ON THE SIDELINES : KO May Keep Tyson Out of Ring

The state athletic commissioner says Mike Tyson may have to wait until May if he wants to return to the Catskill Mountains to train.

Because Tyson was knocked out by James (Buster) Douglas in their fight in Tokyo on Saturday, he could be barred from fighting or sparring anywhere in New York for up to 90 days, Athletic Commissioner Randy Gordon said in an interview published in today’s Albany Times Union.

“Under the rules, Mike Tyson could still come back to the state to run, climb the mountains up north, jump rope, shadow box . . . whatever. But he couldn’t take and receive punches,” Gordon said.

Gordon said he would watch the fight again today with the commission’s medical expert, Dr. Barry Jordan, and that no ruling has yet been made.

Even if a fighter is knocked out outside the ring, he can’t fight for 90 days, Gordon said. That, Gordon said, is the “Mike Tyson Rule”--an expansion of the regulations created after Tyson was knocked out in an automobile accident in the Catskills in September, 1988.