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Tyson to the people Boxer forsakes public workout but takes in city
Posted: Friday June 23, 2000 05:11 PM
LONDON (AP) -- Mike Tyson called off a public workout Tuesday and went for a walk instead, signing autographs along the way and bowing to a bus driver. The former heavyweight champion also called off a news conference leading to Saturday's bout with Lou Savarese in Glasgow, Scotland. He worked out in private at his hotel after his stroll. "It was decided by the whole Tyson team that we weren't going to do an open workout because he wants to make sure he had a good private workout,'" Tyson spokesman Peter Seligman said. "It's like a coach closing practice to the media because he wants to get a better practice in." Tyson left the Grosvenor House Hotel at around noon and went for a 25-minute walk along Park Lane, surrounded by handlers and bodyguards and trailed by dozens of photographers, reporters and camera crews. He paused to look at car showrooms, signed autographs, smiled at well-wishers and even bowed to a bus driver who stopped his vehicle to greet him. Tyson arrived in London on Sunday night, four days later than originally planned. He delayed his arrival to attend the funeral of a friend killed in New York. Tyson is to travel to Glasgow on Wednesday to complete preparations for the bout at Hampden Park stadium. Savarese has been in Glasgow since last Thursday. Seligman said Tyson weighs 225 pounds and is in better shape than when he stopped Julius Francis in the second round in Manchester, England, in January. But he said there is a question over Tyson's psychological state following the death of a friend who was killed in New York. "A lot of it is mental," he said. "From a physical standpoint, he's in tremendous physical shape. But mentally I think he wants to prepare more." On Monday, Tyson dropped into a south London bar for a drink. Dressed in white England soccer jersey and sneakers, Tyson mingled with patrons of the Lavenden Dives wine bar in Lavender Hill. Three bodyguards monitored the door as a small crowd gathered outside the bar, hoping for a glimpse. They allowed those with their children inside to have their photos taken with the fighter. This will be Tyson's second fight in Britain in five months following the bout with Francis. Tyson has served a three-year sentence for a rape conviction, and women's groups have sought to have him banned from entering the country again. But British Home Secretary Jack Straw cited 'special circumstances' in exempting Tyson from a law that bars the entry of anyone who has served a sentence of a year or more.
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