/ 8 June 2005

Tyson at 38: ‘Wonderful person, great fighter’

Former undisputed world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson is making a boxing comeback less than three weeks before his 39th birthday with only one goal — reclaiming global heavyweight supremacy.

Tyson portrayed himself as a more mature man and fighter on Tuesday in his first pre-fight public comments after a workout ahead of his 10-round comeback bout here on Saturday against Irish journeyman Kevin McBride.

The fight will be the first for Tyson, 50-5 with 44 knockouts, since he was knocked out in the fourth round last July by Britain’s Danny Williams.

Winning could relaunch Tyson on a title path. Losing could end any chance of returning to the lofty levels of his 1980s championship era.

”The only reason to be in this business is to win the title,” Tyson said. ”If you’re out here just to fight well, you’re out here for the wrong reasons.”

Tyson has endured financial struggles, convictions for rape and assault that brought prison sentences and a downfall epic among sports figures. But, he adds, lessons have been learned through the tribulations.

”Mike Tyson at 20 was invincible but was not a nice person,” Tyson said. ”Mike Tyson at 38 is a wonderful person, but also a great fighter.”

Promising not to bite McBride’s ears the way he did Evander Holyfield’s ears in a title fight disqualification that led to a one-year banishment, a fit Tyson worked out with his trainer, Australian former fighter Jeff Fenech.

About 200 people attended the session at Howard University, where Tyson, in his trademark black trunks, threw punches in the ring.

McBride, nicknamed the Clones Colossus after his Ireland hometown, has vowed to make Tyson his eighth consecutive knockout victim.

The Irishman is 32-4 with one drawn and 27 knockouts, having won seven in a row since a knockout loss to DaVarryl Williamson in January of 2002.

Tyson, who turns 39 on June 30, has ripped reigning heavyweight champions Vitali Klitschko, John Ruiz, Chris Byrd and Lamon Brewster as weak, saying the division ”is the worst it has been in the history of boxing since the 1890s”.

Don King, Tyson’s ex-promoter, is looking to pair Ruiz and Brewster and set up a title fight with Byrd while Klitschko, idled by a back injury, awaits either Monte Barrett or Hasim Rahman for a title defence planned for late 2005. – Sapa-AFP