Sunday, February 16, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

IRON MIKE FALLS ILL: Trainer: Tyson should skip fight

Bout still on, but Roach says ex-champ not fit to face Etienne

By KEVIN IOLE
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Mike Tyson was seemingly happy and engaging in the weeks leading up to Saturday's scheduled fight in Memphis against Clifford Etienne, but his behavior and training turned erratic last week. Photo by John Locher / AP.

Mike Tyson's promoter and adviser said Saturday's heavyweight fight against Clifford Etienne in Memphis has not been canceled, but trainer Freddie Roach said Tyson is in no shape to fight.

Though Roach said he wouldn't abandon Tyson, he said he will advise him not to fight. But Roach said Saturday he has not heard from Tyson, promoter Gary Shaw or adviser Shelly Finkel, and that he wouldn't travel to Memphis today as scheduled unless he hears from Tyson directly.

The former heavyweight champion's behavior turned erratic last week as he neared final preparations for his first fight since he was knocked out by champion Lennox Lewis in June. Tyson missed at least three days of training last week, and had a large tattoo put on the left side of his face Wednesday.

Finkel said the fight has not been postponed, but Saturday he flew from Las Vegas to his home in New York instead of Memphis. Furthermore, he would not say definitively that the fight will happen.

"I believe Mike is legitimately sick," Finkel said.

Unable to reach Tyson, Roach said he had spoken only with someone living at Tyson's Las Vegas home, who told Roach that Tyson is ill. Roach said he was told Dr. Ramin Etebar had advised Tyson to recuperate for 10 days.

Tyson has sparred only about 40 rounds in training camp -- low for fight preparation -- and cut back on jumping rope because of the stress it puts on his back. Roach, working with Tyson for the first time, said Tyson clearly is not fit to fight.

"No, he is not, not in my mind," Roach said. "He's only trained two days this week (and) he's got the tattoo on his face, which I guess is the first sign that something was up. If he goes into a fight unprepared, which I feel he is, and he asks me (if he should fight), I will advise him not to fight.

"It's in his best interests not to fight. If he's not 100 percent or at least close to it, he shouldn't fight, because if he loses to a guy like Etienne, it's over.

"If he's really sick and really has the flu, like they tell me, then how could he possibly be ready to fight?"

Finkel and Shaw visited Tyson early Saturday in his Tomiyasu Lane home. Shaw said Tyson was suffering from vomiting and other flulike symptoms. He said Tyson was given a chest X-ray and was taking antibiotics.

The source of Tyson's troubles might be his new tattoo, which Roach described as "an African tribal thing," that covers the right side of his face.

According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Services, an allergic reaction to the pigments in the dye is possible and can take up to 10 days to heal. It said acquiring a tattoo puts a person at risk of bacterial and/or viral infection.

An artist at Tattoo Heaven, a local tattoo shop, said allergic reactions to tattoos are rare. The artist, who declined to be identified, said red dye most often causes allergic reactions; it is unknown what color Tyson's tattoo is.

Roach said the dramatic change in Tyson's demeanor last week led him to wonder if something had changed in regard to Tyson's medication to control his behavior.

Tyson was forced to undergo psychiatric testing by the Nevada Athletic Commission when he applied for a license to fight in 1998. One of the physicians who examined him said Tyson needed to be medicated to control his behavior.

Finkel declined to discuss Tyson's medication or address whether Tyson had stopped taking them in preparation for the fight. Before last week, Tyson's camp was open to media and he was mostly cooperative and courteous. But he closed camp Monday, then failed to show up most days.

"I've been wondering that myself," Roach said when asked if Tyson had gone off his medication. "(We) had been getting along so well. Everything had been great. Then all of a sudden, everything stopped. He got the tattoo on his face and he quit coming to the gym. Then he says he doesn't want me to do the road work with him because he's running at 2 in the morning instead of 5 in the morning.

"I didn't talk ever about medications with him. I didn't know if he was on medication, but I didn't feel he was. Things were going so well. The work was good and I didn't want to mess anything up.

"I don't know if he was taking medications that make you calmer, because he was sure fired up on the mitts and in sparring. But there is something there, (because) everything was going great and all of a sudden, there's a U-turn. I don't know what to think."

Roach denied a report in a British newspaper that Tyson erupted angrily in the Golden Gloves Gym because he was upset about a money issue.