Tyson-Holyfield rematch, let the fighting begin

Tyson-Holyfield rematch, let the fighting begin

By Steve James

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (Reuter): Now, says Mike Tyson, is the time
for the talking to end and the fighting to begin.

After all the hyperbole and the public posturing, the mind
games and the protests, Tyson's challenge Saturday (Sunday
Western Indonesian Time) for Evander Holyfield's World Boxing
Association heavyweight title bout comes down to two men battling
in the ring in front of as many as three billion television
viewers worldwide.

The eagerly anticipated rematch features an angry Tyson out to
prove that prison did not soften "Iron Mike" and that last
November's loss -- in which he was knocked down for only the
second time in his career -- was a momentary aberration.

For Holyfield, who along with Muhammad Ali is the only three-
time world heavyweight champion, the fight will determine how
history rates a fighter who was an underdog last Nov. 9 and still
attracts little respect from the oddsmakers.

Tyson, a stocky 5-feet, 11-1/2 inches (1.82 meters), is the 2-
1 favorite in Las Vegas for a fight dubbed "The Sound and the
Fury" that will pay each man around US$30 million.

Both men weighed in Thursday at 218 pounds (99 kg) and both
express confidence they are in the best shape to win.

But there the similarity ends. While Holyfield exudes an inner
calm, Tyson appears to be seething inside.

Tyson, who turns 31 on Monday, closed his training camp to the
press and has limited his public comments to monosyllabic
predictions.

"People on his side are talking, people on my side are
talking. They're not fighting," Tyson told reporters this week.
"I'm going to fight and he's not going to have the championship
come Saturday."

Tyson, who has lost only two of 47 fights, appeared angry this
week, blaming the media for painting him as a boxer whose time in
jail for a rape conviction softened his once intimidating style
and the killer punching that made him the youngest world
heavyweight champion at the age of 20.

A convert to Islam, Tyson has publicly identified himself with
one of boxing's least popular champions, Sonny Liston.

"He was a great fighter and I think an interesting person,"
Tyson said when asked about Liston. "He maybe got a raw deal, but
we write our own book in life."

And yet, when asked whether he had reached the same inner
serenity as Holyfield, Tyson snapped at the reporter.

"I'm not going to answer your question. I'm all right. I'm
OK!" said the man who earlier denied he was emotional.

Despite railing against the press and claiming to be a victim,
Tyson got a break Friday when the referee who stopped the last
fight in the 11th round -- to prevent him receiving more
punishment -- withdrew from the rematch.

The challenger's camp had objected to Mitch Halpern refereeing
back-to-back Tyson fights. Although the Nevada State Athletic
Commission voted not to switch referees, Halpern decided to step
aside anyway, clearing the way for Mills Lane. Holyfield says he
does not care who referees.

In contrast to Tyson's simmering fury, Holyfield, 34, has been
all goodness and light, constantly attributing his mental
strength to the power of his Christian convictions.

Confident

Asked why he was so confident, the 6-feet, 2-1/2-inch (1.89
meters) fighter replied that there were many reasons "but when
you look at the whole thing, I think 'Why wouldn't I win?'"

The biggest question surrounding him has been whether he will
retire from boxing if he wins. His doctor wife has expressed her
concern about her husband's occupational hazard of frequently
getting punched in the head.

Holyfield (33-3) refuses to say whether he would step down
from the ring, especially since a Tyson win on Saturday would
almost certainly prompt promoter Don King to set up a third and
even more lucrative fight.

King himself has compared the fight to Ali's classic battles
with Joe Frazier and George Foreman, but Ali's legendary manager-
trainer Angelo Dundee sees more of a parallel with the 1964
battle that Ali -- then Cassius Clay -- fought with Liston.

Seeing Tyson in the role of Liston, Dundee said Friday: "His
cloak of invincibility is gone -- just like Muhammad Ali did to
Sonny Liston.

"When you take the bully out of the guy, you're the boss."

With celebrities, rap music industry figures and fight fans
flocking to America's gambling mecca, Las Vegas police -- who
expect an unusual influx of 100,000 people, in part due to an
"Ozzfest" heavy metal concert -- are keeping a close eye out for
possible trouble.

They want no repeat of the aftermath to the Tyson-Bruce Seldon
fight in September 1996 when rap star Tupac Shakur was shot and
mortally wounded in a drive-by shooting still unsolved but
believed to have been part of a war between East and West Coast
rappers.

"We'll be working the vice angle, the organized crime angle,
the gang angle, along with traditional pickpockets, drunks and
minor fights, and there is also the concern about the East Coast-
West Coast rapper situation," police Captain Ray Flynn told the
Las Vegas Review-Journal.