THE SIDELINES : Dokes to Fight Ruddock in April

Michael Dokes and Razor Ruddock couldn’t get fights with heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, so they’ll fight each other.

Their April 4 meeting at Madison Square Garden was announced today in New York, and it’s being billed as “Fighting Mad”--not at each other but at promoter Don King for sidestepping them in the heavyweight championship chase.

“I don’t know if Tyson’s trying to avoid me, or whether King is manipulating him,” Dokes said at a midtown Manhattan luncheon. “But I would like to ask him personally.”

Last August, King reportedly turned down Dokes’ asking price of $3 million to fight Tyson and offered $1 million, which Dokes considers chump change.

Instead, King made a deal to co-promote a fight with Murad Muhammad between Tyson and Ruddock. Tyson pulled out of that November bout with a minor illness, then signed to fight Buster Douglas, whom he meets Sunday in Tokyo.