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Tyson sued Orlin Norris claims he is owed a rematch
Posted: Tuesday January 25, 2000 04:56 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- The boxer who took a late punch from Mike Tyson in the ring charges in a $2 million lawsuit that the former heavyweight champion has hit him financially outside the ring. Orlin Norris, 34, claims Tyson's manager, Shelly Finkel, promised an immediate rematch if he would say he believed Tyson's punch after the first-round bell in their fight Oct. 23 fight in Las Vegas was accidental. Norris, who reluctantly spoke up for Tyson, detailed the arrangement in papers filed Monday in Manhattan's State Supreme Court. Tyson's camp denies that any such a deal was ever made. Norris' lawyer, Judd Burstein, said he has at least four witnesses who heard Finkel, afraid that Nevada boxing officials would suspend Tyson again, make the offer in Norris' dressing room after the fight. Nevada suspended Tyson and fined him $3 million for biting off part of Evander Holyfield's ear during a 1997 bout in Las Vegas. The Oct. 23 fight was stopped and declared "no contest" after Norris went down, got up and limped back to his corner with an injured knee that he apparently hurt when he hit the canvas. Burstein said Tyson is trying to back out of the deal with Norris because he's scared. "Tyson's afraid to fight Norris, who hit him very hard two times as the first-round bell rang," Burstein said. "Now that he knows he can expect a real fight from Norris, he's ducking him." Tyson is in England preparing for his Saturday fight with Britain's Julius Francis in Manchester. Burstein says his client's lawsuit asks for $2 million because that is what he was promised for his next fight with Tyson. Norris' lawsuit asks the court to order Showtime, the cable network that carries Tyson's matches, to freeze $2 million of the fighter's Saturday purse. Meanwhile, Tyson's lawyer, Jim Jimmerson, says he has asked the U.S. District Court in Las Vegas to declare that no oral agreement exists between Tyson and Norris. "My client wants to be free to fight whomever he chooses," Jimmerson said. "It's not so much that he doesn't want to fight Norris. He just doesn't want to be bound by some non-existent agreement." A few days after the Oct. 23 fight, boxing officials voted against punishing Tyson for the late hit on Norris and released his $8.7 million purse that they had held since the fight. Norris officially got $800,000 for the Oct. 23 fight, but because of liens and taxes, he actually collected a little more than $200,000. Tyson's Nevada boxing license expired Dec. 31. Officials there have warned that he will have a difficult time getting it renewed anytime soon.
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