Win Still Could Make Tangstad Loser at Home : Challenger of Spinks Is Not Exactly a Favorite With Norwegian Government

The way Steffen Tangstad of Norway sees it, if he upsets Michael Spinks tonight and wins a share of the world heavyweight boxing championship, it’s even money he’ll be allowed to re-enter Norway.

No dancing in the fjords? No parade in Oslo? Nope. The way Tangstad tells it, he’ll be lucky if they don’t throw him in the slammer.

The curious path over which the 6-foot 3-inch, 214 3/4-pound European heavyweight champion has traveled to reach his appointment with Spinks tonight at the Las Vegas Hilton has apparently been one mined by Norwegian bureaucrats.

Said Tangstad: “In 1980, I turned pro, had one pro fight in Oslo, and they banned the sport. Some government people were angry because (his turning pro) meant I could not compete in future Olympic Games for Norway. So the government banned (pro) boxing.”

Not only is it illegal to accept so much as a kroner for a fight in Norway, Tangstad, says, it’s also illegal for a pro boxer to train, do roadwork or shadow box. Even in the privacy of your own home. The penalty? Hard time.

Said Egil Obys, one of his trainers who is an instructor at an Oslo police academy: “I have had to train Steffen in secret at a mountain helicopter hangar. And the strange part is, I should have arrested him. I’m a cop.”

Tangstad, 27, who speaks four languages, also pointed out that the Norwegian government, despite banning his livelihood, nonetheless taxes his boxing income “full bore.”

There is only one TV network in Norway, the one operated by the government. The network won’t show tonight’s bout, but most of the country’s sports fans will watch on closed-circuit hookups, at 4:30 a.m. Sunday.

So bitter are his country’s bureaucrats at him for turning pro, Tangstad said, that he has a no-name son.

“My girlfriend and I took our 4-month-old son and his birth certificate to the records department to submit his name. We wanted to name him Tex. The government rejected it, saying, ‘This is not a proper name for a child growing up in Norway.’ We didn’t have a second choice after they threw out Tex, so we just left. Legally, my son has no name. We just call him Tex.

Tangstad’s story will get even better, of course, if he pulls an Ingemar Johansson tonight and upsets Spinks, then attempts to return to Norway as the heavyweight champion and is arrested at the airport. But few here this week can imagine that. One Las Vegas line Friday had Spinks a 7 1/2-1 favorite.

Tangstad, who is the European heavyweight champion for the second time, is a competent, stand-up boxer with a good left jab and fair punching power but is about as quick as a glacier.

He started fighting in Copenhagen, Denmark, then borrowed money from a Norwegian bank against a house his late father had left him. He used the loan to finance a trip to the United States.

First stop: A large home in Pompano Beach, Fla. Johansson, who as a 7-1 underdog from Sweden took the title from Floyd Patterson in 1959, answered the door.

“Ingemar is a very nice man, and was very helpful to me,” Tangstad said. “He introduced me to some American boxing people, and I wound up in Chicago training under Johnny Brown.”

Tangstad was unbeaten in 17 fights, then returned to Copenhagen. “At that point, it looked as if the best way to get a title shot was to win the European heavyweight title first, which I did,” he said.

He won the European title in 1983, beating Lucien Rodriguez of France, lost it when he was knocked down three times by Sweden’s Anders Ecklund in a four-round TKO, then won it back last April by beating John Westgard of England. His record is 24-1-2 with 14 knockouts. Spinks’ is 29-0 with 19 knockouts.

Spinks weighed 201 at Friday’s weigh-in, four pounds less than he weighed for his second straight win over Larry Holmes here last April. Tangstad was 214 1/2. This is a million-dollar payday for Spinks. Tangstad will get $50,000, plus Scandinavian film and TV rights, which, if he wins, could be worth a considerable sum.

The fight is part of Don King’s heavyweight tournament to unify the heavyweight championship. A few weeks ago, ticket sales for the International Boxing Federation title bout were lagging. Then Mike Tyson was added to the card and his appearance is expected to boost the show to at least a near-sellout in the 9,000-seat Hilton Center’s indoor arena.

Tyson, who weighed in at 221, will fight Alfonzo Ratliff, 201, tonight and if he wins, as expected, will square off against Trevor Berbick here in early November in King’s tournament. Tyson’s purse tonight is pocket change, $50,000. But it’s part of his multimillion-dollar, multifight package with HBO, which is televising the entire card, starting at 5 p.m.

A second world title bout tonight will match New Jersey light-heavyweight Bobby Czyz against Yugoslav Slobodan Kacar, the Angelo Dundee-trained 1980 Olympic champion.

Spinks, who narrowly beat Holmes in his last two appearances, isn’t taking his opponent lightly, although he is a little light himself. “I want my old quickness for this bout,” Spinks said. “I want to slide and slither.”

If he wins as expected tonight, Spinks will advance directly to the championship bout of King’s tournament. Next comes a World Boxing Assn. title fight between Tim Witherspoon and Tony Tubbs. Then Tyson will fight Berbick for the World Boxing Council championship. The WBA-WBC winner then will fight the Spinks-Tangstad winner for the undisputed title.

Boxing Notes Mike Tyson is on a track that would enable him to become the youngest heavyweight champion. If he beats Trevor Berbick for the WBC title in November, he’ll be a champion at 20. The youngest was Floyd Patterson, who was 21 years, 11 months old when he defeated Archie Moore for the vacant title in 1956. . . . Both Patterson and Ingemar Johansson are here. Patterson appears to be at or under his fighting weight, Ingo at or over 300 pounds. . . . Spinks, on brother Leon, the former heavyweight champion: “What you see in me today is due in large part from what Leon taught me. Leon has been through a lot. But he’s my brother and I love him.” Trainer Eddie Futch, describing a call not long ago from Larry Holmes: “Larry told me he had a chance to fight either (Tyrell) Biggs or Tyson and asked me which one I thought he should take. I said, ‘Larry, if you must fight, take Biggs.