Tyson, America Presents ending ring relationship

Dean Juipe

Friday, Jan. 12, 2001 | 10:37 a.m.

If and when Mike Tyson returns to boxing, it will be without America Presents as his promoter.

The promotional firm, which has an office in Las Vegas and runs its business through local resident Dan Goossen, is withdrawing as Tyson's promoter of record. America Presents' six-fight contract with Tyson expires after the next Tyson fight, if there is one.

"This isn't a matter of pointing fingers or anything, and it's not Mike's fault," Goossen said Thursday. "We take personal pride in elevating our client's profile, and if we're not able to do that then it becomes purely a matter of money. And when it's purely a matter of money, I'm not the best promoter for Mike Tyson."

Goossen felt handcuffed by Tyson's manager, Shelly Finkel.

"Well, it's not as if Shelly isn't legally able to do the things he's done," Goossen said. "Is Shelly running the show? Yes. But, like someone recently wrote, Shelly listens to everyone but hears no one."

Finkel, reached at his New York office, seemed indifferent to Goossen's decision.

"I don't understand all of this," he said. "America Presents has a contract with us and it was renewed to include six fights. If they don't want to continue, then Mike will go independent.

"There's no hard feelings on my end. I happen to like Dan and in the right situation I would still do business with him."

Although Tyson said he was retiring after an Oct. 20 victory over Andrew Golota in suburban Detroit, those around him expect him to continue fighting in his quest to regain a heavyweight championship. At 34 years old, he's 48-3 and he remains the most marketable commodity in the sport.

"My gut feeling is that he's going to fight again," Finkel said, adding that Tyson was working on "bringing his weight down" while staying in Phoenix.

As for Goossen's claim that Finkel prevented him from doing his job, Finkel said "That's a matter of opinion."

Goossen said he last spoke to Tyson "right after the Golota fight" and that "I wouldn't go behind anyone's back no matter how dissatisfied I am. I haven't gone to Mike about this and I don't know if he's even heard about it."

Goossen said he had virtually no role in promoting Tyson's most recent fights.

"Financially, it was very good for us," he said, "but we're a promoter and if we're not involved in selecting the sites, the opponents and being involved in the continuity of a fighter's career, then those things just fall by the wayside.

"Mike's a big-time fighter, the biggest box-office attraction in the world. But the reality is his (pay-per-view) numbers have gone down, and I know they shouldn't have and wouldn't have if he'd have been handled appropriately."

Putting the Golota fight in Detroit may have been the last-straw mistake from Goossen's perspective.

"I liken it to (light heavyweight champ) Roy Jones complaining that he can't make the money Oscar De La Hoya does," he said. "But Jones has never had a promoter and, as a result, he fights in Mississippi and Florida instead of Las Vegas and he doesn't make the money he could.

"Mike's fight with Golota didn't necessarily have to come to Las Vegas, but it needed to be at a unique site. With all due respect to Detroit, you wouldn't put the Academy Awards show there, so don't put the biggest act in show business there."

But the origins of Goossen's unhappiness date back to Tyson's relicensing hearing before the Nevada State Athletic Commission in October of 1998. (Tyson had been suspended a year earlier for biting Evander Holyfield's ear during a fight at the MGM Grand Garden.)

"I started to see it right then, right off the bat," Goossen said, referring to the hearing. "I sat in the back of the room and it was like I was sitting in the back seat of a car that was making all the wrong turns. I'm yelling 'Turn, turn,' but no one's listening.

"I had hopes after that that maybe it would switch around, but there was never any change in the business direction. I saw the handwriting on the wall back then, and I still do."

Tyson has fought five times since being relicensed and in each instance America Presents played only a minimal role.

"It's shortsighted to think you don't need a promoter or that you can get by hiring a promoter on an event-by-event basis," Goossen said. "It's not in the best interest of the fighter; you end up getting into situations like we did with Tyson, where you've got pitchers batting cleanup and catchers doing the pitching.

"You end up undervaluing your client."

While he hasn't agreed with the direction Finkel has taken Tyson's career, Goossen discreetly places some of the blame on himself.

"I want to make money but I want to do it by promoting my fighters," he said. "Quite frankly, I feel bad because I know we could have helped Mike recapture his numbers and his greatness, and it almost kills me to see him where he's at now.

"But I blame myself. I put my company in this position and it just didn't work the way we wanted it to. It's something I won't ever do again with any other fighter."