Couser wired for TV

Dean Juipe

Thursday, July 3, 2003 | 9:46 a.m.

Cliff Couser sees the situation for what it is: Those handling the career of Malcolm Tann feel he's just an opponent.

Couser, of Las Vegas, has a nationally televised heavyweight fight with Tann scheduled for July 11 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. It's a coming-out party of sorts for Tann, a former Golden Gloves national champion who is 7-0 as a pro and who will be headlining for the first time in his still brief career.

"What are they thinking?" Couser asks indignantly. "That I'm a bum?

"They're trying to step this guy up real fast. I know he's a fighter who's never lost and I know he's going to be wired up for a fight on TV.

"But I'll be wired up for it, too."

Couser is 24-8-2 and coming off a KO-3 victory against Karl Evans on May 9 in Osceola, Fla.

Tann's most recent outing was a TKO-2 victory against Jason Curry last month at the Stratosphere.

"I've seen him," Couser said of Tann. "He's a tall guy, but I don't see anything special about him. It looks like he got into boxing because he couldn't make it in basketball."

Couser knows something about basketball as well, having become friends with former UNLV star Marcus Banks, who ended up with the Boston Celtics after last week's NBA draft.

"We met at the 24 Hour Fitness on Wigwam," Couser said. "We've played some ball together but I can't guard him without grabbing him. He's always going by me.

"He's cool. I told him he's going to go a long ways."

While Banks has already signed a multimillion-dollar contract, Couser is still looking for his big break in boxing. A victory against one-time contender Jorge Luis Gonzalez and his obvious connections to Mike Tyson aside, Couser has yet to fully cash in and is already preparing for life after boxing.

Aside from training at a private gym for this fight and running evenings, he's working two jobs, one at McCarron as a ground agent for America West and one as a security guard at a United Parcel Service outlet.

"My wife (Charina) told me to change my style or get out of boxing," Couser said. "She cares about me and she thought I was getting hit too much in the back of the head.

"So I'm trying some different tactics, trying to move around a little more and be more of an animal."

Couser is a stocky man of 228 pounds who is best known in some quarters for his ability to mimic Tyson, his half-brother. Couser has played Tyson in a movie and he not only shares physical characteristics with the former champion, but can duplicate his voice and facial expressions on command.

He most recently appeared in a reality TV show on Fox in which he pretended to be Tyson, to the amusement and/or horror of unsuspecting passersby.

But for all of his divergent activities, it's boxing that's in his blood.

"I'm training harder than ever," Couser said. "I'm feeling good and trying to take my career to another level. I'm busting my a-- and hustling.

"I love to fight, and now I get a TV fight against a cocky guy who's never lost. I'm going to hit him everywhere I can with everything I've got."