Columnist Dean Juipe: Finally! Tyson-Norris fight slated for Oct. 23 at MGM

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Sept. 16, 1999 | 11:54 a.m.

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

At long last, Mike Tyson's Oct. 23 fight with Orlin Norris is official.

The fight, such a foregone conclusion that a Tyson aide said last week at the fighter's training camp that he didn't realize the bout and its date had yet to be formally announced, was solidified today at a press conference at the MGM hotel-casino.

The MGM's Grand Garden Arena will serve as the site of a fight that will be televised by the Showtime cable network. The Nevada State Athletic Department lent its seal of approval today as well, approving a request by the promotional firm America Presents for the Oct. 23 date.

Tyson, 33, is 46-3 in a professional career that dates from 1985.

Norris, also 33, is 50-5-1 and is a former cruiserweight world champion.

* SPORTPARK CARD: Lost in the shuffle and the hype of Saturday's Oscar De La Hoya vs. Felix Trinidad fight at Mandalay Bay is the fact the All-American SportPark will host a card Friday. ESPN2 will televise the card and show at least two of its bouts: Antonio Diaz vs. Emanuel Burton, and Quinn Navarre vs. Lamon Brewster.

Diaz has become something of a Las Vegas regular, as this will be his sixth fight here and third this year. A junior welterweight with a minor title, Diaz is coming off a May 7 decision win over Marlon Thomas at the SportPark.

Diaz, 23, is 29-2 with 19 knockouts and has won his last 19 fights.

His opponent, Burton, is 24 years old and is 21-13-4 with 10 KOs. While his overall record is hardly impressive, Burton has lost only two of his last 12 fights and is coming off a win over Terrell Finger July 30 in Biloxi, Miss.

In the semi-main event, heavyweights Brewster and Navarre will tangle in what is set up to be a showcase for the 21-0 Brewster. Navarre, 24-7-1, is just the type of journeyman Brewster has been handling with regularity the past three years.

Also scheduled: Marcus Johnson, 7-4, vs. Cliff Etienne, 8-0, six rounds, heavyweights; Mahan Washington, 10-2, vs. Julio Diaz, 6-0, six rounds, lightweights; Vince Moses, 4-5-2, vs. Hank Markin, 3-0, four rounds, junior middleweights; and a women's bout between Andrea Blevins, 3-0, and Atlanta Falcons cheerleader Nina Ahlin, 4-0-1.

Local fans may be familiar with two of the undercard participants, as Moses is a native of Nigeria who has been living here a couple of years although his career has sputtered, and Washington is a relatively promising youngster from Las Vegas whose career was set back by a heart murmur that was detected in April.

First bell is 5 p.m

* QUICK HITS: The numbers may vary from site to site, but most of the city's sports books are taking action on De La Hoya vs. Trinidad. At the Paris hotel-casino Wednesday, De La Hoya was a minus 120 favorite and Trinidad was even. Among the proposition bets are these testers: it's minus 900 the fight will go at least four rounds and plus 600 that it won't; it's minus 160 that the fight will go at least nine rounds and plus 140 that it won't; it's plus 140 that the fight will go the 12-round distance and minus 180 that it won't; it's 13-10 that De La Hoya will win by knockout and 8-5 that he'll win by decision; and it's 9-5 that Trinidad will win by knockout and 12-5 that he'll win by decision. It's also 12-1 that the fight ends in a draw. ... Mitch Halpern of Las Vegas will referee that fight and the judges are Bob Logist of Belgium, Glen Hamada of Kent, Washington, and Jerry Roth of Las Vegas. ... Nineteen sites in Las Vegas will have Saturday's fight on closed circuit, with a $50 entry fee.

However few there were -- and 500 appears to be the accurate total -- the tickets set aside for locals for the Nov. 13 fight between Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield at the Thomas & Mack Center have already been sold. With little notice, the tickets went on sale Tuesday and were sold out within 30 minutes. They were priced from $100 to $2,000. ... Former IBF cruiserweight champ Arthur Williams of Las Vegas has taken an Oct. 1 fight in Tunica, Miss. Williams, 30-5-1, will face an opponent yet to be determined in his first fight since losing to Vassiliy Jirov in June. ... His was the walk-out fight on a card held outside the New Frontier on Aug. 8, but it turns out it was Randie Carver's last victory. Carver, 24, died Tuesday in North Kansas City after being knocked out in the 10th round while defending his North America Boxing Federation super middleweigh t title against Kabary Salem two days earlier. Carver, who went into the fight 23-0-1, defeated Patrick Swann by TKO at the end of the second round in his August fight here. ... Lou Falcigno appears to have replaced Tony Trudnich as the chief promoter at The Orleans, and Falcigno's first card will be Sept. 24 with junior lightweight Edson Nascimento (30-0) taking on Eduardo Perez (19-12-2) in the main event. Falcigno has also asked the Nevada State Athletic Commission for Oct. 22, Nov. 12 and Dec. 17 dates.