Knockout Looks Tyson Appears Relaxed And Ready To Reclaim At Least One Title Belt Tonight

If looks alone could knock out another boxer, Frank Bruno would have been counted out at the weigh-in. It wasn’t so much the stare that Mike Tyson put on Bruno. It was Tyson’s laughter. The onetime heavyweight champion looked relaxed and ready to reclaim at least one title belt tonight.

Tyson has looked like an uncertain, brooding man since being released from prison a year ago, and there’s been no way in his first two fights since then to assess how close he is to his peak form.

He won on a disqualification against Peter McNeeley, an amateur disguised as a professional, in one round, and knocked out Buster Mathis, who couldn’t break a window, at least with his fist, in three.

“Trust me. You won’t forget this for a long time,” Tyson said late Thursday night when asked how he will perform against Bruno, who holds the World Boxing Council title. Trust Tyson, at least to this extent: He plans to apply relentless pressure on Bruno. And there’s nothing in the Englishman’s spotty record to suggest he can withstand the swarming, bullying tactics of the 10-1 favorite.

About 16,000, including several thousand British, are expected to fill the MGM Grand Garden for the scheduled 12-rounder, which will be shown on pay-per-view. Tyson will make the outrageous sum of $30 million; Bruno being at least a journeyman with a bit of a punch, this fight should provide a way of measuring Tyson’s comeback skills. Because of the three years he served in prison for rape, Tyson has fought only four rounds in almost five years. Still, a victory would give him the WBC title which is nothing more than a sales tool to hype the fight and produce a bigger purse.

“I’ve been off for a great period of time, and I’m just looking forward to doing the right thing as far as my career is concerned,” Tyson said last week during a telephone conference call with reporters. “My main objective right now is Frank Bruno, and that’s all I’m concerned with.”

Not only would a Bruno victory derail Tyson’s comeback and perhaps prompt him to re-evaluate his management and promotional team, it would strike a blow to the hopes of the big-name heavyweights who all covet a date for big bucks with Tyson: Riddick Bowe, Lennox Lewis and even aged George Foreman.

Tyson, though, has scoffed at Bruno’s boast that he will knock him out. “I’m sure he doesn’t believe that in his heart, especially after our last encounter,” Tyson said. Tyson’s theory is that once a boxer, especially a heavyweight, beats an opponent, he’ll probably do it even quicker the next time.

Bruno, at 34, has noted that he’s “older, much stronger, much wiser,” than in 1989. Older yes. And at 6 feet 3, he’s about 4 inches taller than Tyson and has an 11-inch reach advantage if he could work his jab. He’s heavier - 247 now, 228 in ‘89. But that might only slow him all the more. Tyson, 220 pounds, was asked Thursday about the effect Bruno’s extra weight might have? “It means nothing,” he said.

Lennox Lewis was wrongly denied his chance at the WBC heavyweight title, a Paterson, N.J., judge ruled Friday. But he refused to block tonight’s fight between Mike Tyson and Frank Bruno.

However, Superior Court Judge Amos Saunders ordered Tyson and Bruno to refrain from fighting after Saturday, and blocked the WBC from sanctioning any more heavyweight title fights until a lawsuit Lewis filed is settled. Lewis was seeking a preliminary injunction Friday to prevent the WBC from sanctioning Saturday’s fight, to allow him a shot at the title.