Strapped to electrodes
Doctors perform battery of tests on Tyson
Posted: Friday September 25, 1998 11:32 AM
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Tyson smiled and signed autographs as he stepped out of the hospital, saying some might "think I'm a psycho because I bit that guy's ear off." AP |
BOSTON (AP) -- During an intensive battery of tests under way at Massachusetts General Hospital, doctors are strapping electrodes to Mike Tyson, checking him for drugs and asking him hundreds of probing questions.
The tests, ordered by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, are part of Tyson's attempt to return to the sport he was banned from after biting Evander Holyfield's ears.
When it's all over, they hope to have an answer to the one question many in the boxing world are asking: Is Tyson mentally fit to return to the ring?
A team of psychiatrists and neuropsychologists have been asked to predict, among other things, the chances of Tyson exploding into an uncontrolled rage in a future bout.
One sports psychologist familiar with the type of tests the boxer is undergoing said commissioners might as well toss a coin.
While the tests are thorough and can be used to fashion a treatment program for Tyson, there is little or no data on other boxers to help doctors predict his behavior, said Robert Schleser, a psychology professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology and director of the Center of Sports and Performance Psychology.
"This is a weird situation," he said. "There's no test that specifically is going to tell you whether a boxer is going to bite someone's ear. That is why this is a huge task for these guys."
Tyson smiled and signed autographs as he stepped out of the hospital Thursday. Speaking to onlookers, he said some might "think I'm a psycho because I bit that guy's ear off."
"I just want to let the Nevada commission know I'm extremely sorry and I'm really a good guy," he said.
A hospital spokeswoman said she did not know if Tyson was scheduled to return today. A spokesman for the Nevada commission said the tests, which began Wednesday, were expected to take three days.
On Thursday, the two top members of the Nevada Athletic Commission said they will vote to reject Tyson's request to return to the ring unless he can explain his alleged assault of two men following a traffic accident in Maryland last month.
Claims by Tyson's lawyers that he is innocent of the charges simply aren't good enough if Tyson wants his license back, commission chairman Dr. Elias Ghanem and vice chairman James Nave said.
"I would vote no if I have to vote today," Ghanem said.
Nave agreed, saying the position of Tyson's lawyers that they couldn't discuss the matter because of pending charges gave him little option in his vote.
"It's not going to work for me," Nave said. "How can we license him without knowing about it?"
Tyson is charged by two men with attacking them following a minor traffic accident in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Gaithersburg, Maryland. A preliminary hearing on the charges had been set for October 2, a day before the commission hearing, but that has been scrapped and the case will head toward trial at a later date instead.
Tyson adviser Shelly Finkel said he would have to discuss the latest development with Tyson's attorneys. He said Tyson should be judged innocent until proven guilty.
"I think what the commission is asking for is illegal," Finkel said. "It seems to me as if someone is playing a game."
Finkel added that both he and Tyson's lawyers had thought that the psychological testing was the only issue still to be resolved.
Dr. Edwin "Flip" Homansky, who is overseeing Tyson's evaluation for the Nevada commission, said Tyson is being looked at far more closely now than when he tried to return to boxing in New Jersey.
"In New Jersey, he was with a psychiatrist for 45 minutes, who commented he was like a teddy bear in his office," Homansky said.
Tyson withdrew his application to return to boxing in New Jersey, saying he didn't think the commission there would allow him to box.
According to a document from the Nevada Athletic Commission outlining the scope of Tyson's evaluation, the boxer would undergo at least 10 examinations. One of the tests is to measure Tyson's level of stress, social conformity, suspiciousness, impulsive behavior and excitability, Schleser said.
Paul Anderson, assistant director of the National Sports Institute of at Marquette University in Milwaukee, said he's unsure how the evaluation process could help curb the boxer's violent behavior.
"No one is making him responsible for his conduct," Anderson said of the latest evaluation. "It's just making him jump through hoops."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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