Tyson circus rolls into town again
Jones Jr. bout is a cash grab beneath analysis
Eighteen and a half years have passed since Mike Tyson threw a punch that mattered and even that night he was overwhelmed in a Memphis ring by Lennox Lewis. Tyson was 35 at the time, slow, somewhat disinterested, unable to defend, looking like a washed up fighter, an easy target for the not always remarkable sometime Canadian Lewis. Tyson lost to Lewis in 2002. And he lost to somebody named Danny Williams in 2004. And he lost to somebody named Kevin Mcbride in 2005. And that was it. He never fought again. He quit before he actually retired. And really, nobody wants to remember that Tyson. Not the one who lost twice to Evander Holyfield and took a chomp out of Holyfield’s ear. Not the one torn apart by Lewis. Not the guy who couldn’t muster any energy or enthusiasm against nobodies like Williams and Mcbride, who would have been first-round fodder in his early years.
People want to see the ferocious Tyson. The knockout artist. The terror who fought 15 times in his first professional year and took care of 12 of his opponents in the first or second round. The one they remember. The one who really didn’t last very long.
And here we are, almost two decades later, and the myopic public fascination with Mike Tyson never seems to end. At this time in our history when television commentators are fired for the slightest slip of the tongue, when forgiveness for public figures who mess up is rampant, the convicted rapist Tyson, the assault- and- battery champion of the world, the king who couldn’t control his anger management, is a figure of more than prominence.
He’s the man we somehow can’t get enough of and have so much amnesia about his flawed career as a heavyweight fighter or esteem and derision. We’ve seen him now in the movies. We’ve seen him on television. We’ve seen he has a oneman theatre show that he travelled around. We’ve seen he has an active marijuana company. We’ve seen him somehow grow in popularity as time has passed.
Mike Tyson, the celebrity, the entertainer, the money maker at the age of 54.
And now this supposed fight on Saturday night, with Roy Jones Jr., will go on. They’re calling it an exhibition of some kind. But the public is so starved to see Tyson in the ring, even for a bout that might not be scored, and has certain anti- boxing regulations, there is enough interest that Tyson will be paid US$ 10 million for this apparent farce.
Jones was a wonderful fighter, fighting 75 times as a professional, as recently as two years ago, winning titles in division after division, with a resume that included opponents such as Virgil Hill, Otis Grant, Antonio
Tarver, Felix Trinidad, Bernard Hopkins. But at his best he was nowhere near the heavyweight division, like at his best even matters for a promotion such as this.
In a world with too many belts, Tyson Fury is basically the heavyweight champion of the world today and if it’s possible to disappear when you’re 6- foot- 9 and more than 270 pounds, Fury has done that since obliterating and surprising Deontay Wilder last February. We don’t see Fury much. We don’t hear from him. We don’t know what he’s doing because he’s barely generated the main stream. That unfortunately is where boxing finds itself today.
Tyson will get millions for whatever this thing with Jones happens to be. The pay- per- view numbers, with so many at home and seeking entertainment, should be decent. And better fighters than Tyson — Holyfield, Lewis, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, to name four — could barely draw this kind of money in their prime, let alone in their mid50s.
People remember a Tyson who really never was. They remember all the knockouts over all the tomato cans. They remember the explosive fists and the crazy scene around him. They remember
mike tyson will get millions for whatever this thing with roy jones jr. happens to be.
he took 91 seconds to take out Michael Spinks, who was so afraid of the fight in 1988 he barely made his way up the steps of the ring for the battle.
But where is Tyson’s great win?
He doesn’t have one. Unless the wins over Trevor Berbick or Spinks are considered great, and I’m not sure any historian would look at those fights that way. James ( Buster) Douglas stole the Tyson aura in Japan with the greatest upset of our boxing lives and he left behind a template on how to beat the bully.
After Douglas, Holyfield won twice, both easily. The Lewis fight was painful to watch because it was so one- sided. The truth that nobody talks about with Tyson: if he fought anyone great, in their prime, he lost. Think of the great heavyweights: Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Holmes, Holyfield, Lewis — they all had great victories. Is Razor Ruddock the best fighter Tyson ever beat?
None of this matters, of course, to anyone planning to watch on Saturday night. They want to see Tyson. They want to be see theatre. They want to be entertained. And they want to remember what used to be. Even if their memory is like the fighter himself, forever flawed.