Tyson says he’s ready to recapture past glory

Dean Juipe

Thursday, March 7, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

CONTRARY to how Frank Bruno perceives him, Mike Tyson said he's energized and ready to reclaim the heavyweight championship that he lost six years ago.

Greater successes will follow, Tyson said, matter-of-factly dismissing Bruno as a legitimate challenger.

"He's not going to beat me," Tyson said.

Having knocked out Bruno once, in 1989, and having a renewed interest in the sport of boxing, Tyson maintains he'll be coming into the World Boxing Council title fight in ideal shape.

"I remember overwhelming him," Tyson said of his first fight with Bruno, which ended in the fifth round. "The guy wasn't really anything."

Tyson was making a charge through the division when he dispatched Bruno in their earlier meeting, and the slump that followed and cost Tyson his undisputed championship was simply the result of being burned out. That sentiment was the gist of one of those that-was-then, this-is-now remarks.

"In 1991 I was somewhat burned out," he said. "I didn't have too much interest in fighting anymore. I became uninterested in boxing for a while. You know, things happen."

He said a divorce and a couple of incidents that made the police blotter contributed to him losing his desire to fight.

"I'm more mature now," he said. "I'm a professional. I'm at peace with myself and I want to conduct myself in a way God would appreciate."

Tyson, 29, is 43-1 with 37 knockouts in a pro career that began in 1985. He's a 10-to-1 favorite in Fight No. 3 of his two-year deal with the MGM, which will host his fight with Bruno March 16. Should Tyson win, WBA champion Bruce Seldon would be next in line as Tyson looks to reunify the three major titles.

"I see greater and greater steps, as far as my career is concerned," he said. "My objective is to win each of the titles."

While keeping his answers compact, Tyson admitted he is under the gun to produce.

"There's been a great deal of pressure put on me," he said in a revealing statement, although he refused to elaborate. Instead, he kept it simple, promising only to do his best every time he climbs into the ring.

"I'm looking forward to doing what I love to do," he said. "I'm very anxious (for the fight). Right now I'm just trying to keep my head. It's the same excitement and nervousness I've had before, but I'm more experienced now."

He has an answer for why Bruno has belittled him of late.

"That's just Frank," Tyson said. "It's just his way of psyching himself up for combat."

He even downplayed a TV commercial that's running to promote the fight's availability on pay per view. In the commercial, it's maintained Bruno delivered the hardest hit Tyson has ever endured.

"That's just a commercial," Tyson said. "The hardest I was ever hit was by Razor Ruddock."

He acts as if he isn't worried about Bruno, even if he has fought only four rounds since 1991.

"He's more of a runner," Tyson said. "He just tries to survive. He's a holder and he hits you behind the head. I don't know what he's going to do against me, but I'm prepared."

He said his private sparring sessions have him ready for Bruno, adding that he goes seven or eight rounds a day with five steady sparring partners: Jose Ribalta, Tyrone Evans, Calvin Jones, Leroy Sills and Nate Tubbs.

"They push me," Tyson said. "I feel I get the best sparring of anybody."