A tougher test than the Dane is needed before Lewis
John Rawling
After battering the gallant though outclassed Brian Nielsen to defeat, Mike Tyson said he needed two more fights before he would be ready to attempt to regain the world heavyweight title. He is probably right, but the television powerbrokers who dictate the course of the old champion’s career may be unwilling to wait.
“The clock is ticking for Mike. He’s 35 now and he does not have for ever,” the head of Showtime television Jay Larkin said after watching Tyson go through a far harder test than expected, with Nielsen retiring on his stool at the end of the sixth round after a display of bravery that will only add to his folk-hero status in Denmark.
Derided as the “Danish pastry” by a sceptical American media, the well-padded Nielsen had arrived in the ring to the strains of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life from Monty Python’s Life of Brian and there were plenty who suggested he would be nailed to the canvas before the end of the first round.
But he absorbed huge punishment, eventually pushing Tyson far enough into the fight to give him the competitive rounds he needs so badly if he is going to be able to hone what remains of his athleticism and boxing skills to provide a credible argument that he is capable of beating the winner of the Hasim Rahman-Lennox Lewis rematch on Saturday November 17.
“If Lennox wins that fight there is a real possibility that we can reach agreement with HBO [the American TV company to which Lewis is contracted] for a Lewis-Tyson fight to be staged in March or April next year. Rahman might be more difficult,” Larkin said.
Although he did not say as much, Larkin knows a Rahman victory necessitates dealing with Don King, who would like nothing better than the role of ransom demander in chief, especially since Tyson, his former charge, has a lawsuit pending in which he claims King defrauded him of $100-million in ring earnings.
Possibly Tyson will be allowed another warm-up fight in January in the United States to whet the appetite of the lucrative American pay-per-view market. Larkin said: “Maybe, and we will talk about it, but we will have to take the greatest care in selecting the opponent.” Any slip-up of the Lewis variety, when he was poleaxed by the unfancied Rahman, and the one remaining mega-fight of Tyson’s generation could be lost forever.
Hard though Nielsen tried, an upset rarely seemed likely in front of the 20000 crowd gathered in the Parken stadium, except when Tyson’s stamina looked in danger of running out in the fourth and fifth rounds.
When Tyson fired a low blow to leave Nielsen on the canvas in agony as the bell rang, there were worries he would press the self-destruct button. The fact that he maintained his composure while the referee gave Nielsen time to recover perhaps shows that at long last he realises there can be no more disgrace.
The end came after the sixth round, with Nielsen’s left eye swelling alarmingly and the Dane agreeing he could not go on. It left Tyson frustrated by his inability to find a knockout but saying: “I’m back. He’s a tough guy who was hard to hit. He fought a great fight.”
Upon quiet reflection, Tyson may be worried about the way he appeared to run out of steam as he looked for a knockout punch with lunges of increasing desperation that might have been punished by a more capable performer than Nielsen. As his manager Shelly Finkel agreed: “Nobody is a harsher critic of Mike than Mike himself.”