Tyson-Seldon KOd by Illness

Mike Tyson coughed, and the boxing world shook once again.

Suffering from bronchitis, Tyson on Wednesday postponed his July 13 title bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas against World Boxing Assn. champion Bruce Seldon, the second time in eight months--and third time in five fights--that Tyson has pulled out of a scheduled matchup.

Though only last Monday Tyson said he felt ready to fight, Robert Voy, Tyson’s physician, said that Tyson, the World Boxing Council champion, has been feeling sick for several weeks.

“Mike has more to lose by this than anybody,” said Tyson’s co-manager, John Horne, addressing speculation that there were ulterior motives to the cancellation. “It just happened. . . . It’s nothing anybody wants.

“If it was a lesser fighter who couldn’t make it, nobody would think anything of it. He just can’t fight at this time.”

Voy said he has been treating Tyson with antibiotics for several weeks and that he recently sent Tyson to a lung specialist. Voy said that, though Tyson must return to Ohio often to satisfy conditions of his probation, he hoped Tyson could stay in Las Vegas for the two or three weeks it would take for a full recovery.

Promoter Don King canceled the whole fight card, which also included Terry Norris and Felix Trinidad, and said that Tyson definitely will fight Seldon at the MGM, probably sometime in September or October.

That throws into limbo the tentative agreement King had forged for a bout between old rivals Tyson and Evander Holyfield for the same time frame at the MGM.

Last November, after suffering a thumb injury, Tyson pulled out of his scheduled bout against Buster Mathis Jr.--which was competing with a Riddick Bowe-Holyfield fight at Caesars Palace scheduled for the same night--days before the bout was scheduled. King rescheduled the fight six weeks later, moved it to Philadelphia, and Tyson won by knockout.

Before he went to prison for rape in 1992, Tyson also had to cancel his fight with Holyfield.

At least one source with financial interests in the bout expressed frustration at Tyson’s continuing complications.

“Would you want to invest a lot of money in another Mike Tyson fight after these two cancellations?” the source said. “How would it be if they had this advance publicity, and got everybody excited for ‘Independence Day,’ and then they canceled the opening? And then you had to wait two months for it to reopen?”

Rock Newman--the manager for Bowe, who is scheduled to fight Andrew Golota on July 11 in New York--said Wednesday that he suspected the cancellation was caused by the competition from Bowe’s fight and poor ticket sales.

“In two different occasions when he’s been in close proximity of a Riddick Bowe fight, they’ve not gone through with theirs,” Newman said. “You can make of it what you will.”

According to King, about 8,000 to 9,000 tickets had been sold for Tyson-Seldon.

If this fight is moved to September, it could clash with Bob Arum’s projected Sept. 14 date for an Oscar De La Hoya-Miguel Angel Gonzalez fight, which also might be at the MGM. An executive with Top Rank Inc., Arum’s company, said Wednesday evening that the company will have to wait and see what King does.

“Sept. 14 is a natural for our fight, with the Mexican holiday [the weekend before],” Top Rank’s Todd DuBoef said. “But, obviously, I don’t know if we want to be in the situation of going up against a Tyson fight.”

When asked why Tyson gave no indication of his sickness, and in fact scheduled a public workout for Wednesday, King pointed to Julio Cesar Chavez, who said he suffered a slight cut before his bout with De La Hoya and paid with his blood once the fight began.

“A man went into the ring cut, and the fight was lost before he went in the ring,” King said. “All fighters want to fight. Whatever it is, [Tyson] thinks he can go in there and still fight. Until the [doctor] said no, he was ready to fight. He would fight tomorrow.”