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Lewis lashes out Champ hopes Tyson does not retire any time soon
Updated: Saturday October 21, 2000 9:01 PM
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- Before the fight, Mike Tyson said this would be his last one. After Andrew Golota quit Friday night, Tyson said nothing, angrily leaving the ring and quickly leaving the arena. "I think they'll talk him into it," heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis said during a conference call about nine hours after the fight. "If Mike Tyson fights again, I hope he waits for me. I have something to feed him." After Tyson beat Lou Savarese in his previous fight, he said he wanted to rip out Lewis' heart and feed it to him. He also wanted to eat Lewis' children. A couple of days before the Golota fight, Tyson said he knew Lewis doesn't have children. Golota wanted to quit after the first round, and he did quit after the second -- on his feet as Tyson cursed him while being restrained from dashing across the ring. A crowd of 16,228 booed lustily and later peppered Golota with popcorn and showered him with soda and beer. "I thought the whole thing was a circus," Lewis said. "I thought the animals came to the circus. Tyson was a shadow of his past self. It looked like Golota could handle him, but he didn't have the heart."
The fight would be a sour way for Iron Mike to leave boxing. And a lot of people who follow Tyson or are involved in his career believe, as Lewis does, that the former undisputed heavyweight champion will continue to fight. Shelly Finkel, Tyson's adviser, said the fighter said this would be his last fight, and "at this moment that holds true." Immediately after the match in the Palace of Auburn Hills, however, Finkel said, "This leaves him unfulfilled. He will probably take a couple weeks off and reassess." It is difficult to believe that at 34, not old for a heavyweight, Tyson would walk away from boxing. Because of tax and other out-of-ring problems, Tyson is not financially set. Multimillion-dollar purses remain to be had, especially in a challenge to Lewis, who will defend the WBC-IBF titles against David Tua on Nov. 11 or a third fight against Evander Holyfield, recognized by the WBA as champion. Tommy Brooks, Tyson's trainer, said that a couple of weeks ago Tyson had told him he wanted to shine, something he had not been able to do in three previous bouts - a one-round no-contest against Olin Norris, whom he knocked down after the bell; a second-round victory over Julius Francis; and a 38-second win against Lou Savarese, whom he attacked after the fight had been stopped. Golota robbed Tyson of chance to shine and stripped himself of dignity. It would be ironic for Tyson, who made $10 million, to retire after a controversy for which he was blameless. Golota's purse was $2.2 million. "I am sorry to all my fans, who counted on me, but it wasn't my day," said the 32-year-old native of Poland who lives in Chicago. Fans, who live vicariously, are not very forgiving when their tigers turn out to be tabby cats. Tyson, who weighed 222 pounds, cut Golota over the left eye, apparently from a head butt, knocked his 6-foot-4, 240-pound opponent down with a right to the head with 12 seconds left in the first round. Golota got up immediately, but when he returned to his corner after the bell, trainer Al Certo said, he wanted to quit. Certo told the reluctant warrior that he could win, and Golota held his own in the second round against Tyson, who is listed as 5-111/2 but appears closer to 5-9. Before the bell beginning the third round, Golota left his corner and told referee Frank Garza more than once, "I quit." Certo, telling Golota, "You've got to get back out there," got him back to the corner. But when he tried to insert the mouthpiece, Golota refused to open his mouth. The official result is a third-round technical knockout. On Tyson's record under 2000 it will read: "Oct. 20 ... Andrew Golota, Auburn Hills, Mich. ... TKO 3." However, it appears unlikely that will be the last line on Tyson's record.
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