IT HAD TO BE ASKED : Tyson, Wife Handle Tough Questions About Marital Rift With Relative Ease

As countdown week for Tyson-Spinks began, the hundreds of reporters who have arrived on the hot, humid Boardwalk for Monday night’s heavyweight biggie were pondering this unsettling proposition:

Someone was going to have to ask heavyweight champion Mike Tyson: “Mike, is it true you beat your wife?”

There were no volunteers. At least, not from any North American sportswriters.

Finally, it fell to the brave Brits.

On Monday, a message was relayed up through the Tyson entourage from a half-dozen boxing writers from Great Britain:

“Could the champion possibly agree to meet in private with members of the British boxing press for an interview session?”

They weren’t hopeful. Tyson is not fond of boxing writers, especially lately. One of them, Wallace Matthews of Newsday, recently interviewed Stephanie Givens, the sister of Tyson’s wife, Robin Givens. Stephanie told him, among other things, that Tyson’s marriage with Givens was “a disaster,” and that Tyson has hit her.

A message came back to the Brits: “You can talk to Mike in Robin’s suite at Bally’s at 3 p.m.”

Afterward, the British writers told everyone that they found both Tyson and Mrs. Tyson, a television actress, in a smiling, seemingly happy state. Tyson threw no punches, they said. Nor did Givens.

As to the “Is it true you beat your wife?” question, a proper environment was established first, they said.

“First, we got him talking about the Louis-Schmeling fight (50 years ago this month), since we know he loves the history of boxing,” said Peter Moss of the London Daily Mail.

“At that point, while Robin was in another room, Colin Hart (of the London Sun) asked: ‘What about all these stories that you beat your wife?’

“ ‘You’ve seen her,’ ” Tyson told us. “ ‘Do you believe I’d hit her with a closed fist? Look at her. She’d disintegrate.’

“It was an excellent session,” Moss added. “We found him in a wonderful mood. He said too many American writers are on ego trips, that he felt we seemed more like real reporters.

“He said when he and Robin are together, they talk more about her career than his, about movies scripts and such. He was very relaxed, smiling a lot and flashing all those gold teeth. And so was Robin. She was in and out of the room, smiling and laughing.”

Said Ed Schuyler of the Associated Press, the only American reporter present: “He seemed happy to me, full of energy and as animated as I’ve ever seen him.

“He was up on his feet, showing them the footwork and moves Cus D’Amato (Tyson’s late guardian and trainer) taught him when he was a kid.

“He also said, about Robin: ‘My wife has never seen me mad. She may think she’s seen me mad, but she hasn’t.’ ”

To a question of how the carnival-like issues that have arisen in his personal life (his relationship with Givens), and his professional life (his feud with his manager, Bill Cayton), Tyson reportedly shrugged and said: “I’m a professional. Life goes on. Whatever happens--your mother or someone else you love dies--the show must go on.”

Of his feud with Cayton, Tyson indicated it hasn’t yet reached the breaking point. The question was: “Is it true you might get rid of Cayton?”

“It’s true,” he said. “But the relationship might still be saved. But we’ll talk about that later.”

Of Cayton’s managerial style, Tyson said: “Jimmy Jacobs (Tyson’s co-manager, who died last March) would say to me: ‘What do you want to do about this or that?’ Cayton says: ‘This is what we’re going to do . . . ‘ “

He also was asked how long he could sustain the energy level to successfully defend the championship, assuming he defeats Spinks.

“I haven’t lost interest in fighting yet,” he said. “Right now, training is the greatest thing in the world to me. When you’re training for a fight, you’re free. I just want the fight. I’m not thinking about records or anything--I just want to kick . . . “

There is still a suspicion that Tyson, if he beats Spinks in Monday’s matchup of unbeaten heavyweights, will announce his retirement.

He has told some that he genuinely wants to shed Cayton as his manager. Retiring, so the hunch goes, would be one way for him to force the issue, which is rooted in Cayton’s contract. It has more than three years to run.

Promoter Don King, who is pulling one end of the rope in the King-Cayton tug of war for control of Tyson, has spent a lot of time with Tyson in the last two months, cultivating a friendship. On Wednesday, he was asked if he thought it was possible Tyson might retire after a victory over Spinks.

King, who has an opinion on everything, was all but silent.

“No one can predict that right now,” he said.

An employee of King was asked the same question.

“That’s a distinct possibility,” he said.

The man who will write the book on Tyson, to no one’s surprise, is Jose Torres, the former light-heavyweight champion who has been Tyson’s friend since the heavyweight champion was 12.

Torres was asked if he has signed a contract with Warner Books, the publisher, to write the authorized Tyson biography.

“Let me put it this way,” he said. “They gave me my $350,000 advance and it’s in my bank account.”

Torres’ biggest purse as a pro fighter was $100,000.

Like Tyson, Torres was reared and taught to box by D’Amato. He has been a free-lance magazine writer for years and recently resigned as commissioner of New York’s state boxing commission.

He’s also a close friend of novelist Norman Mailer.

“Mailer told me he was jealous, that he never in his life got an advance as quickly as I did,” Torres said.

Torres said Tyson himself closed the deal for him. He took Tyson to a meeting of Warner Books executives.

“Mike was very charming,” Torres said. “He told them I was the guy he wanted to write his story.”

Tyson sparred a total of five rounds Wednesday with Mike Hunter of Los Angeles and Anthony Witherspoon of Philadelphia.

“He’s sharper than he was when I got here a month ago,” Hunter said after his session.

“I can handle him at long range and short range, but he’s devastating at medium range. If you give him that medium range, look out. He’s ready. I’d say he’s hitting his peak right now.”

From Matt Baranski, Tyson’s assistant trainer: “All this (soap-opera stuff) that’s been going around hasn’t affected Mike at all. He’s going to blow this guy away quick.”

At the prefight news conference Wednesday, Donald Trump claimed that the fight will produce a live gate of nearly $13 million, which will be, he said, “the largest live gate in the history of sports.”

The fight will be held in the 21,000-seat Atlantic City Convention Hall, which is attached to the Trump Plaza hotel.

Shelly Finkel, coordinator of the pay-per-view network, said rapid growth of pay-per-view cable TV households in the last year and a half is almost certain to make the fight the largest grossing fight ever, too.

“Right now, we’re looking at $70 million (gross) from all pay-per-view,” he said.

“It’s shot up tremendously since Sunday. CableVision of Long Island is the largest single cable system in the United States and they have between 70,000 and 80,000 addressable households (those that can receive pay-per-view).

“The highest pay-per-view penetration they’ve ever had was Wrestlemania this year, when they had a 16% penetration. They’re at 12.5% right now and their people are saying they’ll be right at 16% going into this weekend.”

Many closed-circuit outlet operators will sell most of their tickets Monday, fight day, he said.

“The Felt Forum (in New York City’s Madison Square Garden) had sold 300 tickets to its showing of the (Thomas) Hearns-(Iran) Barkley fight up to the day of the fight,” Finkel said. “On the day of the fight, they sold 3,000 tickets.”

One Felt Forum executive told some New York reporters the fight day sale was 1,800 tickets.

Tyson, who normally has little to say at press conferences, stole the show at Wednesday’s. Some highlights:

On a reported cut that kept him out of sparring a few days: “It wasn’t a cut. I broke a pimple over my eye, and my trainer (Kevin Rooney) panicked. It doesn’t mean anything. I’m the best one on this planet--no one can come near me.”

On whether the fight should be 15 rounds instead of the 12 scheduled: “It makes no difference to me. How about winner take all? I could use the extra pocket money.”

On whether he expects Spinks to fight a jab-and-run fight: “If he wants to win the title, then he has to be competitive and take chances, like I do. If he plays around, goes on the bicycle, then it could be a long fight.”

On why bluebloods attend fights: “Bluebloods like the Rockefellers, the Kennedys and the Trumps attend fights for one reason--to see someone get hurt.” At that, Trump, four chairs away, winced. “My job is to inflict as much pain as I can and end the fight.”

On fame and the heavyweight champion’s personal life: “Once you make a lot of money, then a whole lot of greed gets involved. That’s the only thing that affects your professional and personal life. The rest of this . . . is great.”

On handling a critical press: “Since I was 12 1/2, I’ve been groomed to be the heavyweight champion of the world. Tutors were brought to me. I did not go to school. You guys are overbearing sometimes, but I’m trained to deal with it.”