This Is Tyson Just the Way They Like Him

Let’s deal with reality here.

Some people go to auto races, lured by the possibility of disaster.

Some people go to hockey games, lured by the possibility of violent fights.

Comedian George Carlin once observed that the only way to make soccer attractive to American audiences would be to hide a land mine on each side of the field.

He was kidding, of course, but his premise was solid. Violence, like it or not, sells.

With the exception of sex, nothing sells better.

And that’s why Mike Tyson remains the most bankable boxer in the world.

In boxing, of course, the violence is built in. Yet, when it goes beyond the bounds of honor and decency--yes, those concepts are covered in the rules--it draws the most attention.

Andrew Golota became famous for hitting below the belt.

Tyson became famous for an uncontrolled rage. As a young man, he was a street fighter who entered the ring without the fancy robes and entourages of others.

With him, it was a white towel, black trunks and let’s get ready to rumble.

As the opponents fell, Tyson’s popularity rose. He seemed to revel in the violence, and that drew crowds.

His term in prison on a rape conviction didn’t seem to affect his popularity. It left fans hungering to see what those years in prison had done to his already violent nature.

So did you really think that biting part of a man’s ear off, as Tyson did last summer to Evander Holyfield, was going to hurt his popularity?

Hardly.

Instead, he has reinforced the view that he is a volcano in human form, his destructive power always roiling just below the surface.

The fans know it, the promoters know it and the boxing commissions know it.

That keeps the interest, maintains the sick appeal and guarantees that when he steps into a ring, probably in Atlantic City at the end of this year, the world--a world that almost universally denounced him a year ago--will be watching.

Some people were surprised at his emotional outburst, complete with a four-letter word, during his hearing earlier this week before New Jersey’s State Athletic Control Board on the matter of reinstating his license.

Some surprise.

The man hasn’t changed because he has severed his ties with promoter Don King, posed for pictures with his wife, Monica Turner, and signed a few autographs.

Putting a suit on Tyson doesn’t change his violent nature.

If anything, that little outburst probably helped him. It reassured fight fans that he is not a changed man, that if they put their money down to watch him fight, they just might get a little extra gore thrown in.

The New Jersey board members are expected to approve Tyson’s license unless he starts biting their ears off. They know that violence sells. And they are in a selling mood.

With Tyson, they can strike a big blow for Atlantic City in its battle to lure big fights, high rollers and huge chunks of income away from Las Vegas.

So who wants to see a newer, gentler Tyson? Certainly not anyone who can make a buck off him.

EL PASO THROWS ITS SOMBRERO INTO THE RING

While Las Vegas and Atlantic City have been battling for the title of boxing’s capital, El Paso has quietly become a contender.

Oscar De La Hoya’s title defense in June against Patrick Charpentier drew more than 45,000 to El Paso’s Sun Bowl.

And don’t think other promoters weren’t watching.

The America Presents organization will be putting on a pay-per-view card Aug. 15 at the El Paso County Coliseum.

Former International Boxing Federation lightweight champion Rafael Ruelas (52-3, 42 knockouts) will fight former IBF junior-welterweight titleholder, Kostya Tszyu (20-1-1, 16 knockouts), and former World Boxing Council lightweight champion Miguel Angel Gonzalez (43-1-1, 33 knockouts) takes on former two-time IBF junior-lightweight champion John John Molina (45-5, 30 knockouts), the winners meeting in the fall for the vacant WBC super-lightweight crown.

Also on the Aug. 15 card will be WBC featherweight champion Luisito Espinosa (42-7, 22 knockouts) defending against Juan Carlos Ramirez (14-0, seven knockouts).

QUICK JABS

If all the legal obstacles can be cleared, and that’s no small matter, Ike Quartey will fight Felix Trinidad in the fall, leaving De La Hoya, who insists he wants one of them, out in the cold. De La Hoya, assuming he gets by Julio Cesar Chavez on Sept. 18, could fight Pernell Whitaker again, or Frankie Randall, in November. Assuming a De La Hoya victory, he would then fight Oba Carr in February and try to get the Quartey-Trinidad winner for next May.

America Presents is considering a fight for its top attraction, middleweight David Reid, in Las Vegas on Sept. 19, the night after that city hosts De La Hoya-Chavez II.

Forum Boxing matches bantamweights Joel Luna Zarate (32-2-1, 25 knockouts) and Mauricio Martinez (11-3-1, six knockouts) in the 10-round main event Aug. 10 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim. In the co-main event, junior-featherweight Israel Vazquez (17-1, five knockouts) takes on Juan Manuel Chavez (21-20, 10 knockouts) in another 10-rounder.