The good news for Mike Tyson’s boxing future is that he beat Clifford Etienne convincingly. The bad news is that he beat him convincingly in only 49 seconds.
Saturday night at the Pyramid, Tyson showed without doubt that he still has one-punch knockout power. But he was unable to demonstrate much more than that.
After the brief brawl, Tyson said he waited for an opening and found it. His trainer, Freddie Roach, said he was happy to see his fighter throw combinations. But Tyson didn’t have to wait long or throw many.
The stunningly easy win over an opponent who lived up fully to his reputation as a perfect target for a big puncher left plenty of questions about whether Tyson is ready for a rematch with heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, who demolished Tyson last June at the Pyramid.
Etienne had been touted as a test and a steppingstone toward that lucrative rematch. As a test, he failed. Tyson was able to trade power punches without having to work his way into range. He did not need to jab or fend off jabs. Neither his defense nor his stamina were tested.
Even with his confidence restored by a victory, Tyson conceded it was not enough preparation for Lewis and that he may need two or three more fights. “I’m not interested in getting beat up again,” he said.
When pressed for elaboration on his plans, Tyson spiced them with thoughts of his past. The 36-year-old heavyweight said while boxing has brought him millions of dollars, “I haven’t received any dignity from it. I’ve received a lot of pain from it.”
Calling his sport “crude, barbaric and bloodthirsty,” he asked how anyone could be surprised at his sometimes erratic behavior. “What kind of business am I in?”
He praised fighters such as Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson as true professionals who were dedicated to the rigors of training. “I haven’t been a true professional in a long time,” he confessed.
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Asked if that was now his ambition, he made no such promise. “I like doing other things too,” he said, enumerating a spectrum from being with women to “getting high” to “hanging out with my kids.”
After Lewis knocked him out in eight rounds last July, Tyson said he did not think he could ever beat the bigger man. But he used last week, culminated by Saturday’s fight, trying to show that he can.
He dismissed his fans’ claim that his aggressive style in the ring was superior to Lewis’ cautious style. But Tyson insisted he could reverse last year’s outcome, in which “that night, [Lewis’] morale was the best.” How? “Fight with more morale,” he said.
Earlier in the week, he said he wanted a rematch against Evander Holyfield, who beat him twice, and then another shot at Lewis.
Aware that his best argument for a rematch is his continuing marketability (his Saturday purse was $5 million), Tyson implied that he has a boxing future even if neither Holyfield nor Lewis is in it: “I don’t need anybody to make money.”
Tyson sees his notoriety as less a blessing than a curse.
He revisited that dichotomy in the days leading up to the Etienne fight, offering a left-handed compliment to Roy Jones Jr. in the process.
Speaking of Jones, who has won titles from middleweight to light heavyweight and will challenge heavyweight champion John Ruiz for his title Saturday in Las Vegas, Tyson said, “Roy Jones is the best fighter in the world . . . but he’s not a household name. A little old white woman going to Dairy Queen with her grandson wouldn’t know who he is.
“They’d know who I am. They’d grab the kids and say, `Get away from him, that’s Mike Tyson.'”