Team Tyson won't get fooled again

     The people most familiar with Mike Tyson said Tyson wasn't at his best when he was stopped in the 11th round by Evander Holyfield on Nov. 9 at the MGM Grand Garden.
     But Team Tyson predicts Tyson will be at his best for the rematch June 28 at the MGM and that he will prevail.
     Holyfield and Tyson will be fighting for Holyfield's World Boxing Association heavyweight championship.
     Promoter Don King said Tyson took Holyfield too lightly. In his last fight before he upset Tyson, Holyfield looked less than mediocre in a victory over Bobby Czyz on May 10, 1996, in New York.
     "After seeing how Evander deteriorated before our very eyes, he (Tyson) believed the press releases," King said. "After (Holyfield's) last fight with Bobby Czyz, everybody and anybody was sending up messages of admonishment. 'You should be tried for murder.' He (Tyson) kind of got lulled to sleep by that, and you saw the results of that on Nov. 9."
     John Horne, one of Tyson's two co-managers, said Tyson always had respected Holyfield, but that Holyfield appeared to be on the downside of his career.
     "Before Mike, Holyfield was dead in the water," Horne said. "The Holyfield you are talking about now is not the Holyfield before the fight. Tyson had knocked out his first four opponents (after his release from prison). Holyfield had no immediate challenge to Mike in anything he had done recently."
      Horne said Tyson would have trained harder if Holyfield had gone into the fight with a perception as a tougher opponent.
     "Circumstances make you train or not train the way you should," Horne said. "Mike was much more prepared for Bruce Seldon than he was for Evander."
     Tyson stopped a terrified-looking Seldon in the first round Sept. 7 at the MGM in his last fight before Holyfield.
     Tyson changed chief trainers for the rematch, going from Jay Bright, a longtime Tyson friend from their days in Catskill, N.Y., to Richie Giachetti.
     "Holyfield adapted to it and took advantage of Mike's mistakes that night and worked on them," Giachetti said. "We are ready for anything Holyfield can give us."
     Rory Holloway, Tyson's other co-manager, conceded the better fighter won the first fight.
     "He (Mike) got defeated. He got beat. He got his butt whipped," he said. "If I know Mike Tyson, he will be up for the challenge (June 28). He can't wait to train every day."
     But Holloway had a disclaimer.
     "Evander, in the recent past prior to Mike Tyson, had not been the Evander of old," Holloway said. "Not to make excuses for Mike Tyson, but there were a lot of factors. Mike trained hard, but he didn't have enough time to train."
     Tyson, who opened as a 25-1 favorite over Holyfield for the first fight, was a slightly more than 2-1 favorite (minus 210) Wednesday at the MGM sports book.