Requiem for Arrogance
by Michael Katz
NEW YORK, April 22 - So, anything happen while I was away?
I take off one measly week because the poorhouseofboxing says we can't afford to go to South Africa, though I say we gotta be there just in case, and look what happens. I come back today and the world is upside down.
Or, as my buddy John Hornewer said, "Did you ever think you'd live in a world where Hasim Rahman and John Ruiz were the heavyweight champions?"
And what does that make David Tua, who has knocked out both? Well, try fat and lazy, something many heavyweights have in common with this writer.
Yes, we can joke and clown after the "Crumble in the Jungle." This is not a requiem for a heavyweight whose arrogance was growing tiresome. It is not gloating over the comeuppance of a greedy corporation or chortling over the embarrassment my hero-worshipping British colleagues should be feeling. It is a celebration of the wonderful unpredictability of sports, the shuffling of the deck for a new deal.
Deal Lewis out. Deal Mike Tyson back in. HBO could be out, Showtime in.
"We're going to have fun the next few days," said Jay Larkin, the boxing boss at Showtime, who went to bed early last night and woke up to a videotape of boxing's great upheaval. He went right to the end and started laughing when he saw what Hasim (The Rock) Rahman had wrought.
Already, the wheels are in motion. Cedric Kushner, Rahman's promoter, said Tyson was the fight his guy wants next "and I will explore that fight very seriously."
Shelly Finkel, Tyson's adviser, and Larkin called Kushner in South Africa. There are going to be obstacles, of course, but Larkin said "if I had to make a bet, Stanley (Hoffman, who with Steve Nelson co-manages the new real deal heavyweight champion) and Ced will work to make this fight - I think Tyson-Rahman is a very strong possibility for June or July."
Finkel released a statement from Tyson today saying he wanted to fight Rahman. But the adviser said Tyson, who did not see the fight live, instead opting for a concert in Las Vegas, told him he felt "compassion" for Lewis.
"He knows how he feels, Mike said it's awful when something you take for granted is taken away," Finkel said.
The world will have to wait for Tyson-David Izon, still scheduled for June 2 in Washington. The world isn't that upside down to care about losing that bit of matchmaking. Finkel indicated that if Rahman says "Tyson is next" there will be no silliness of trying to work in a "tune-up." Buster Douglas was a "tune-up" for Evander Holyfield, which is why Tyson knows what Lewis must be going through.
Rahman now is the biggest piece of the Rock, a Sylvester Stallone "Rocky" story of his own, a 15-1 underdog who's been shot, who defied death in a terrible road accident (the vehicle he was riding in was turned over, a close friend sitting next to him was killed and Rahman was trapped inside for hours). If he wants Tyson, he's going to get Tyson. He'd be a 3-1 underdog against Tyson, the same as he would be for a Lewis rematch, according to Las Vegas linemaker Herb Lambeck.
Forget about Rahman giving Lewis a rematch now and it doesn't matter what it says in their contracts. You can bet Jose Sulaiman, unless talked out of it by Don King for some Byzantine reason, will insist that the Rock play by WBC rules. When a WBC champion loses his title in a voluntary defense, the new title-holder has to first face the mandatory challenger.
And that's the guy Rahman wants most of all, the guy his managers and promoters will want most of all, the guy who means the most in the pockets.
Mike Tyson - No. 1 in our hearts, No. 1 in the WBC ratings.
"Forget about Lennox and Tyson," Rahman chanted in the South African tent after knocking out Lewis. "We'll bring the great Tyson right here to South Africa."
Rahman would have a big chance of upsetting Tyson, too, especially if he fights as he did against Tua for the first seven or so rounds, using lateral movement against a charging opponent. It was different game plan against the ever-retreating Lewis. Tyson would have to charge into Rahman's good right hand, plus the new champion would make a lot more money than he would for a Lewis rematch. Guess $15 million against Tyson. maybe half that much for Lewis II.
From the way Lewis ran from a series of pushing jabs, just before the fifth-round knockout, there is no reason to believe the former champion automatically reverses this morning's result, even at sea level.
Lewis has tumbled from his place in history and might as well go home, if he knows where that is, especially if Tyson beats Rahman. HBO might have to rehire Seth Abraham and Lou DiBella. They're barely out the door when their successors have blown the heavyweight title. Go ahead, whisper it:
Showtime.
If Tyson beats Rahman, and there is a chance that we may soon be living in a world ruled again by the ear-chomping fighter and his network of choice. He would never have to fight Lewis. Emanuel Steward, Lewis' trainer, has insisted all these years that Tyson is intimidated by Lewis. Larkin has insisted that it's the other way around. No matter, if Tyson regains the title 15 years after he first won a heavyweight championship (only George Foreman, who first beat Joe Frazier in 1973 then returned to beat Michael Moorer in 1995 would have a longer gap between title-winning fights), he can easily remain a Showtime fighter. That's where all the heavyweights are - from Ruiz and Holyfield, who may be matched a third time by Don King this August in China - to Tua and Ray Mercer.
Lennox can certainly forget about that $30 million payday he could have had if he didn't go through with the Rahman "tune-up" and had met Tyson this June, as offered. Don't these guys ever learn that "tune-up" too often means screwup? Lewis, for all his imagined intellect, should certainly have known better.
Alex Garcia had a $1 million payday waiting to challenge George Foreman, but figured he'd grab a quick 15 grand against clubfighter Mike Dixon. Lewis tried to drag me from a bar at the Las Vegas Hilton to go over and watch. "No thanks," I told Lennox. I had seen Lennox knock out Dixon and I knew Garcia was nothing to leave Dewars and water for. Dixon knocked out Garcia with Lewis at ringside.
Tommy Morrison had a $7 million payday waiting to meet Lewis. On the way, he stopped off in Tulsa, where Michael Bentt knocked him out in the first round.
If those lessons, close to his heart, didn't teach Lewis, there was that 1994 "tune-up" against Oliver McCall, who closed his eyes and landed a right hand.
Rahman had his eyes open, but Lewis had his mouth open because he was obviously struggling with Johannesburg's 6,000-foot altitude. He had his hands down, and his legs were in some other time zone when the latest right hands landed.
It was kind of sad to see Lewis try to explain later that they both were throwing right hands and Rahman's landed first. Lewis was so confused he forgot that he didn't throw a right hand after retreating to the ropes. Against the ropes, his plan was to throw a right uppercut. He was THINKING about throwing his right hand when Rahman's landed violently.
He is not to be admonished for taking the "tune-up" as much as he should be punished for not taking it seriously, for going ahead with Julia Roberts and George Clooney and filming a remake of "Oceans Eleven" two weeks before a fight. As Larry Merchant pointed out on the HBO telecast, Lewis went down in "Oceans Eleven."
He fought like he was on the Titanic. "He was thumbing his nose at everybody," said Lou DiBella, echoing the widespread joy that went through the industry that the increasingly arrogant Lewis lost.
It was pure arrogance for taking Rahman, a decent boxer with a good right hand, so lightly. Yeah, the Rock has been knocked out twice and his courage has been questioned. Hell, at first he refused this $1.5 million payday because he didn't want to leave the country.
"Rock, you've got to report or you'll never fight for the title again," warned former co-manager Robert Mittleman, calling the Baltimore boxer in February. "Don't you think you can beat this guy? Shannon Briggs, he's not half the fighter you are, he almost had him beat. Guys like that have a subliminal thing, they're afraid to win. You're not like that."
It almost seemed that way at the start of the fifth round, though. There was the reluctant Rock, touching a cut over his left eye that was the result of an accidental butt, and walking away. Mittleman said it was not a sign Rahman was ready to quit.
"He has a way of walking around and playing possum," said the manager, who hopes he is brought back on board by his former fighter.
Lewis, who was gasping as early as the second round, was not tricked. He simply wasn't in shape, and that was compounded by his pretending that he was ready, instead of admitting he didn't have much puff and going right out for an early knockout.
"It wasn't altitude, it was attitude," said Lawrence Lustig, the Fleet Street photographer who arranged for Lewis to become English again after winning the 1988 Olympics.
Afterwards, he tried to brush off his lack of preparation. "This is what happens in heavyweight boxing," he said. "You don't beat the count. They stop it."
He said he felt "comfortable" in the ring. Nonsense. He suddenly looked like an old 35-year-old fighter. Mittleman said he had his welterweight, Wilfredo Rivera, training in the Top Rank Gym in Las Vegas, getting ready for Fernando Vargas on May 5, where Lewis was working out. One day, he said, after Rivera was finished, he remained with Emanuel Steward, who was waiting for Lewis to show up at 2 P.M.
"I left at 4:15 and he still hadn't showed up," said Mittleman.
Maybe he was reading his clips in the British press who were giving him a high place in the pantheon. One great Briton had written that Lewis was probably the second best heavyweight in history. Maybe the second greatest CANADIAN heavyweight in history. I mean, George Chuvalo probably still beats him, eh?
"Lewis is undefeated in Britain," said F.P. Toz, the great pundit, "but he's 0-2 as a Canadian."
"Lewis destroyed his legacy with his arrogance and laziness," said DiBella.
"He did this to himself," said John Hornewer, the Chicago lawyer who put together the deal that made Lewis an Englishman again.
He has lost only two fights, both to "clubfighters," according to Hornewer. But I believe he also lost to Mercer and he was all out to beat a very old Holyfield. He struggled at the end - his stamina was always suspect - against Tony Tucker and Zeljko Mavoric. His alleged greatness was based on his size and the easy way he handled Michael Grant and David Tua. He was a good champion, but please don't tell me he was too big for Rocky Marciano or, bite your tongue, Joe Louis.
He was a decent sort, but there was always a question about his willingness to "fight," especially after getting starched by McCall.
Lewis' defeat was the second in 15 days for Britain, the second in 15 days for Steward, who trains both Naseem Hamed and the former heavyweight champion. I wonder how Emanuel can blame Oscar Suarez for this one.
No, I feel sorry for Emanuel. I feel sorry for Lewis, though it was his fault he surrounded himself with "yes men." As Hornewer said, "Yes, he's not heavyweight champion."
I don't feel sorry for HBO.
I feel sorry for all the American boxing writers who could not go to South Africa. No room in the sports sections with the basketball and hockey playoffs, the NFL draft, baseball, the race to the Kentucky Derby etc. etc.
I feel sorry for boxing that a transfer of its biggest prize was overlooked by editors.
I am happy for Kushner, who broke down and cried like a baby in the ring after Rahman's victory. The South African-born promoter has had a very rough time of it and this should help his financial situation.
I am happy for Stan Hoffman and Steve Nelson, the co-managers. I am happy for Mittleman. I am happy for Tyson, who issued empty threats to Lewis that he would eat his children, explaining later he was only kidding, he knew Lewis didn't have any kids; Rahman has three. I feel happy for A.C. Davis, who has followed such as Mack Lewis, Kevin Rooney (both when the Rock was an amateur), Janks Morton and Chuck McGregor as trainer.
We should all be delighted for Rahman.
PENTHOUSE OF THE WEEK: The Rock, who conquered his own self-doubts to score one of the great upsets in sports history.
OUTHOUSE OF THE WEEK: Any volunteers? |
