Johnson’s Hoping for Some Magic

Mike Tyson sits in a jail cell in Maryland, his career in limbo. Along with the still unrealized boxing career of Magic Johnson.

Before Tyson was jailed for assaulting two motorists in Maryland, serious negotiations were underway to make Johnson, the former Laker superstar, Tyson’s promoter after his current contract with America Presents ends, according to sources close to those negotiations.

The America Presents boxing organization has a two-fight contract with Tyson, the first fight having been last month’s bout against Francois Botha.

For the privilege of signing Tyson, America Presents had to give him a $5-million loan, to be repaid in two equal sums after each of the fights.

Since there is no way of telling when, or even if, there will be a second fight, that repayment schedule is also in limbo.

America Presents is not giving up its piece of the Tyson pie without a fight. That organization has a proposal on the table for a five-fight deal, according to a source close to those negotiations.

Reading Tyson’s mind is an uncertain proposition in the best of times, if there is such a thing for the former two-time heavyweight champion, but it seems that Tyson is leaning toward giving Johnson the entrance into boxing he has long sought.

Johnson has obtained a promoter’s license in Nevada and attended both of Tyson’s hearings before the Nevada State Athletic Commission, part of the long process required for Tyson to get back the boxing license he lost for biting Evander Holyfield’s ears in their 1997 title rematch.

Sitting through nine hours of hearings, Johnson made an eloquent plea to the commissioners to grant Tyson his license, an argument several commissioners mentioned as a factor in the final decision to give him back the license.

Back when the Lakers were dominating the NBA during the 1980s, Johnson used to refer to the crucial moments in big games as “winnin’ time.” With himself in the backcourt, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the middle and a strong group of players behind them, much of the time was winnin’ time.

But as Johnson will soon learn if he becomes Tyson’s promoter, winning and losing in the ring won’t be his biggest problem. Just getting Tyson into the ring will be the toughest task.

One that might require more magic than even Johnson has at his disposal.

IS AN APPEAL APPEALING?

Lawyers for Tyson still haven’t revealed whether they’ll appeal the decision to sentence Tyson to one year in Montgomery County jail. With good behavior, he could get out in six months and could resume training in two months, when he would be eligible to be transferred to a pre-release center. Once there, he would be allowed to work in the daytime--which would be training in his case--as long as he returns at night.

Lawyers could appeal the decision, based either on the claim that the sentence is too severe or that Tyson should be entitled to a jury trial. Such a legal course, however, could drag out the process over the next few months.

Two months and then a work-release program sounds like the better alternative for Tyson at this point.

THE SUPPORTING CAST

There are two significant fights on the undercard of tonight’s Oscar De La Hoya-Ike Quartey World Boxing Council welterweight title fight at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center .

Erik Morales (31-0, 25 knockouts) will defend his WBC super-bantamweight championship against Angel Chacon (24-2, 14 knockouts).

And two veteran welterweights, Frankie Randall (55-5-1, 42 knockouts) and Oba Carr (47-2-1, 28 knockouts), will meet in a 10-round match. At stake is more than just a victory. Should De La Hoya defeat Quartey tonight, the winner between Randall and Carr will face De La Hoya on May 22 at Las Vegas’ newest showpiece, the Mandalay Bay Hotel.

Also on tonight’s card will be the obligatory Eric “Butterbean” Esch farce. Butterbean will put his questionable 40-1-1 record with 30 knockouts on the line against yet another questionable opponent, Patrick Graham (5-3-1, four knockouts), in a four-round match for the International Boxing Assn. super-heavyweight championship, a questionable title if ever there was one.

Finally, Mia St. John (9-0, six knockouts) will face Amanda Skelton (4-0, two knockouts) in a four-round women’s bout.