Your weekly random thoughts …
• So let me get this straight: Just two weeks after the horrible accidental death of his 4-year-old daughter, Exodus Tyson, Mike Tyson got married? Tyson got hitched for the third time -- to Lakiha Spicer, who is not the mother of the toddler -- in Las Vegas last Saturday night. I know people mourn in different ways, but doesn't the timing strike you as extremely odd? How do you go from the death of a child, the saddest of all days, to marriage, which is supposed to be the happiest of days, in just two weeks?
I'll be the first guy to wish Tyson nothing but the best in his new marriage. I really do hope things work out for him. But it just seems that for the former heavyweight champ to get married so quickly after the worst tragedy a parent can suffer means this union appears doomed before it has really even started. I hope I'm wrong, but Tyson's marital track record is poor. He has admitted to cheating regularly, and his first wife, actress Robin Givens, accused him of physical abuse. Old dogs generally don't learn new tricks.
In 2005, over the course of a few days before his fight in Washington against Kevin McBride, which turned out to be Tyson's final bout, I conducted two lengthy interviews with him in which we covered numerous subjects.
One of the topics we covered was marriage. Tyson was divorced from Givens and Monica Turner, and said he had no plans to marry again, admitting that he was a bad husband. Here's what he told me in 2005:
"Robin and me, we were two young kids who never should have been married in the first place. Deep down inside, [Turner] is still a little angry about the whole situation. I respect that. She divorced me. I give up. I lost. They beat me. They won. They got me good. I know I was a dog and I wasn't behaving well. I got myself together now, and it's too late. [Divorce makes] you feel like you are a failure. What's wrong with me? No one can get along with me. I can't get along with anyone."
• Although I don't have a strong opinion one way or another, I understand HBO's decision not to pick up the June 20 Wladimir Klitschko-Ruslan Chagaev fight. It comes down to money, and HBO is in no mood to spend a lot of it for a fight in Germany (meaning no live U.S. prime-time telecast) that few have high expectations for in the ring, even if the bout is significant. If HBO spends its cash on this fight, there won't be anything left for a better Klitschko fight in the fall, or some other big fight. I don't love the decision, but I get it and respect it after Klitschko's intended opponent, David Haye, pulled out because of an injury. At least we'll get to see the fight here in America. It will broadcast live on ESPN Classic.
• Remember that grand announcement in May 2008, when Haye signed with Golden Boy Promotions and his company, Hayemaker Productions, signed a lucrative exclusive deal with Setanta Sports in the United Kingdom? How's that working out? Haye has fought exactly once (against the faded Monte Barrett), got injured last week and pulled out of the championship fight with Klitschko, and Setanta is headed for bankruptcy any minute now. So much for the best-laid plans. So much for a heavyweight savior.
• Here are three rematches I'd like to see: Tomasz Adamek-Steve Cunningham, Chad Dawson-Glen Johnson (which is all but a done deal for the fall) and Andre Berto-Luis Collazo.
• It will be a pleasure to see junior flyweight champ Ivan "Iron Boy" Calderon back in the ring Saturday night when he defends his title against Rodel Mayol on the Miguel Cotto-Joshua Clottey undercard.
• It seems unlikely to me that Bernard Hopkins will fight this year.
• Doesn't it seem like Shane Mosley has basically resorted to begging for a fight? It's kind of sad.
• There was a bit of excitement in some quarters with the announcement that the WBC had ordered an elimination match between hot super middleweight contenders Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell, medal-winning U.S. teammates at the 2004 Olympics. However, while it's a fight to look forward to in the future, it isn't going to happen now just because some alphabet organization mandated it. Economically, it makes no sense for either guy at this point. Maybe in a year or two. I hope it does happen eventually -- just not when one of them is past his prime, like the last showdown between U.S. Olympic teammates, when Jermain Taylor easily beat a fading Jeff Lacy last fall.
• Daniel Santos. What a waste of talent.
• I don't care how many times he loses in a big fight, there's still only one Ricky Hatton.
• Typical Don King. He has a July 11 Showtime card featuring an excellent main event between bantamweight titlist Joseph "King Kong" Agbeko and junior bantamweight champ Vic Darchinyan, but with a month to go before the fight, he still hasn't officially announced the venue or ticket availability. Great way to promote.
• I watched the video from the pro debut of George Foreman III, one of the sons of the great former champion. Foreman scored a first-round knockout against the utterly pathetic Clyde Weaver, who was easily one of the worst fighters I have ever seen. That said, how great would it be if Foreman actually developed into a top heavyweight? It's a long shot considering he's already 26, but it would be fun.
• If Gerry Penalosa got hit in the face with a cinder block, I'm still not sure he would go down.
• Condolences to lightweight contender Joan Guzman, who lost his mother to brain cancer.
• Now that Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez are moving out of the junior featherweight division, the fight I want to see to crown a new champion is Juan Manuel Lopez versus Celestino Caballero.
• I'm not sure how far he's going to go, but Mexican welterweight Saul Alvarez is as crowd-pleasing as any young fighter I've seen in a long time. Alvarez (27-0-1, 20 KOs), is only 18 and already drawing considerable attention in Mexico. He has fought only twice in the United States, but I think it's only a matter of time until he comes stateside more regularly. If you like aggressive fighters who aren't afraid to get hit and also have some skill, you'll like Alvarez. His ninth-round knockout of Jefferson Goncalo last weekend was a thing of beauty.
• I was very impressed with undefeated Russian heavyweight prospect Denis Boytsov, who destroyed Taras Bidenko in Germany last week.
• DVD pick of the week: I still remember it like it was yesterday, but seven years have passed since I spent a wild week in Memphis that culminated on June 8, 2002, with a fight few ever thought would actually come to fruition. After years of buildup, the signing of a complex deal between HBO and Showtime to match their stars, and one news conference featuring a brawl and a leg bite that nearly killed the fight, Lennox Lewis and Tyson finally -- finally! -- met for the heavyweight championship. Even though the fight wasn't at all competitive, I still pull out the DVD from time to time because it was such a huge fight, one I will never forget. When I watch it, I can still feel how hot it was inside the Pyramid that night. Lewis, who, fairly or unfairly, needed to face Tyson to validate his career, delivered a crushing beating to the former champion, finally authoring a bloody eighth-round knockout. It was appropriate to watch Lewis' legacy-sealing victory this week, given that he'll be inducted into the International Hall of Fame on Sunday (along with my good buddy Larry Merchant, among others). Lewis would have made it even without beating Tyson, but there would have been a gaping hole on his résumé.
Dan Rafael
