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Wednesday, May 28, 1997
Tyson's handlers making excuses
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Mike Tyson hasn't made many excuses about his upset loss to Evander Holyfield. The people who surround him are another story.
Tyson's handlers got together Wednesday to promote Tyson's June 28 rematch with Holyfield, who knocked Tyson out in the 11th round to win the WBA heavyweight title last November.
They ended up spending much of their time offering reasons why Tyson lost the first fight, most of them centering around a lack of preparation by the then-champion.
"Everyone who watched that last fight can look at it and tell that wasn't the real Mike Tyson," said Rory Holloway, Tyson's co-manager. "He only trained three or four weeks for that fight."
Holloway and John Horne, another Tyson co-manager, joined promoter Don King and new trainer Richie Giachetti in a conference call to promote the rescheduled rematch.
Though Tyson has simply said that Holyfield was a better fighter than he gave him credit for in the Nov. 9 upset, his handlers took it a step further.
"We'd been given reports he (Holyfield) had a physician on hand every day in training. People riding up to red lights with Mike Tyson were saying 'Please, don't hurt Evander Holyfield,"' Holloway said. "Mike was not mentally or physically prepared for the Holyfield who showed up."
Horne echoed the comments, saying Holyfield's poor performances in recent fights and public worries about his health had lulled the Tyson camp into complacency.
"Before he fought Mike, Holyfield was dead on the water. The Holyfield you're talking about now wasn't the Holyfield going into that fight," Horne said. "Evander Holyfield posed no immediate challenge for Mike Tyson. He had done nothing recently."
Tyson, who was favored by as much as 20-1 in this city's legal sports books before the first fight, is a 2-1 favorite in the rematch, although the odds have dropped from 3-1 when they were originally posted.
The two fighters were supposed to meet May 3 but Tyson was cut around his left eye, forcing the fight to be postponed.
Tyson worked out before the media last week as part of an effort by King to show he was in shape and that the fight would go on.
"This is one of the few times in Mike's life that he has a challenge in front of him," Holloway said. "He can truly get up for the big one and you will see the difference. The results will be astonishing. Mike will go in there and demolish Evander Holyfield."
