Ironman Mike Tyson's second act

English>>Sports

Editor's Pick

By Murray Greig (China Daily) 09:26, August 23, 2013

Email|Print|Comments

twitter

facebook

Sina Microblog

Boxing's once and forever Man of the Ear and the youngest heavyweight champ in history has recast himself as a promoter and raconteur, writes Murray Greig.

It's been 28 years since a truculent ball of hate named Mike Tyson exploded on the scene like a cruise missile and became the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history.And it's been eight years since he retired following an ignominious KO at the hands of journeyman Kevin McBride.But now the sport's once and forever Man of the Ear is back with a bang. He'll make his promotional debut on Friday night at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York, fronting the IBF super featherweight title clash between champion Argenis Mendez (21-2) of Argentina and Canadian challenger Arash Usmanee (20-1).

Tyson opened Wednesday's final media conference by introducing himself ... and apologizing for his fractured pronunciation of some of the fighter's names.

"Hey, listen, I didn't do good in school but I'll give you the best I can," he said. "I'm just being funny because I'm a little nervous. This is a very exciting thing for me.

"I'm privileged to have Argenis Mendez in my stable and he's gonna go against Arash Usmanee, who's from Afghanistan I take it?"

The 31-year-old Usmanee, who moved to Canada when he was five, smiled and nodded as Tyson went on: "OK, guys! And we've got Claudio Marr ... ero, who's going up against Jesus ... please help me here ... Cuellar?"

The main event fighters were clearly intimidated by their promoter, but did their best to hype the show.

"I chose Arash for the first defense of my world title because I thought he was robbed in his last fight, which was his first loss," said Mendez.

【1】【2】