Columnist Dean Juipe: Tyson looks for another easy victory

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, Oct. 20, 1998 | 10:29 a.m.

OK, Mike Tyson has his license back.

No one was surprised. And only a few expressed any outrage about it.

For the most part, boxing fans seem pleased by the Nevada State Athletic Commission's decision to grant Tyson a license, although at least one national public-opinion poll indicates a majority of those surveyed felt his ban from boxing should have been extended rather than terminated.

But it was obvious early on Monday that the NSAC was going to acquiesce. With the exception of commission member Dr. James Nave, none of the panelists were volleying tough shots Tyson's way and a "yes" vote on lifting his ban from the sport became a given.

The hearing in the county commission chambers at the Clark County Government Center went just as expected, the NSAC neither distinguishing nor embarrassing itself during proceedings that were somewhat mundane although occasionally amusing.

Hard, probing questions? The commission didn't have many.

Unless Tyson did something to completely embarrass himself, the NSAC was going to license him and that's just what it did. Next up: Locating a suitable first opponent as Tyson attempts to add to this new winning streak and work himself into a title fight.

Ideally, Tyson's boxing adviser, Shelly Finkel, will find an opponent who meets a rather narrowly defined criteria: He has to be known to boxing fans if not the general public; he has to be formidable enough on paper to throw a scare into the two-time former champ; and he has to be someone Tyson can defeat.

With input from Tyson's new circle of friends as well as his current trainers, Jesse Reid and Stacy McKinley, and Showtime boxing director Jay Larkin, Finkel has to find the right stiff, er, opponent, for the job.

"I don't know," Finkel replied by phone from his New York office, when asked who might get the peachy assignment. "It's a little too early to tell."

He also said the Dec. 5 working date for a Tyson fight at the MGM Grand Garden was unlikely to be met. "There are too many things" that need to be done first, he said.

If he's looking for a shortcut in identifying a first opponent for Tyson, here's a reference point: Jimmy Thunder.

He's physically impressive, he's a puncher, he'd be a decent test, and he's not going to win. Thunder, an Australian who lives in Las Vegas, is a strong man with a weak chin and that's what makes him the perfect foil.

Tyson's first fight after being banned from the sport in July of 1997 will sell itself, although it has to be against someone more notable than punching bag Peter McNeeley. (He's the guy who served as patsy in 1995 after Tyson returned to boxing following a three-year prison stay.)

Tim Witherspoon's name came up, as did Jeremy Williams'. Countless others may be presented before Finkel masterminds a group decision.

Thunder meets the first-fight-back standard as well as anybody.

The losers in Tyson's relicensing are easily identified: Germany's Axel Schulz and Denmark's Brian Nielsen. Had Tyson been denied a license here, he was headed to Europe to take on one of them.

Is Europe's loss our gain? The NSAC must certainly think so, agreeable as it was to Tyson's appeal.