Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

BRUCE SELDON: Ex-champ still at a loss

Defeat to Tyson in 1996 remains a painful subject

By KEVIN IOLE
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Bruce Seldon continues his comeback from a 7-1/2-year absence by fighting Gerald Nobles on Saturday at Mandalay Bay. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

Bruce Seldon stared at the floor and laughed ruefully. The events of Sept. 7, 1996, still evoke too many emotions for him to discuss.

Now 37, Seldon said he still is in good fighting shape. The former WBA heavyweight champion looks physically imposing even though he was out of boxing for 7 1/2 years.

He returned to the ring in March and has won two fights by knockout. But he knows they mean little. Seldon hears the whispers and anticipates the questions.

He will fight Gerald Nobles on Saturday at Mandalay Bay on the undercard of the Roy Jones Jr.-Antonio Tarver light heavyweight title fight. But Seldon doesn't anticipate a single question about Nobles. Nor does he get one.

All anyone wants to ask is, "What happened Sept. 7, 1996?" That's when Seldon defended his WBA heavyweight title against Mike Tyson. The fight lasted 109 seconds, but unlike Tyson's 91-second win over Michael Spinks about eight years earlier, the victory over Seldon had little historic impact.

Tyson sneered and snarled, and Seldon seemed to melt in the middle of the ring. A Tyson hook appeared to graze the top of Seldon's head. He went down the first of two times, meekly surrendering his title. Seldon was so distraught, he cried in the dressing room and didn't fight again for almost eight years.

Referee Richard Steele initially thought Seldon had slipped, saying that night, "I thought he missed the punch." But something floored the thickly muscled Seldon, who had trained three months for Tyson.

"Maybe the moment is bigger than any of us can imagine," said Marc Ratner, the executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission who visited Seldon in his dressing room that night and recalled that the boxer was "extremely tense."

Cries of `Fix!' arose from the crowd seconds after Seldon went down, but Ratner -- though unhappy with Seldon's effort -- doesn't think he took a dive.

"We watched the tape and a punch landed, more on the top of the head than anything," Ratner said. "But they weren't the kind of punches that should have knocked out a world-class fighter like that, especially a guy who seemed to be in such good shape. He just didn't seem to be hit square."

Seldon winces as he talks about Tyson. When asked how he could have been hurt so badly by a punch that didn't appear to land squarely, Seldon shakes his head no. The subject is off limits.

Seldon said he learned who his friends were after the Tyson fight and that he was surprised by the reactions of some of those who had been close to him.

"I have a whole lot of regrets about what happened that night," Seldon said. "That wasn't me in that ring. The real me was a much better fighter than anyone saw. I have no idea what happened, honestly.

"But it's in my past now. I don't like to dwell on the past. I feel different about things and I don't like to dwell on the past."

But now that he's back in boxing, Seldon will have a hard time dodging talk of Sept. 7, 1996. Only something dramatic, like a win over Tyson, will erase the cloud that follows Seldon's every step in boxing.

Seldon got the urge to return, he said, one day thinking about his career while taking a jog. Although he is 35-4 with his losses to former heavyweight champions, Seldon knows that everything he accomplished will be ignored until he rights the wrong.

"I would love to fight Mike Tyson again one day," Seldon said. "It probably won't happen, but all I can do is go out and keep fighting and winning and hope I'll get another chance. Other guys lost and they got a chance to come back. Why not me?"