Friday, June 07, 2002
A sensitive side to Mike?
By JIM LITKE
AP Sports Writer
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Everybody assumes there are only two sides to Mike Tyson — bad and worse. But what if there's a sensitive side, too?
What if the man who's done time in prison for rape, beat up two old guys after a fender-bender, taken a bite out of opponents and assaulted dancing partners, parking-lot attendants and referees has changed?
Rather than risk exposing a different side of Mike to reporters so close to the fight, his handlers canceled a scheduled news conference on Tuesday. But somebody in charge had a change of heart Wednesday, agreeing to let Tyson answer questions from a busload of schoolkids and radio-contest winners dropped off in the ballroom of a Tunica, Miss., casino.
For 20 minutes, while pausing occasionally to wipe away sweat from a just-completed workout, Tyson patiently fielded questions, including a few from several reporters who managed to infiltrate the crowd.
While the training session was short, it apparently lasted long enough for Iron Mike to unload that day's physical and mental hostilities. As the queries flew, Tyson didn't threaten even once to eat any of the children in attendance, stomp anybody's private parts or perform frontal lobotomies free of charge.
Question: “Mike, any distractions this week?
Tyson: “No, unless you're going to pop up with one.”
Question: “What are your thoughts on the people of Memphis?”
Tyson: “I've never been to the South before, but I went to the inner city of Memphis and everybody looked like me. Everybody had gold teeth in their mouth.”
Question: “What message do you want to give the kids?”
Tyson: “I consider myself a flunky, a loser. If I can gain the esteem and respect of people all over the world, anyone can do it.”
Question: “Are you a role model?”
Tyson: “I could teach you what not to do. Probably”
Question: “Do you feel pressure to be a role model?”
Tyson: “You don't think I want to do those Wheaties commercials? You don't think I want those endorsement deals? But it is not in me to say 'Yes, sir. No, sir.' It is just not in me.”
This was not the first time this week that Tyson made a conscious effort to upgrade his image. On Sunday, a trio of demonstrators carried signs outside the gym where he was training, protesting against a litany of homophobic remarks Tyson has made in the past.
As he was leaving the gym in an SUV, though Tyson ordered the car stopped and got out. Instead of slugging a demonstrator, he hugged one.
“I'm not a homophobe,” Tyson said, conveniently forgetting that after biting Lewis' thigh during a news conference last January, he stood on the stage in front of a crowd and offered to initiate several onlookers to the joys of prison sex.
But that was the old Mike. When the new Mike drove to the gym the next day and found no demonstrators waiting outside, he remarked to pals, “Where are my homosexual friends?”
Not to worry. Proving they hadn't abandoned him, either, several of his new sign-carrying pals turned up outside the convention center where Thursday's weigh-in took place. As Tyson climbed out of a stretch limousine, they waved new signs that read: “Thanks, Mike, for saying it's OK to be gay.”
It would be nice to report all the give-and-take has had an impact, that it has somehow signaled a shift in Tyson's behavior.
Not a chance.
No sooner had Tyson finished weighing in — officially 234 1/2, even though his camp disputed the accuracy of the scale — than somebody stuck a microphone in his face. You judge how much softer he sounds.
Question: “You're jumping around a lot. You seem to be a little ... anxious?
Tyson: “I'm just ready to get it on, to crush the other guy's skull.”
Question: “Does this fight mean anything more than the other big fights you fought?”
Tyson: “It can't mean more than just another fight because then it would be something abnormal. Every fight is normal to me. Nothing is abnormal. It's just a fight, a party, so to speak.”
Question: “What are you going to do for the next two days, the 48 hours before this fight?”
Tyson: “Just pray he doesn't die of a heart attack.”
———
Jim Litke is the national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke@ap.org
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A sensitive side to Mike?
