Back in business
Look for Tyson to get license back, fight in November
Posted: Thursday August 06, 1998 08:27 PM
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Tyson's outburst at his hearing to gain a boxing license adds to his growing legend as a boxing maverick AP |
By Dave Raffo, SportsTicker
TRENTON, New Jersey (CNN/SI) -- Mike Tyson's hearing before the New Jersey boxing commission received more attention than any fight has this year. The same goes for Tyson's venture into pro wrestling a few months back.
That means the two biggest "boxing" stories of the year don't involve any fights but do involve Tyson.
So, you think the New Jersey Athletic Control Board will not grant Tyson his license?
They will, even though Tyson and his new braintrust did everything possible to blow the case during their hearing. Tyson's profanity was bad enough, but the strategy for the hearing was just as bad. Let's start with his character witnesses. Chuck Wepner?
OK, Wepner was a popular fighter in New Jersey during his day, and his battle with Muhammad Ali inspired the movie "Rocky," but he also did jail time for selling drugs. Some character witness.
And Bobby Czyz really helped matters when he said, "If I hit [an opponent] and his eye fell out of his head, I would eat it before he got it back. That's the kind of mentality you have to have."
The board also didn't really have to hear from Tyson's wife Monica that he "needs boxing and boxing needs him."
Don't you think Tyson's lawyer Anthony Fusco Jr., apparently the architect of this master plan, laid it on a bit thick when he said, "This crucifixion has to come to an end."
Fusco should have lined up experts familiar with sports law who could have testified that Tyson's penalty for biting the ears of Evander Holyfield was the strictest in sports history. Instead of letting Tyson's s wife tell the board that Tyson needs boxing, Fusco could have asked promoter Dino Duva to say the same thing. Duva, who is from New Jersey and one of the game's leading promoters, was widely quoted as saying boxing needs Tyson in the days surrounding the hearing. And he's not even Tyson's promoter.
If Fusco wanted a boxer to testify, why not Holyfield? Holyfield is on record as saying Tyson should be forgiven and allowed to fight. One of Tyson's new advisers, Shelly Finkel, is Holyfield's former manager and still friendly with the WBA and IBF heavyweight champion.
He probably could have gotten Holyfield to testify, if not in person than at least by video. Or at the very least, submit a signed statement in Tyson's defense. That would have gone a lot further than testimony from Wepner and Czyz. Despite all the blunders, you can expect the NJACB to reinstate Tyson's license that was lifted by the Nevada commission last year.
Why? Because there's no money to be made in denying him. And Tyson hasn't made enemies in New Jersey like he has in Nevada. So the best move Tyson made was to apply in New Jersey. Look for Tyson to fight again in November.
King cleared to reapply for license
Before it got around to reinstating Tyson, New Jersey lifted the ban on promoter Don King that was in place since 1994. King can re-apply for his license now that he has been acquitted on wire fraud charges. King was found not guilty of nine charges last month.
The New Jersey Casino Control Commission banned King four years ago after his indictment.
How good is Cuban Felix Savon
Like countryman Teofilio Stevenson before him, Cuban amateur heavyweight Felix Savon makes boxing people wonder how he would fare against the top pros of his time. And like Stevenson before him, Savon doesn't care to find out.
Savon led team Cuba to a Goodwill Games-high six gold medals last week, scoring crunching knockouts of U.S. boxers in the semifinals and finals.
But although Cuban boxers and other amateurs have defected in recent years to get rich as pros, Savon continues to spew his country's s party line about the evils of pro boxing.
When asked how he would do against Tyson, Holyfield or Lennox Lewis, Savon only says he would defeat them under amateur rules. Stevenson, an Olympic champion in 1972, 1976 and 1980, used to say similar things about fighting Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman.
Savon says he's shooting for his third Olympic gold medal in two years. U.S. featherweight Teaunce Shepherd and 17-year-old light welterweight Riccardo Williams won golds, and the United States led all countries with 17 boxing medals. The U.S. showing was encouraging because U.S. boxers usually don't do well in major competitions outside of Olympic years, and this Goodwill Games team was filled with youngsters who should be greatly improved by the 2000 Olympics.
"It was great, it was amazing," Shepherd said. "This is what the hard work was for. We were dying for a gold medal."
Whitaker's problems persist
Pernell Whitaker's problems outside the ring continued when he was sentenced to jail time on a reckless driving conviction in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Judge William Bunch sentenced Whitaker to 90 days in jail with 88 suspended, fined him $500 and suspended his license.
Whitaker, a former champion in every division from lightweight to junior middleweight, plans to appeal the decision. He still has two more court cases ahead of him: August 26 for a reckless driving charge and October 21 for a driving under the influence charge. He is suspended from boxing until September 11 because he tested positive for cocaine after a fight last year.
Odds & ends Holyfield and Henry Akinwande didn't get together last June as planned, but they'll appear together at fellow heavyweight Michael Grant's wedding Saturday. The Holyfield-Akinwande fight was postponed because Akinwande contracted Hepatitis B. The fight might be rescheduled for later this year, but Holyfield will fight IBF mandatory challenger Vaughn Bean first. . . . Saoul Mamby is back in the ring at age 51, and his comeback makes less sense than most. At least other geezers such as George Foreman, Larry Holmes and Roberto Duran can trade on their names and reputations for big paydays. But nobody paid attention to Mamby when he was a 33-year-old junior welterweight champion, so why should anybody care about him now? Mamby won a six-round decision over George Kellman last week in Florida to run his career record to 45-31-6. Mamby never made much money in all those fights, and has worked as a security guard, limousine driver and trainer since his previous retirement in 1994.
© 2003 SportsTicker Enterprises, LP
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