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Tyson declares war Fighters meet for first time at new conference
Posted: Thursday January 27, 2000 02:42 PM
MANCHESTER, England (AP) -- Mike Tyson's charm offensive is over. After 10 days of crowd-pleasing appearances, the former heavyweight champion met his British opponent for the first time Thursday and warned: "There's gonna be a war on Saturday." Tyson, who survived legal moves to prevent his entry into Britain, spent much of the past week touring London, signing autographs and posing for photographs. But he told Julius Francis not to expect any such friendliness in the ring when they meet Saturday night. "I'm an animal in the ring," Tyson said. "I'm a ferocious fighter. That's who I am. You cannot change who you are." The two men came head to head at a news conference two days before the fight before a sellout 21,000 crowd at Manchester's MEN Arena. Francis basically ignored what Tyson was saying by listening to music on his headphones. The former world champion said he wasn't in Britain on some kind of sightseeing tour. "I'm here to work," he said, "I'm ready to blaze and I'm looking forward to being victorious. I'm in great shape and I'm ready to go. I'm going to have a war with him. There's gonna be a war." Francis stopped listening to his music long enough to tell reporters that he felt his opponent was not the Tyson of old, the fighter who unified the three world titles within the space of nine months as a 19-year-old. "I am going to win," said the 35-year-old British fighter, who has a modest 21-7 record. "That's what I believe. I have trained and worked hard. I have watched Mr. Tyson throughout his career. He has had a great career, youngest world champion. I give him respect for that. But this is my time. I is all about Julius Francis." Despite a controversy about allowing him into Britain because he served three years in prison on a rape conviction and protests by a women's organization, Tyson has gotten superstar treatment from the general public and the media since his arrival in London on Jan. 15. He arrived in Manchester on Wednesday night. But when a woman TV reporter asked Tyson for his views about violence against women, fight promoter Frank Warren interjected and said: "We are here to talk about boxing. Next question." A crowd of about 700 people greeted Tyson at his Manchester hotel Wednesday night. Tyson was hustled through a back door, but later waved to the crowd from a hotel window. "I think it's a good thing for him to come to the area because it bonds people and it is bringing everyone together," said Aslan Vasi, 27, who lives in the city's multi-racial Moss Side district. It seems every move Tyson has made has been chronicled -- from running in Hyde Park at 3 a.m. to spending about $1.5 million for watches and jewelry. He reportedly will make from $8 million to $11 million for the scheduled 10-round bout. Francis' purse is $560,000. Everything Tyson has said has been fed to the public. Some of them were tabloid headlines, such as his statement that, "I think I am going to kill Julius Francis." Tyson explained that he just meant he was going to knock him out. The 33-year-old Tyson's two previous fights outside the United States were title defenses in Tokyo. He stopped Tony Tubbs in the second round on March 21, 1988, and he was knocked out in the 10th by James "Buster" Douglas in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history on Feb. 11, 1990. The former champion has said he would like to return to Britain to fight again, but that may not be so easy. Britain's immigration laws usually forbid anyone who has served a sentence of at least 12 months entry to the country. "He would need to get entry clearance to the UK if he were to come back again and we made it very clear that we only granted that exceptionally this time," said a spokesman for the Home Office, who handle immigration affairs. "There is no obligation for him to write us and say, 'I want to come in.' But clearly that would be advisable if anybody [with his criminal record] didn't want to face the prospect of being turned around at the airport."
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