Decisions, Decisions

Mike Tyson got his boxing license back Monday. Getting his self-esteem back may take some more time.

With Magic Johnson and Muhammad Ali in his corner, with his wife, his lawyer and five mental examiners testifying on his behalf, a contrite, obviously frustrated Tyson, portraying himself as both victim and sinner at an emotional public hearing, persuaded the Nevada State Athletic Commission to give back the license it had revoked in July of 1997, after he had bitten Evander Holyfield’s ears in their heavyweight title rematch.

While the doctors, who examined Tyson over a five-day period at Massachusetts General Hospital, told the commissioners that he needs continuing psychotherapy, and medication if that doesn’t work, they were unanimous in their conclusion that Tyson is fit to return to boxing.

“I’m sorry. I screwed up,” Tyson told the commissioners. “You don’t know how sorry I am. . . . I am not a killer. I am not a mass murderer. I would love to go to therapy. Please, send me to therapy.”

Tyson later told the commissioners, “I’ve been punished. I’ve been humiliated. You have torn my soul apart. You’re torturing me. I’m at your mercy. Please, don’t torture me any longer. I’m just a human being trying to live a life.”

Needing a majority of the five commissioners to approve a new license, Tyson got four affirmative votes, Dr. James Nave being the lone dissenter.

Nave, who underwent gall bladder surgery Saturday and was literally brought to the hearing straight from his hospital bed, expressed reservations about Tyson’s ability to control his rage in the ring after hearing one doctor use the word “premeditated” in describing Tyson’s ear-biting.

“No mental health expert has a crystal ball with which he can predict future behavior,” Dr. Ronald Schouten told the commissioners. “But we believe that, with the impact of the current situation on Mike Tyson’s commitment to getting back into the ring and his commitment to his family, he will be able to control his behavior.

“He needs to be in psychotherapy for a long time. But the risk of a repeat [of the Holyfield incident] is low. He is ready to return.”

After the hearing Tyson said: “I’m just happy I won. I’m undecided when I’ll fight again. I don’t know whether I’m prepared to fight. I’ve been going through a lot of things.”

Tyson’s wife, Monica, a pediatrician in residency, told the commissioners her husband wants to do the right thing.

“We have [four] kids and he wants to be with the kids,” she said. “He is kind of shy, but he has the biggest heart of any man I ever met. . . . I see that side of him.”

Tyson is undergoing weekly psychotherapy sessions, but admitted Monday he is sometimes lax in keeping appointments, a problem he pledged to remedy.

He will have to because, as commission chairman Dr. Elias Ghanem emphasized, Monday’s vote is not necessarily the commission’s last word on the subject.

“Mike Tyson knows that he will be watched and scrutinized for the rest of his life,” Ghanem said. “In that regard, this is like a conditional license. He must watch his step going up to that ring.”

It took many arduous steps for the 32-year-old Tyson to make it to Monday’s decision, beginning with the night he left the ring after leaving a piece of Holyfield’s ear on the canvas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Less than two weeks later, the commissioners revoked Tyson’s license and fined him $3 million. After waiting a year, Tyson tried to get around the Nevada commission by applying in New Jersey, only to cancel his request at the last moment when it appeared he didn’t have the votes to win approval.

He went before the Nevada commission a month ago and sat through a hearing that lasted more than six hours, only to be told he needed further medical examination and the commission needed further explanation of an incident in Maryland in August.

In the Maryland incident, occupants of two cars claimed they were attacked by Tyson in the wake of an auto accident. Tyson was a passenger and his wife the driver of a car that was rear-ended in a four-car pileup.

So Tyson underwent the Massachusetts examination, which, he said Monday, is reason enough to guarantee that he will never again resort to the tactics he employed against Holyfield.

“I blew my cool,” Tyson said. “Knowing that five billion people in the world would know I was in Boston [for the examination], no way I would want to go through that scrutiny again. You gentlemen have no idea what it is like to be me. I’m not interested in being humiliated again. . . . It’s pretty much evident that my life has been devastated. I don’t think I could handle another 15 months [like the last 15]. It has been truly overwhelming for a human soul. . . . There is nothing I can’t handle, but I want to be treated like a man, not an animal. . . . I can’t destroy the world single-handedly. I can’t go around punching everybody in the world.”

The commissioners weren’t worried about Tyson getting violent with everybody in the world, just one man in his 50s and another in his 60s who claim they were the victims of Tyson’s outburst in Maryland.

One said he was hit in the face, the other that he was kicked in the groin.

They have filed misdemeanor assault complaints, and, although they have not yet done so, officials in Maryland could proceed with prosecution if they believe there is sufficient evidence.

At that point, Tyson could find himself back behind bars if it is determined that he has violated his continuing probation after three years’ imprisonment on a rape conviction in Indiana.

Monica at first told the commissioners Monday that her husband had not struck either of the alleged victims, then modified that, saying she was “not absolutely watching every move he made.”

Tyson, while telling the commission how ridiculous it would have been for him to strike men of that age, admitted losing his temper after one of the other drivers insisted he was not to blame for the accident and threatened to leave the scene. Tyson said he ranted and raved, used four-letters words extensively and might even have “blacked out” at one point, not clearly remembering what he did.

“I was irate, mad, crazy,” Tyson said. “I really did say some bad things to those people. They were probably afraid of this big, black guy. I wanted to give them all an equal tongue-lashing. It was a big, ugly scene.”

But Tyson said that there was recently a much calmer scene. He met with the alleged victims to apologize.

“I told them, ‘I’m sorry to you,’ ” Tyson said. “I’m sorry to everybody. My professional career and my freedom are on the line. I hugged them. We’re almost best friends now.”

Tyson was asked if he thought the whole matter had been overblown.

“My life is overblown,” said the two-time heavyweight champion.

Tyson’s attorney, Jim Jimmerson, said a settlement could be reached with the Maryland men in the next few weeks.

The final concern of the commissioners was Tyson’s future after a past in which he claimed he was robbed of much of his earnings by those close to him, especially promoter Don King. That’s where Johnson, the former Laker superstar, comes in. He told the commissioners that he plans to oversee Tyson’s dealings, both in and out of the ring.

“He needs a mentor in his life,” Johnson said. “He has money, but he doesn’t understand money. He loves to give people gifts and he loves to give money away, but he doesn’t understand he can get taxed on that. He is the only guy I know who can make $100 million or $200 million and would rather not have it. He would rather give it away. . . . Mike gets stressed out over money.

“I’m trying to be a friend. . . . He doesn’t have too many of those. Mike feels he has to pay for them. Actually there are people who do love Mike--not his money and not his fame. And I am one of those people.”

Finally Ali’s wife, Lonnie, read a statement from the boxing legend which said, in part, “He [Tyson] has hurt and disappointed me because I wanted so much for him. . . . Let this young man earn a living. Give him a chance to redeem himself.”

Now, he has that chance.