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Mike Tyson's next role: Role model?
2006-10-20
Amid the freaks and folly tagging along with Mike Tyson's traveling one-ring circus, real boxing punches on. While the first stop on Tyson's "World Tour" will allow the former heavyweight champion to make a few bucks and break a sweat, it's also affording some young fighters a chance to showcase their skills. One of them is Juan McPherson of Cleveland, an up-and-coming middleweight who famed trainer Emanuel Stewart called "America's best amateur boxer" two years ago. Now a professional, McPherson was set to fight Friday night on the undercard before Tyson met Corey "T-Rex" Sanders in a four-round exhibition. McPherson has his whole ring life ahead of him. At 22, he's just two years older than Tyson was when he became the youngest heavyweight champion of the world by knocking out Trevor Berbick in 1986. Tyson's reign of terror quickly dissolved into the madness of failed marriages, a three-year prison sentence for rape, a title loss to unknown Buster Douglas, his attempt to bite off Evander Holyfield's ear and countless nights of partying. One of the sport's hardest hitters, Tyson knocked himself out. "He made a lot of mistakes," McPherson said following Thursday's weigh-in. "But you can learn from him." As Tyson made the publicity rounds this week for a tour he plans to take overseas, McPherson was one of several boxers along for the ride. On occasion, McPherson sought advice from the 40-year-old Tyson, whose rage has been tempered by age. "He told me to stay in the gym, train hard," McPherson said. No word on staying out of the clubs, but McPherson seems to be focused on doing what it takes to become a champion. With lightning-quick hands, he's 3-0 with two knockouts entering his four-round bout with Akron's Damon Antoine. McPherson, like many of the boxers on the tour launch's undercard at the Chevrolet Centre, revere Tyson and see him in a more favorable light than many fans. "He's a good-hearted person," McPherson said. "People talk him down, but they don't know him." Tyson, who earlier this week, Tyson, kidded he was willing to fight "young children, women, celebrities" during his tour, can still draw a crowd. Early ticket sales at the 6,000-seat arena were brisk for his exhibition debut, although it wasn't getting nearly the hype of Friday's matchup between local high school football rivals Youngstown Mooney and Ursuline. Still, there was interest in seeing Tyson up close -- even if he's not remotely close to being the same Tyson who once devoured opponents the way eating-machine Takeru Kobayashi throws down hot dogs. For welterweight Frankie Gill, just being in the same arena as Tyson was enough. "He's a living legend," said Pittsburgh's Gill, who was scheduled to fight Ken-Yon Kellum in the second of seven bouts before Tyson's midnight -- or later -- entrance. "I remember as a kid watching Tyson on TV. My dad worked the late shift and I'd wake him up so we could watch him fight together. You had to watch Tyson." Gill, too, understands why some aren't interested in seeing Tyson again. "He is kind of sad," Gill said. "It's kind of like the boxing game itself, everyone has their hand out." But Tony Fusco, 76, was adamant about not putting any money in Tyson's pocket or anyone else's. "I have no interest in seeing him whatsoever," Fusco said while standing in the lobby of the arena's ticket office. "He's a has been. He was a pain in the neck when he was champ and he's even worse now. If they gave me free tickets I still wouldn't come. I think it's sickening they're building this up." Not everyone was buying. Moments earlier, a radio station executive left with a stack of tickets as giveaways for listeners who might want to come down to see Tyson in the flesh. Fusco had better things to do with his time and money. "I bought four tickets to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra," he said. "Now that's entertainment."
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