Tyson camp makes threats

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Sept. 24, 1998 | 10:45 a.m.

SUN EXCLUSIVE

For those who think Mike Tyson is a sure thing to be relicensed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission when it reconvenes its hearing on the subject Oct. 3, guess again.

In fact, the odds may be against him based on the comments of NSAC chairman Dr. Elias Ghanem, who said Wednesday he has received threats from Tyson's lawyers that they will have the former heavyweight boxing champion "fight on an Indian reservation" if Nevada denies his appeal for a license.

Those same lawyers also objected to the narrow time frame allotted Tyson for completing a series of tests mandated by the NSAC to determine Tyson's psychological profile.

"Quite honestly, I hope he goes somewhere else," Ghanem said. "Even if the unthinkable happens and we license him, I'd say 'take him wherever you want' and let him fight there."

Tyson's lawyers have suggested he may fight in Europe if denied a license in Nevada, plus Ghanem said they told him an Indian reservation was another possibility.

"They threatened us," he said. "They said they'd go to some Indian reservation and said 'you'll lose the revenue of a Tyson fight.' That really upset me.

"Go ahead and go to an Indian reservation if that's what you want. Putting pressure on us is not going to work.

"We're not listening to ultimatums."

Ghanem, an 11-year member of the NSAC and in his third term as chairman, spoke out against Tyson's choice of advisers, doctors and their strategies during a lengthy conversation in which he stressed two points: The issue isn't Tyson in particular, but the NSAC's authority to regulate boxing in the state; and the Maryland traffic accident that Tyson and his attorneys managed to avoid discussing at last Saturday's six-hour meeting that addressed the ex-champion's request to be reinstated will have to be addressed Oct. 3.

In the interim, Tyson must submit to an in-depth psychological profile that will be steered by a team of three psychotherapists from Massachusetts General Hospital. The results of those tests will be revealed at the Oct. 3 hearing.

"In the long run, I'm glad we didn't make a decision on this last Saturday," Ghanem said. "The way it's going to turn out, we're going to get the information on Tyson that we want, not just the information they wanted us to hear."

He was very critical of the initial Team Tyson presentation, calling it "insulting" more than once.

"I wasn't happy at all with it," Ghanem said. "It was disappointing and it left me upset. I thought they'd present straightforward information and that we could ask straightforward questions.

"Instead, there were many issues left unresolved. It wasn't the least bit satisfactory."

Among those testifying on Tyson's behalf was an adviser, Shelly Finkel; a counselor, Larry Coury; a psychiatrist, Dr. Norton Roitman; and a battery of attorneys headed by Dale Kinsella and supplemented by a local associate, James Jimmerson.

"We sat and listened, but I wasn't impressed with any of them except Jimmerson," Ghanem said. "They came in as bullies and thought they could bully this commission.

"Those medical people they brought in were an insult to the commission. It was ridiculous to have one man say he couldn't offer a diagnosis and the other saying he'd seen Tyson for only two hours.

"Give me a break. Is that the best they could do?"

Because the NSAC wasn't swayed by the presentation, it mandated Tyson undergo an impartial evaluation before voting on his competency to fight in Nevada. Without a license in Nevada, Tyson cannot legally fight in any other state (according to an interpretation of the McCain-Bryan Boxing Act of 1997, which requires states to honor other states' suspensions). He could fight overseas or on an Indian reservation without a valid boxing license.

Tyson began the psychological testing process Wednesday at Massachusetts General, with Dr. Ronald Schouten overseeing the process.

Ghanem said Tyson's lawyers objected to the strenuousness of the tests and the brief time frame he has to complete them. Those exams are designed to measure intelligence, stability, personality and reactions to stress.

"It's a very comprehensive package, as extensive as we could get," Ghanem said. "But I didn't like it when his lawyers called and said it was impossible for them to get the testing done in two weeks. My response: 'tough.' I told them it had to be done or there was no point them coming back on the 3rd."

Likewise, if Tyson isn't willing to discuss his alleged physical assaults on two men after an Aug. 31 traffic mishap in Maryland, the NSAC is apt to postpone a decision or rule against relicensing him.

"No question we left the Maryland issue unanswered, but we won't do that again," Ghanem said. "The Maryland issue is still on the table. We're not giving up on it and they're going to have to answer to it."

And if Tyson were to refuse, perhaps on the grounds of still-pending litigation?

"Then he has a major problem," Ghanem said. "He has to answer to it. There are two sides to every issue and I'd like to hear Mike speak on his side of it. Perhaps he was justified in doing what he did, or maybe he didn't even do anything, but they can't just say they're not going to discuss it."

Of course, had Tyson applied for a license in Nevada after July 9 -- when he was first eligible, following the stipulation of having his license revoked July 9, 1997, for at least one year for biting the ears of Evander Holyfield during a fight at the MGM Grand Garden -- and before Aug. 31, Tyson would have been relicensed by the NSAC, Ghanem said.

"If they'd have come to us three or four months ago, there wouldn't have been a Maryland issue," Ghanem said. "We were going to license him. I know you wrote about it and it was true: Everybody was for him in July.

"But once the Maryland issue came up, that was a killer."

Ghanem said he would have voted against relicensing Tyson last Saturday, had the matter been put to a vote rather than postponed until Oct. 3.

"I thought we'd make a decision that day," he said. "I was definitely voting 'no' and I think the commission would have voted 'no' too, although I'm not 100 percent sure of that."

That 'no' vote would have come in spite of Tyson's plea to fight on the grounds that he needs the money.

"I have no sympathy for a man who was paid $100 million over two years and then says he doesn't have any money," Ghanem said. "Don't tell me you're broke after making that kind of money. That insults my intelligence a little bit."

As for Tyson claiming his former managers and promoters took an unfair portion of that $100 million for their own while shortchanging him, Ghanem was once again unimpressed.

"Mike once told me he signed (with Don King, John Horne and Rory Holloway) while he was still in jail," Ghanem said. "I know he was misrepresented, but Mike's the kind of guy that you can throw $2 (million) or $3 million at and he's satisfied. He didn't realize Horne and Holloway were going to make $22.5 million -- apiece -- off him in two years.

"But still, he's made $100 million. Don't tell me you need money to feed your children."

While it's clear that Tyson's previous managerial team failed him, Ghanem is equally leery of the ex-champion's current staff.

"What he ought to do is listen to his wife (Monica Turner) and get the others away from him," he said. "Shelly Finkel bugs me, saying Tyson wouldn't get a fair shake in Nevada and then being wishy-washy about everything else.

"If he's also lying about already pursuing fights for Tyson, he shouldn't be doing that either."

All told, Tyson and his associates appear to have their work cut out for them Oct. 3.

"We're sending a message that has nothing to do with Mike Tyson," Ghanem said. "It's this: If you misbehave in the ring, it's our responsibility to make sure it doesn't happen again. Shenanigans and hooliganism aren't going to be tolerated.

"This is not about Tyson, it's about the state's rights coming first.

"Tyson's people are going to have to come back here and tell us exactly what we want to know. If anyone thought that it was going to be a slam dunk that we'd license him, I'd say they were mistaken."

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