I miss the days when Mike Tyson was a functional psycho — when you didn’t know what he would do to his opponents in the ring, but now you don’t know what he’s going to do to himself out of it.
Tyson’s fight against Clifford Etienne, which is scheduled to be held in The Pyramid this Saturday, has been postponed...then cancelled...and, as of noon on Tuesday, it’s back on again.
I know this pre-fight drama is a shock to those of you who are used to everything Mike does going off without a hitch.
Has Mike Tyson ever done anything that went according to plan?
Monday, Tyson said he was sick...no, not in the head...with the flu.
Although, knowing Tyson’s history, it was most likely the latter of the two.
Sure Tyson has always been a little out there, but now it’s becoming clear that he may be more seriously messed up than we thought.
But that was part of what made Iron Mike great. You never quite knew if and when he would lose it. It could be at the weigh-in, in the ring, in the pre-fight interview or in a hotel room with a beauty pageant contestant at 2 a.m.
Back in the day, his trademark black shorts and gapped-tooth smile struck fear in his opponents, now his opponents only fear for the safety of their ears.
The sad truth is that Tyson is a basket-case turned pity case who can’t even get to the town he’s supposed to fight in before he has a breakdown.
Any fighter whose pre-fight routine includes not taking his medicine for “a few days,” shouldn’t be fighting in the first place.
“Everybody should just throw up their hands and let this guy live whatever life he has. Forget about putting him in the ring,” Etienne’s promoter Bob Arum said. “It’s almost cruel now.”
Thank you Bob Arum...master of the obvious. Hey Bob tell us, why did you go to hell and back to get this “cruel” fight set up?
Ahh, that’s right. Because you’re a boxing promoter, which is one step below Enron accountants when it comes to the love of money.
But, nevertheless, Bobby does make a point.
Tyson is dangerous, not just to beauty pageant contestants, geriatric motorists and Evander Holyfield’s ears, but to himself as well.
If the world needed further proof of his lack of sanity, Mike gave it to them last week when he missed three workouts so he could get a tattoo — on his face.
For everyone else’s sake, I just hope the tattoo said “handle with extreme caution.”
