Life Will Never Be Simple for Tyson

At the end of last year, with opponent Buster Mathis Jr. stretched out before him on the canvas at Philadelphia’s Spectrum, Mike Tyson could stare across the ropes into the crowd and see his agenda for 1996 spread out before him.

There, like ducks in a shooting gallery, sat World Boxing Council champion Frank Bruno, World Boxing Assn. champion Bruce Seldon and International Boxing Federation champion Francois Botha. Tyson planned on mowing them down one after another, without breaking much of a sweat, to regain the undisputed heavyweight championship before this year was out.

Ah, but this is boxing, where the only sure thing is that more high intrigue and low blows will occur outside the ring than in.

And sure enough, less than halfway through the year, the heavyweight picture is as cloudy as ever.

Part I of the master plan of Tyson and his promoter, Don King, went off as scheduled. Tyson, the former undisputed heavyweight king, regained a third of that status by knocking out Bruno last month to win back the WBC title.

Tyson is scheduled to fight again July 13 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. No longer hanging over his head are allegations of sexual battery against a woman in a Chicago nightclub. Police announced Friday that no charges will be filed.

Tyson is supposed to face Seldon. But even that is no simple matter. Logically, the fight would be for both Tyson’s WBC crown and Seldon’s WBA title.

But here, the logic gets a little twisted.

Waiting in the wings, court order in hand, is Lennox Lewis. Lewis wants to fight for the WBC title. He has a judge in his corner who says he has a legitimate claim to fight for that title.

Lewis fought Lionel Butler last May in what was called a heavyweight elimination fight by the WBC, after which the victorious Lewis was guaranteed a title shot against the winner of the Bruno-Oliver McCall championship fight. Instead, Bruno, after beating McCall, turned his back on Lewis and signed to fight Tyson.

Lewis sued the WBC, and Passaic County Superior Court Judge Amos Saunders has ruled that no future WBC title fights can be held until the Lewis matter is settled.

King has now come forward with an offer he hopes Lewis can’t refuse. Drop your legal claim and let Tyson fight Seldon for Seldon’s WBA title, without the WBC championship on the line. Then, promises King, Tyson will fight Lewis for at least the WBC title. And the WBA crown as well if Tyson beats Seldon, which is considered a foregone conclusion.

This deal gives Tyson a chance to grab the second half of the undisputed crown. And it gives Lewis his title shot before the year is out.

Sound good? Only if King is to be trusted, always a risky proposition.

As to the third piece of the heavyweight title, that appears to have slid out of Tyson’s grasp for now. He was scheduled to fight Botha, but the South African has since lost his title because of a positive result on a steroid test after a victory over Axel Schulz. Schulz will now fight Michael Moorer, a former IBF champion, for the IBF title.

If Moorer can beat Schulz, Moorer might make it on Tyson’s dance card early in 1997 if Tyson stays out of trouble with the law, beats Seldon in July and then fights and beats Lewis in the fall.

And beyond that?

The three biggest names in the heavyweight division behind Tyson all remain interested in the money and the prestige of fighting him. They are:

--Riddick Bowe. A former undisputed champion himself, Bowe has won four in a row, including a TKO of Evander Holyfield last November.

But Bowe has a fight of a different sort on his hands right now. He is trying to get out of an HBO contract in a New York federal court. A victory there might figure to improve Bowe’s chances of getting a Tyson fight since King is tied to HBO rival Showtime.

Bowe is scheduled to fight Alexander Zolkin, probably at Madison Square Garden in June, in a match for which King won the purse bid with an offer of $5 million. Bowe and his manager, Rock Newman, would get $3.75 million of that.

If Bowe wins the HBO dispute, King may finally sink his tentacles into Bowe, which would almost guarantee the long-awaited Tyson-Bowe match.

--George Foreman. The two-time former champion has openly expressed his interest in a Tyson fight. But since Foreman’s planned match against Moorer in February fell through, Foreman has been lying low.

And he’s not getting any younger. At 47, how much longer can he continue to maintain he’s a credible opponent for Tyson?

Ron Weathers, Foreman’s booking agent, has been trying to put together a Foreman match in Indonesia or Australia against either Alex Garcia, Joe Hipp or Jimmy Thunder.

The biggest stumbling block appears to be Foreman’s asking price: $10 million.

To fight Garcia, Hipp or Thunder? Good luck.

--Holyfield. His planned fight against Tyson was talked about as the matchup of the decade. But that was at the start of the decade, before incarceration for three years on a rape conviction put an abrupt hold on Tyson’s career.

Tyson is back, but it might be too late for Holyfield. After losing to Bowe, Holyfield returns to the ring next month at Madison Square Garden against Bobby Czyz, a true cruiserweight or light-heavyweight. Hardly the opponent to prepare one for Tyson.

Still, with all the uncertainty muddling the heavyweight division, two facts remain clear: Everybody out there wants to fight Tyson. And nobody out there appears capable of beating him.

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Boxing Notes

The Pond of Anaheim will be host to two shows in the next week, both staged by Forum Boxing. Headlining Monday’s card will be a 10-round match between featherweights Juan Manuel Marquez (14-1, 11 knockouts) and former WBA bantamweight champion Julio Gervacio (30-4-2, 23 knockouts). The two other 10-rounders on the card will feature junior-featherweights Nestor Garza (19-0, 18 knockouts) and Francisco Soto (16-14, five knockouts), and middleweights Victor Maciel (13-0, eight knockouts) and Moises Rivera (13-3, eight knockouts). On May 4, Marco Antonio Barrera defends his World Boxing Organization junior-featherweight title against former champion Jesse Benavides on a card that will also feature Mark Johnson and Francisco Tejedor fighting for the vacant IBF flyweight championship.

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Calendar

Monday--Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Julio Gervacio, featherweights; Nestor Garza vs. Francisco Soto, junior featherweights; Victor Maciel vs. Moises Rivera, middleweights; Pond of Anaheim, 7:15 p.m.