Mike Tyson's trainer Tommy Brooks yesterday dismissed speculation that his Saturday night fight with Lou Savarese was in jeopardy and sent out a chilling warning to his American opponent: "Mike likes to crack heads for fun."

Tyson's unpredictable preparations for his Hampden Park bout took a new twist yesterday when he decided to lock out the media 10 minutes before an open workout was due to start.

But Brooks insisted the bout was going ahead as planned and said: "We made a team decision that we wanted to keep everything under wraps. We've got a special surprise for Mr Savarese."

But yesterday's events did nothing to dispel doubts which had already been raised about Tyson's mental state following his delayed arrival in Britain after the murder of a close friend in New York.

Yesterday he only appeared for a brief walk down Park Lane in a Scotland football shirt, then emerged from his hour-long training session looking pensive.

And Brooks did little to play down suggestions that Tyson's mind was not entirely on the job.

"He had a good friend that passed away and Mike's human, the guy was real close to him," said Brooks.

"It's like having a brother or sister or mum or dad pass away. It's hard to deal with.

"It takes a while but he's a professional athlete - he's signed on the dotted line and he's here to take care of business. He's here to honour his contract."

Nevertheless, for the fight's promoter Frank Warren - away meeting executives from the Showtime television network today - these must be trying times.

Over 40,000 tickets have been sold for the bout and memories inevitably flicker back to the build-up to Tyson's British debut against Julius Francis in January.

Then Tyson made an unscheduled visit to Manchester airport the day before the bout amid rumours that he was on the verge of cancelling the fight.

Only after a last-ditch rescue mission by his adviser Shelly Finkel did Tyson stay and stop the British champion in the second round.

Brooks insisted: "We wouldn't be here if the fight wasn't going through. I think Mike is a lot more confident in what he is doing than before. We're getting back to the basic fundamentals and that's the key to Mike Tyson now."

But Savarese is clearly no Francis: he is a man who has the ability to cash in if Tyson is not fully prepared.

Formerly over-hyped as the latest "great white hope", Savarese was beaten in his last fight by recent Lennox Lewis victim Michael Grant, but holds a decent record of 39 wins from his 42 fights.

His record also includes a stunning first-round knockout in June 1998 of a resurgent James "Buster" Douglas, the man who handed Tyson his first defeat in Tokyo in 1990.

Brooks, formerly Evander Holyfield's chief trainer, knows Savarese and despite confidently predicting a fourth-round stoppage for his man, indicated that Tyson could be in for a tough night.

Brooks said: "I like Lou, Mike likes him, so we're going to get it over with so he don't take no beating.

"Savarese's not a pushover, he's not just going to lay down. Mike's going to have to make him quit so you've got to train hard, you've got to be ready to go."