King, Foreman Spar Over Tyson Fight

The critics scoff and sneer, but pay-per-view exhibitors are lining up already to buy it.

Mike Tyson vs. George Foreman.

However, Tyson’s promoter, Don King, sought to pop that inflating balloon today, claiming that Foreman already has turned down an offer that might have earned him $30 million to fight Tyson later this year.

“I offered George Foreman blank paper (a contract) in December, and it was for $5 million against 30%,” King said.

“This was before he knocked out (Gerry) Cooney. If he beats a ranked heavyweight and sets up a title fight with Mike, George Foreman is very promotable. He’s a former champion. He’s got two generations of fans. If he takes the 30% and the fight goes through the roof, he’s lookin’ at $30 million.

“So, when George turns that down, what he’s tellin’ you is, he doesn’t want to fight Mike Tyson, and we’re gonna accommodate him.”

This is all gamesmanship, of course. Pay-per-view’s exhibitors around the country are all but panting for a Tyson-Foreman bout.

Foreman told reporters last month that King had offered him a $5-million contract to sign for a Tyson fight, contingent upon his beating Cooney and a ranked heavyweight--Foreman is expected to fight Jose Ribalta in April. He did not say King had offered him a percentage.

“If it had been Bob Arum, I’d have signed for a dollar down,” Foreman said.

King, who is here with Tyson for Sunday’s Tyson-Buster Douglas fight, was asked if another offer would be made to Foreman should he defeat a ranked opponent in April.

“I already handed him a blank contract,” King said. “I can’t offer him anything better than a deal made in heaven, and that’s what that was. He talks a lot about fighting Mike, but he really doesn’t want it. He’s just not in Mike’s future.”

What happens if the pay-per-view people tell King that a Tyson-Foreman bout could do, say, $200 million?

“If we want to make $200 million, we’ll go get (wrestler) Hulk Hogan,” King said with a shrug.

King was asked if he fears that too much Tyson-Foreman talk will diminish the promotion of the June 18 Tyson-Evander Holyfield fight, for which Donald Trump has paid $12 million. It is reported that pay-per-view sales to exhibitors for that one are moving slowly.

“Not at all,” King said. “That fight would do $50 million tomorrow, right out of the chute, with no promotion at all. The reason the pay-per-view deals aren’t moving is because I’m over here, not there.”

Tyson, King said, sees a Foreman fight as one he can’t win. “Mike says if he beats him, people will tease him about beatin’ up on a 42-year-old man, and they’ll laugh at him if he loses,” King said.

Tyson said Wednesday that Foreman belongs in a seniors’ league.

“I don’t think much of him as a fighter,” Tyson said. “But if you put him in a 40-and-over league, he’d kill everybody. And that stuff about wanting to eat all the time . . . he reminds me of that wrestler, what’s his name? Hillbilly Jim?”

King said Foreman’s refusal of his December offer reminded him of Foreman’s late-hour holdout for more money at the 1974 Foreman-Muhammad Ali fight in Zaire.

“This is all vintage George Foreman; he’s done this before,” King said. “The day before the Ali fight, he sent someone to tell me he wanted another $500,000 or he wouldn’t fight. So we sent one of his men, Leroy Jackson, to London, to see our banker there.

“I called the banker before Jackson got there and told him to stall him, but to let him think he’d get the money.

“In the meantime, George gets a visit by the Zaire Army. About 20 soldiers come bustin’ through George’s door with machine guns, and one of them tells George: ‘You can’t embarrass our President like this.’

“George picks up a Bible and starts reading some psalms out loud. Then he starts to pray. Then he looks at the soldiers and says: ‘The light came to me--I’m gonna fight.’

“Meanwhile, in London, it’s amateur night for Leroy Jackson. Our banker has him believing the extra $500,000 is on its way. Leroy calls George and tells him not to worry. So George goes in the ring against Ali, believing he’s got another $500,000 on ice somewhere.

“Nothing has changed with George.”