Dundee’s Tyson Theory Didn’t Stand Up Either

The day before the fight, Angelo Dundee told the New York Times that Trevor Berbick had little to fear from Mike Tyson’s punch.

“He pumps iron,” Dundee said of the challenger. “I’ve never seen a good fighter who pumped iron. When a guy pumps iron, he’s got a weightlifter’s body, not a boxer’s body. A boxer has to be flexible.

“People talk about Tyson’s upper body strength but that’s phony. If you got no legs, you got no upper body strength. Tyson doesn’t have his legs under him.”

After 2:35 of the second round, neither did Berbick.

The week before, Brian Bosworth predicted Oklahoma would shut out Colorado. Last week, Jim Harbaugh guaranteed that Michigan would go to the Rose Bowl, and Ken Norton Jr. promised that UCLA would put the stomp on USC.

It’s the kind of stuff that’s supposed to backfire after it makes the bulletin board of the opposition, but it all came true. Do we have a trend here?

As Bo Schembechler said, “I would have said it myself, if I’d had any guts.”

Trivia Time: When Joe Kapp of the Minnesota Vikings threw seven touchdown passes against the Baltimore Colts in 1969, how did it affect the back judge, Adrian Burk? (Answer in column four.)

Said Diana Ditka when asked how she keeps busy while husband Mike is spending all that time with the Chicago Bears: “I like to spend money.”

As for Mike’s future plans, she said, “He wants to win two more Super Bowls and then maybe we’ll try to buy the team.”

Steve Bartalo of Colorado State, the all-time Western Athletic Conference rusher, said the hardest hit he ever took was from Arizona State defensive back David Fulcher, now of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Bartalo: “I thought he wanted to take my ribs home for dinner--and eat them. Because he barbecued them on the field.”

How good is Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls? Says Gerald Wilkins of the New York Knicks: “When he gets going, there’s no telling what he can do. I respect him more than anyone in the league, even my brother.”

His brother is Dominique Wilkins.

Anyone notice that Akron, coached by Gerry Faust, lost its regular-season finale last week? Youngstown State, which was 1-9, upset the Zips, 40-39.

Thus, Akron wound up with a 7-4 record, tying them for third in the Ohio Valley Conference. Last year, under Jim Dennison, the Zips were 8-3.

Said a disgusted Dale Brown after his LSU basketball team lost its opener to TCU at Baton Rouge: “I’m ashamed for a team to wear the uniform of LSU, and let its heart sit on the bench. The fans don’t deserve to pay to watch the garbage we displayed.

“We tiptoed through the tulips. Tiny Tim could have started at center for us tonight.”

Trivia Time: It equaled the NFL record Burk had tied when he threw seven touchdown passes for the Philadelphia Eagles against the Washington Redskins in 1954. Others sharing the record are Sid Luckman, Y.A. Tittle and George Blanda.

Quotebook

Villanova basketball Coach Rollie Massimino, told that Seton Hall Coach P.J. Carlesimo had picked Villanova to win the Big East: “You take that from its source. He’s not playing with a full deck, that boy.”