Marquee Bouts Aren’t The Same Without Tyson

Mike Tyson isn’t here, but in boxing conversations leading to Saturday night’s Evander Holyfield-Michael Moorer heavyweight title bout, he was everywhere.

Even in exile, Tyson remains the talk of the heavyweight division, if not all boxing. Like it or not, without his name on the marquee, Saturday night’s big fight wasn’t so big. Boxing is always more marketable when there’s a villain.

“No disrespect to Holyfield and Moorer,” said promoter Don King, “but all indications are that this fight won’t do anywhere near the business that Mike’s fights did.”

Now under suspension by the Nevada Athletic Commission after twice biting Holyfield’s ear during a June 28 title bout, Tyson won’t be eligible to apply for reinstatement until July.

Until then, according to a new federal law, Tyson’s suspension is in effect in all other boxing states. Because he’s on probation for his 1992 rape conviction, he would need court permission to leave the country to fight elsewhere.

Tyson had stayed out of sight until his recent motorcycle accident when he suffered a broken rib and a punctured lung, and until an ABC interview shown last Monday, during which he was asked if he expected to be licensed again.

“Truly, I don’t,” he said. “I think I’ll be banned for the rest of my life.”

But the Nevada commission’s executive director, Marc Ratner, disagreed with him.

“I think it’s wrong for Mike to think that,” Ratner said. “I’m not a voting member of the commission, but personally, I think someday he will be licensed again.”

Ratner doubted that Tyson’s recent accident and his $77 ticket for driving without a valid motorcyclist license would affect his boxing future.

“I know he’s got a valid auto driver’s license in Nevada,” he said.

Tyson has a home in Las Vegas, but he has reportedly spent his time since his suspension in New York (where he testified at the trial that awarded former boxer Mitch Green $45,000 for their Harlem street fight), New Jersey, Connecticut and the Washington area.

Having watched the ABC interview, Ratner thought that the former heavyweight champion was himself.

“It was the real Mike Tyson,” Ratner said. “There was the humble part and the defiant part.”

Tyson twice blurted a vulgar, bleeped obscenity, when asked what he thought of people who don’t think he should be licensed again.

If Tyson is eligible to fight here again, King will need to negotiate a new contract with one of the casino-hotels. The site of Tyson’s fights here since his release from prison, the MGM Grand, has indicated that it’s not too interested in having Tyson return. The Mirage, the site of Saturday night’s Holyfield-Moorer bout, also is reported to be disinterested.

Holyfield, meanwhile, confirmed Tyson’s disclosure that he twice phoned Holyfield to apologize for the ear bites.

“He didn’t return my phone calls,” Tyson said, “so I guess he believed it wasn’t sincere.”

Holyfield remembered his housekeeper in Atlanta informing him that Tyson had phoned twice.

“I felt it wasn’t necessary that he had to call me,” Holyfield said. “We’ll come together one day at some point in time.”

If Tyson were to apologize, Holyfield would prefer that it be face to face, not over the phone.