All Alone In A Time Of Crisis With His Boxing Career On The Ropes, Tyson Turns To Only Person He Trusts

It was five days before Mike Tyson’s fight with Evander Holyfield, and he was in a philosophical mood as he sat on a couch in promoter Don King’s house.

“One thing I learned reading in prison was that in the time of crisis, the leader is always alone,” Tyson said.

How prophetic the words turned out to be.

In the crisis of his boxing career, the fighter accustomed to being surrounded by an adoring entourage suddenly finds himself very much alone as he tries to overcome the damage he caused by taking a chunk out of Holyfield’s ear.

With King strangely silent, and Tyson’s own minions told to shut up by the former heavyweight champion, he’ll go it alone Wednesday when he asks Nevada boxing regulators to give him the chance to fight again.

In the space of just a few days, Tyson went from being one of the most feared fighters to one of the most feared biters - the object of the public’s ridicule and scorn. He’s under psychiatric care, yet the two bites he took figure to mark Tyson far longer than it takes for the marks to disappear from Holyfield’s ears.

“Right now Mike is retreating into himself with his friends and those who support him,” said Showtime executive Jay Larkin, who said he speaks with King daily. “He’s consulting a well-known psychiatrist, finding out what his life is about, where he is and what he wants to do.”

Tyson faces a $3 million fine, not much by the standards of someone who has made $140 million since being released from prison two years ago following his conviction for raping Desiree Washington.

More importantly, he faces the possibility that he will never throw punches for pay again.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission is widely expected to revoke Tyson’s boxing license, perhaps for at least 18 months to two years. At the age of 31, that could be fatal to Tyson’s boxing career.

“I don’t think you will see the same Tyson again,” veteran trainer Angelo Dundee said. “His skills will definitely erode. They already eroded during his time in prison.”

Dundee, who trained Muhammad Ali when he was banned from boxing for more than three years in the late 1960s for refusing induction into the Army, said Tyson’s skills were hurt more than most observers thought by his three years in an Indiana prison.

Another layoff, Dundee said, could make him only a shell of the fighter he was when he terrorized the heavyweight division for nearly a decade.

“One year off is bad enough. Two years is worse. Three years, forget it, because Tyson is a self-destruct type of individual,” he said.

Fellow trainer Emanuel Steward, who was in Holyfield’s corner for one of his fights with Riddick Bowe, agreed.

“Anything over 12 months would be disastrous,” Steward said. “His style of fighting is a youth style of fighting. It’s not laid back like a Sugar Ray Robinson, an Ali or a Thomas Hearns. It’s like Joe Frazier and those types. They usually don’t fight well past the age of 27 anyway.”

Steward, who was at ringside watching the fight, was one of the few to agree with Tyson’s claim that a head butt from Holyfield caused him to “just snap” and lose it in the ring during the third round.

“When you get butted you don’t think about anything else,” Steward said. “The pain is unbelievable. He realized his whole career was on the line and he just freaked out. He went berserk.”

Tyson still has one fight left under his contract with the MGM Grand hotel, where he has fought five of his six fights since being released from prison.

And he has another year on his contract with Showtime, which claimed a record 1.9 million pay-per-view buys of the fight at $49.95 each.

“It’s conceivable his license will be revoked for life, so we have to reserve any comment until we know what’s in store for Mike,” Larkin said.

If Tyson is allowed to fight again, though, he still figures to be able to earn millions more, if only as a curiosity.

“It was totally reprehensible and inexcusable,” Larkin said. “He intentionally fouled Evander Holyfield. But Andrew Golota intentionally fouled Riddick Bowe and got a rematch for an increased purse. You have to look at it in that light.”

Meantime, Tyson waits for his future to be decided. He has already said he won’t contest any penalties, other than to ask he not be banned from the sport for life.

With the whole world seemingly against him, Tyson sits in his Las Vegas mansion - alone.

“I trust me,” he said. “That’s all I can trust.”