Boxing Notes : Written in Wind: a Falling Out Between Tyson, King

Here we go again. The wind blowing from the West says that Mike Tyson and Don King, practically inseparable a few months ago, may be on the outs.

One source in Cleveland and one in Los Angeles, two of Tyson’s favorite haunts, say relations have deteriorated between the two in recent days, over the same two things that soured Tyson’s relationship with manager Bill Cayton -- money and control.

The Cleveland voice says King has been having increasing trouble keeping tabs on Tyson’s whereabouts, a worrisome situation for a promoter, especially when Tyson has shown a tendency to get into scrapes outside the ring.

“Don’s a total wreck,” the source said. “He just can’t control Tyson anymore, and he’s getting tired of trying. The kid’s a self-destruction machine. He runs off by himself with the alley rats for days at a time.”

And there may be reason for Tyson to be disenchanted with King. Someone close to the situation says Tyson was not pleased with the numbers on his paycheck after the Bruno fight.

King, it will be recalled, was Tyson’s “business adviser” for that one, and “helped” Tyson determine the purses for the undercard fighters, all of whom were under promotional contract to King.

Why then, Tyson is reported to be wondering, was something like $800,000 deducted from his check when Nevada athletic commission records show only $375,000 in purses paid out to the undercard? And even at that figure, many of those fighters -- Azumah Nelson and Julian Jackson, to name two -- were being paid many times more than their previous highest purses. “Let’s just say Tyson didn’t wind up with as much money as he thought he would for the Bruno fight,” said the source, who is friendly with King.

Our man in Los Angeles, the source of Tyson’s latest alleged out-of-the-ring altercation, says the talk has reached there as well. “A friend of Tyson’s told me that Mike doesn’t like Don that well anymore,” said the source, who handles a potential Tyson opponent. “This friend said he wouldn’t be surprised if Tyson and King split up soon.”

But of course, King has been counted out of this situation several times and has always bounced back. Until proven otherwise, rumors of a King-Tyson divorce have to be considered premature.

In case you’re worried that Roberto Duran has in any way become civilized by middle age -- he turns 38 on June 16 -- rest assured that he is just as, er, unpolished as ever.

Last weekend, Duran was paid by Texas promoter Lester Bedford to make a promotional appearance at a boxing show in largely Mexican-American Corpus Christi, where Duran is revered. Duran showed up, for $5,000 plus expenses for his entourage, and on Saturday made a hugely successful appearance at a local furniture store, signing autographs for hundreds of fans and kissing enough babies to be elected mayor of Corpus Christi. He even sang a Spanish duet with a female singer in a mariachi band that was hired for the occasion.

On Monday, Duran was to be guest of honor at a dress-up luncheon in a local hotel. The guest of honor showed up in beat-up jeans that hung off his posterior, and a T-shirt that barely covered his burgeoning belly, which has expanded by about 20 pounds since Duran beat Iran Barkley for the World Boxing Council middleweight title on Feb. 25.

Anyway, Duran, upset by the delay in starting the luncheon, took a side trip to the hotel coffee shop. He ignored the line of people waiting to be seated and brushed past the hostess at the door. With a spring rarely seen in his legs nowadays, he headed straight for the buffet table, where lunch was being served out of aluminum steam tables, and dug his legendary “Hands of Stone” into the food, even items like scrambled eggs, rarely considered finger-food.

Lou Duva, a witness to it all, stood back and laughed. “That Duran,” he said. “The guy hasn’t changed a bit in the 20 years I know him.”

Outside the ring, of course.

A remembrance of Sugar Ray Robinson, care of publicist Irving Rudd, who sat with the Sugarman watching featherweight champion Danny “Little Red” Lopez dismantle David “Poison” Kotey in 1978.

“I asked him, ‘How do you think this guy does with Willie Pep?’

“ ‘Tonight?’ said Robinson, who knew Pep was then 56. ‘Pep knocks him out.’ ”

Even now, Robinson beats the entire middleweight top 10. All three organizations.

Notes

Don King has hired Los Angeles show-business flack Lee Solters to help him polish his image. No doubt Don knows that Solters also numbers Frank Sinatra among his clients, and a few years back, one of Solters’ main priorities was defending to the press Sinatra’s frequent appearances in South Africa. . . . Duran and Marvin Hagler will meet again -- outside the ring, anyway. Hagler will do color commentary in English on the U.S. pay-per-view and closed-circuit telecast of Leonard-Hearns II, while Duran performs the same role for the Spanish-language broadcast. . . . Welterweight Aaron “Superman” Davis, who says he got his nickname by chasing heavyweight Alex Stewart out of the ring in a Gleason’s Gym sparring session last year, could face Mark Breland next.