Columnist Dean Juipe: Commission may yet OK Mike Tyson

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, Oct. 14, 1998 | 9:42 a.m.

Like two school kids playing a juvenile game of one-upmanship, where one yells "he is" while the other keeps countering "he isn't," projecting whether Mike Tyson will or won't be relicensed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission depends upon the eye of the beholder.

But this much can be said for a certainty: At least he's back in the ball game.

Charting the likelihood of Tyson's chances of regaining his boxing license would result in a line that has curved, dipped, swerved and reversed a handful of times in the past couple of months. The former heavyweight champion has gone from sure thing to outcast and back again more than once, and now he appears to have at least a 50-50 shot at redemption.

The question will finally be resolved Monday when the NSAC reconvenes and contemplates both the plus and minus sides of the issue.

Since the initial hearing on the subject was adjourned Sept. 19, those favoring Tyson's return can point to three positives: Tuesday's release of the psychotherapists' report from Massachusetts General Hospital that generally played down the possibility of him having a relapse in the ring similar to the night he bit Evander Holyfield's ears; the fact that local attorney Jim Jimmerson has taken the reins of Tyson's legal team, replacing a lesser-respected outsider, Dale Kinsella; and the fact Tyson's volatile and self-defeating interview in this month's Playboy magazine is receiving surprisingly little fanfare.

Yet those opposed to Tyson's return have their own recently drawn ammunition and can boil it down to these three points: Playboy showed Tyson to be plagued by internal troubles, and the fact the mainstream media has been lapse in its coverage of the interview is irrelevant when it comes to gauging Tyson's mental fitness; that the MassGen report reveals a number of Tyson's foibles and shows him to be subject to moments of unchecked anger; and the fact that Tyson's attorneys are attempting to settle out of court with two men allegedly struck by the fighter following an Aug. 31 traffic accident in Maryland demonstrates he's no better at controlling his rage than he was when he bit Holyfield's ears.

At Monday's hearing the NSAC can ask Tyson anything it wishes, yet it probably will go easy on him when it comes to the Maryland issue and it may not even inquire about the Playboy interview. While it could and should probe both areas in depth, it just doesn't seem that it will.

Tyson can deny the Maryland assault charges and maintain he's looking to settle with the men simply to resolve nuisance suits, and he can claim the Playboy interview was his idea of a rollicking good time and that much of what he said was in jest or intentionally overstated.

If the commission isn't too demanding on those fronts, and if Tyson can expound on the handful of MassGen findings without losing his cool, he might very well walk out of the meeting with a boxing license in his hip pocket.

He is helped by the fact only one or two commission members are fundamentally opposed to his return, given the majority-rules guidelines of the five-man board. He is also helped by the fact the NSAC isn't endowed with a number of inquisitive, take-no-prisoners examiners, although commission chairman Dr. Elias Ghanem promises a more vigilant approach after acknowledging the NSAC's Sept. 19 shortcomings.

And while a vigilant commission might deny Tyson a license, the feeling here is that its members are ready to be pacified.