Mike Tyson unleashed a tirade of abuse and expletives on American television stations yesterday, raising fresh questions over his mental well-being as he moves towards his comeback fight against the South African Francois Botha in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
The 32-year-old former world heavyweight champion was fulfilling a contract to appear by satellite link-up to help publicise American pay-per-view TV sales. Five of the six interviews he completed were rendered useless by his language and monosyllabic answers before he cut short the session in scarcely disguised anger.
He referred to the respected journalist Russ Solzberg as an "asshole" after being asked: "Mike, why do you bring so much rage into the ring?" "You're in a fight, anyway, f*** it, it's a fight," Tyson replied.
He was asked: "Why do you speak like that?"
"If it's a problem, switch off the station," the fighter replied, at which point Solzberg terminated Tyson's appearance.
To another cable network he uttered a string of profanities before adding: "I've been as low as a man can be, I don't care what anybody thinks. I've been an underdog all my life, I'll never kiss anyone's ass."
The psychiatrists' evaluation, considered when Tyson was granted a return of his fighter's licence by the Nevada State Athletic Commission in October, had concluded that he had a low level of self-esteem and his changes in mood could be triggered by perceptions of himself as a victim of circumstance.
Under the television lights, Tyson was descending into a world of despair which elicited feelings of pity rather than fear or anger among those bothered to listen beyond the ghetto invective.
"I'm beyond good or evil. I'm beyond right or wrong. I'm different. I don't have to live by anyone else's rules," he said.
Tyson's outburst, admittedly in stark contrast to his demeanour as he worked out happily with his trainer Tommy Brooks earlier this week, is made all the more unpalatable when placed in the context of the financial rewards he will draw.
Reportedly he will receive at least $30 million from taking on Botha, half as much again as Evander Holyfield will make from the unification fight against Lennox Lewis at Madison Square Garden on March 13th, and three times what Lewis will get.
Shelley Finkel, Tyson's adviser, said his man had been asked "stupid questions". Apparently he had hoped to steer the interviews away from such irrelevancies as biting a man's ear and being banned from the ring, to concentrate on Botha, a man Tyson has now twice stated will die in the ring.
"Everybody knows how Mike will behave if you push certain buttons. . . He was provoked," said Finkel.
Whether the American public's fascination with Tyson continues is uncertain. Ticket sales at the MGM Grand have improved this week but it is unlikely the 16,000 capacity of the arena will be reached, and pay-per-view sales seem unlikely to reach more than 50 per cent of the recent 1.9 million who bought the second Holyfield fight.
Tyson's aberrations have yet to be reflected in the odds offered in the Las Vegas casinos. The former champion, predictably, is being quoted as a hot favourite at 7 to 1 on, with Botha 5 to 1 against.
The heavyweight legal battle between boxing promoter Frank Warren and his US counterpart Don King over their acrimonious partnership row was settled yesterday with jokes all round - and a £7.2 million pay-out to the US legend.
Warren agreed to pay the money in a settlement at the High Court in London and make a "clean break" of their four-year partnership.
Under the agreement Warren acknowledged his obligation to pay King in recognition of his rights as a partner under the boxing partnership and publicly withdrew all the allegations which he had made against King and his company, Don King Promotions.
