he tore cartilage in his left knee against Danny Williams in 2004.
"I know he was pretty depressed about that," Finkel says. "But he worked hard to get back. The night he fought McBride, I thought he looked really good coming in. I thought he'd knock McBride out. But he hurt his knee again. It's a sad, sad story."
Tyson earned a total of $60 million for his two fights with Holyfield. He earned more than $20 million for his fight against Lewis in 2002. He will never approach those figures again for his work in the ring. He earned $5 million for the fight with McBride, but much of it went to his ex-wife, Monica Turner, who received $9 million in their divorce settlement.
Someone with knowledge of Tyson's financial status says the former champion is truly broke, with no stable sources of income. With the mansions long gone, his living arrangements are chaotic. He usually stays with friends or gets accommodations tied to agreements to promote products. Recently he was living at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas while holding public workouts at the casino in preparation for his first exhibition fight.
McPherson, the Las Vegas-based promoter who is trying to stage the exhibition tour, would not reveal what Tyson is supposed to earn for each of his exhibitions. He says it is no one's business but Tyson's and his bankruptcy lawyers'. McPherson worked with British promoter Frank Warren when Tyson fought in England in 2000, and he thought he could help Tyson, even though Tyson said he had no interest in fighting.
"I was just looking for a way to help him do something where he wasn't getting hurt and he didn't have to hurt anyone," McPherson says. "This is like what guys like Mick Jagger do. They go on the road to towns where people who like them can see them. They're 60 years old, but they're still on stage.
"You don't hear people saying, 'Hey, Mick, you're 60, you can't do what you used to do.' Nobody is laughing at these guys when they're running across the stage in concert."
McPherson says he has plans to stage 12 exhibitions - some of them in Los Angeles, San Diego and even Russia, China and Africa - but he has no signed contracts.
Sugar points to boxing's rich exhibition history.
"Fighters used to be part of vaudeville," Sugar says. "They'd do punching bag exhibitions. Bob Fitzsimmons and Jim Jefferies played vaudeville. John L. Sullivan did exhibitions. Joe Louis did exhibitions all over the world. He did 20 of them in South America while he was champion.
"It was part and parcel of what the heavyweight champion did before TV. Since TV it hasn't been done. Tyson is doing them for TV. This is a twist."
No one is quite sure whether there is an appetite for Tyson's exhibitions on Pay-Per-View for $29.95, considering Tyson's professed distaste for boxing. McPherson believes there is. Tyson hopes there is.
"It is so screwed up it might just work," says longtime boxing promoter Don Elbaum. "People love the guy."
Mystery Tour
WHAT: Mike Tyson's World Tour, featuring the controversial 40-year-old former heavyweight champion.
WHERE & WHEN: The proposed series of four-round exhibition matches began Friday night against Tyson's longtime sparring partner Corey (T-Rex) Sanders at the 6,000-seat Chevrolet Centre in Youngstown, Ohio. Details on future bouts are still TBA - and are sketchy at best, as no contracts have been signed with any venues. Strange but unconfirmed reports have Tyson fighting famed Welsh crooner Tom Jones.
WHY: Tyson is bankrupt after squandering about $300 million in earnings from his pro boxing career. Still, Tyson says his debts aren't the only reason for his return to the ring. "The money I make here isn't going to help any of my bills really from a tremendous standpoint. But I'm going to feel better about myself. I'm not going to be depressed," Tyson said.
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: Tyson himself doesn't know. "I think I'm useless to society," he said. "I don't think I'm worthy of the people who come out to see me, but they do."
Originally published on October 22, 2006
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| 22nd October 2006 07:48 PM |
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| gotdablouse |
How pathetic, the guy is even worse thant Wacko Jacko. I remember reading an article in 86 that said in essence "the biggest problem for Tyson is going to be the lack of opponents"...well no, the biggest problem was him. If memory serves he never got his crown back after that stunning loss to whoever it was (Riddick Bow ?) in 1991 ? So that's just 5 years at the top. |
| 22nd October 2006 08:48 PM |
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| Schleisher |
That's true, just five years on top, nothing was the same after he lost to Buster Douglas. He was truly awesome in his prime though. Articles always concentrated on his strength and training, but I don't remember too many that expressed the ridiculous speed that he had. Lightning fast when he was young. |
| 23rd October 2006 07:00 AM |
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| corgi37 |
I read today he wants to fight a chick boxer now!
You know, he was terrifyingly awesome when he started, but even back then, i think 99% of people knew how he'd end up.
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