Columnist Dean Juipe: Punch-taker Norris gets Tyson fight

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, Sept. 8, 1999 | 9:56 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

It's a measure of how leery his handlers are concerning his condition and his declining abilities, but first and foremost people should know that Mike Tyson's next opponent was a sparring partner for his previous one.

No disrespect to Orlin Norris, who has always been a quality individual and a man of class, but he won the lottery to take on Tyson Oct. 23 at the MGM Grand Garden in part because of his less-than-scary credentials. Earlier this year, Norris was making ends meet in part by serving as a sparring partner for Frans Botha.

Botha, of course, held a scorecard lead on Tyson until losing by fifth-round knockout when they fought Jan. 16 at the MGM.

Rarely, if ever, has a former world champion of Tyson's reputation and stature been relegated to taking on the sparring partner of his previous victim. Yet the reality of the situation is that Tyson's people don't dare put him in with anyone even in Botha's class, so they'll take his sparring partner instead.

Also playing a contributing role in Norris' emergence as Tyson's next opponent is the protective nature of the Showtime cable network in this particular scenario. Showtime will televise the Oct. 23 fight over the air, as opposed to having it on pay per view, and it was willing to lower its standards accordingly.

Showtime was content to allow Tyson a "lesser" opponent for the Oct. 23 fight, although it clearly wants an opponent of a higher caliber for Tyson's planned Dec. 11 fight that will be on pay per view.

While Norris presents some danger to Tyson, he is thought to be fairly "safe" in that he's neither a big puncher nor a natural heavyweight. It was in the cruiserweight ranks that Norris made his mark, winning a world championship.

But he's now 33 years old and 50-5 in a career that will be over in the event he loses as expected to Tyson.

Likewise, Tyson's career will be over should he lose to Norris. And while that worries his representatives and the people who make money off of him, the fight they're really anguishing over is the one set for December.

That's when Tyson will have to fight someone a little more reputable than Norris, someone who can help attract decent pay-per-view numbers. The thinking is that Tyson can sell enough tickets on his own to carry the fight with Norris, yet a national pay-per-view audience will require an opponent for Tyson who is widely regarded as a worthy challenger.

The trick for Tyson's subordinates isn't as easy as it may seem: They have to coax Tyson past Norris and then locate a live body -- as opposed to Buster Douglas -- for the December gig. Ideally, they want someone from the East Coast (to help assure additional pay-per-view buys) who looks good on paper yet isn't as threatening as a Botha or a Michael Grant or any of the other legitimate contenders.

All things considered, they'll probably end up with Shannon Briggs.

But first up is the quiet and rather nondescript Norris, a professional fighter only slightly removed from his role as professional sparring partner. Boxing fans can only hope he doesn't confuse the roles the night of the fight and lapse into the survival mode most sparring partners adhere to and live by.