Conference hbahba::cam_sports

  Tyson, 1st round knockout.

  George

If McNeely lasts 95 seconds I'll be surprised.

  One thing I've noticed about McNeely's press conferences is that he has a
unique ability to make you less sympathetic about the beating he's going to
take. This guy has raised being obnoxious to an art form.

  George

Tyson, Round 3 TKO


I think McNeely is going to have too much heart to go down, but won't know
how to defend himself.  

zamboni

    	I heard last night that the over/under for the fight is 2 rounds!

Did anyone read the Globe article yesterday(?) (might have been by Ryan)
about how perfect McNeeley is for promoting this fight.  Don King was raving
(yeah, I know, he *always* raves) about how McNeeley really puts his all
into promoting a fight.

If McNeeley puts up any kind of a fight at all before being pummeled, I bet
he gets a couple of future favors from King in terms of fights/prize money.
King's a blowhard but he's not stupid - he knows McNeeley's act is putting
money in his pocket, and he actually appears to be grateful.

    	Regardless if McNeeley wins or loses, he is known all around the
    	boxing world . . . I never heard of him until he accepted the 
    	challenge from Tyson.  McNeely has b*lls for stepping in the ring
    	with Tyson.
    

>
>  One thing I've noticed about McNeely's press conferences is that he has a
>unique ability to make you less sympathetic about the beating he's going to
>take. This guy has raised being obnoxious to an art form.


George, that's one thing that you and I *do* agree on....

This guy spouted a poem yesterday at the weigh-in, sort of quasi Ali-like,
albeit a poor imitation.

He WROTE IT DOWN AND READ IT.

At least Ali gave you the feeling it was extemporaneous....


McNeely lasts less than 95 seconds for his big payday....


'Saw

Main, I don't know what you guys were expecting but I think McNeeley's a
hoot.

So, he's not a_Ali. It would be blasphemous to compare their boxing
prowess and it's apparent he aint got the quip of the Lip.

Reading the freakin bad poem makes it even funnier. 

And did you catch the posing? Classic WWF!

It's Friday and we can all use a laugh.

TTom

>King's a blowhard but he's not stupid - he knows McNeeley's act is putting
>money in his pocket, and he actually appears to be grateful.


Well he's not that grateful.

	He's only paying McNeely $700k while Iron Mike is walking away with
at least $25m.  You'd think the least King could do would throw another 300k
at McNeely to make it a nice round figure.  Without McNeely's posturing, the 
pre-fight hype woulda been as boring as the fight is likely to be....

	zamboni

>	He's only paying McNeely $700k while Iron Mike is walking away with
>at least $25m.  You'd think the least King could do would throw another 300k
>at McNeely to make it a nice round figure.  Without McNeely's posturing, the 
>pre-fight hype woulda been as boring as the fight is likely to be....

My point is that King didn't necessarily know what he had on his hands
beforehand, so maybe McNeeley isn't getting what he's worth to King *right
away*, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him get some breaks further on down
the line to "make up" for it.

Even though it won't be a long fight, I don't think it'll be boring.  McNeeley
is a self-proclaimed "brawler", not a boxer.  Tyson's not going to have to go
looking for him...

    Roland,
    	There's a book out detailing the "Life and Crimes of Don King". 
    The Herald talked about it this week.  King is one of those people who
    live for cheating others.
    
    	Getting the 680k itself is far more the question than ever getting
    anything else.
    
    	As for the fight, class usually tells in these things but since
    there's an unkown factor, getting down on McNeeley at 18:1 wouldn't be
    so bad.  Think of all the revenue the state could get by allowing
    betting on this one - they could have it done in no time - what
    political element is keeping this simple process from happeining?

    Not to play Devils Advocate but I was thinking last night about another
    boxer who had a terrible reputation as well.  James 'Buster' Douglas
    was basically a washed up, no name as well--and he beat Tyson when he
    was in his prime.  Does anyone know how Busters record compares with
    McNeeley's?  Maybe he has a small, tiny chance (of making it to one of
    the later rounds in the fight).

    
    Hmm, $700k versus $25m, that's a 35 to 1 ratio, which is about the odds
    given for the fight right 8^)
    
    Marc
    

I'm sure McNeeley is feeling good about both the money and the noteriety.

I'm sure the 600-700K is about 35 times the mostest he's made in any of
his previous fights.

And he may have started a career with his 15 minutes of fame. 

He could follow Jake LaMotta into the ex-boxer turned standup routine.

TTom

>And he may have started a career with his 15 minutes of fame. 
>
>He could follow Jake LaMotta into the ex-boxer turned standup routine.



One of the guys on WFAN yesterday was saying that he was browsing on the
computer, and was about to punch up (no pun intended) McNeely's record, and
then figured "why bother?"   

I guess McNeely has fought his share of tomato cans too....

Wail, it had to happen.

Shore 'nuff, them wommin are gonna protest this fight.

Supposedly, the Nevada branch of NOW will go to MGM Grand Saturday and
demononstrate against this travesty. 

They're not too happy about Tyson's history of abusing women, either.

TTom

    I am afraid that I must agree.  Although Tyson's abusive attitude
    toward women in the past was terrible, he was caught, convicted and
    served his time.  ie.He paid his debt.  He hasn't done anything abusive
    toward women since he got out of jail has he?  No.  Leave him alone I
    say.  Hopefully he learned his lesson and won't continue the same type
    of behavior.  If he is foolish to try the same thing again, he will go
    to jail again.  Until then he is an innocent man.  Maybe these women
    should beat up on themselves.

>    Maybe these women
>    should beat up on themselves.


Where do you buy tickets for that event?  8^)

    
    I know one this, Heiser wouldn't last 15 seconds with Jake.  Not that
    Jake is a monster, but Heiser is a *wuss*!

    Re .3>  95 seconds..
    
    Nice guess......actual time was 89 seconds.
    The Medfield Hurricane knocked down twice before being D-Q'd
    for having his trainer enter the ring.
    
                                                    Lil Ed

    After the defeat of McNeeley, where does Tyson go now?  Is he going to
    continue to 'sharpen' his already razor sharp skills, or does he move
    on to a Lennox Lewis, Michael Moorer, etc. fighter?   Has he said
    anything?  I guess everyone knows what McNeeley will move on to.
    
    GC

My girlfriend and I were watching the late news Saturday night and they
gave a teaser on the results ("Tysons-McNeely results after this commercial")

I said to her "I'll bet that stiff from Medfah didn't last 95 seconds, that's
what I told the folks in Sports"

Sure enough, 1:29-something....


On Sunday, on ESPN I saw a couple of quick highlight clips -- McNeely looked
more battered in 1:29 that I've seen a lot of fighters look in 12 full rounds.


Well, where does Tyson go?  He's got to fight someone decent next time, no
Tomato Can, otherwise folks (like me) are gonna think its all just a big
setup.....


Too bad I didn't "predict" last Friday's $21 million dollar Lotto with such
accuracy....


'Saw

    How's the beautiful Kim doin' 'Saw?  Tell her I was axing about her.
    
    As for Tyson, who in their right mind would pay $40 or $50 for that
    fiasco Saturday night?  But more to the point, who would pay to see him
    fight again?  I can see some curiosity aroused for Tyson's first fight
    back, but unless he really steps up in class (please no Bruce Seldon!),
    I can't imagine many suckers wanting to go the PPV route again.
    
    NAZZ

>    How's the beautiful Kim doin' 'Saw?  Tell her I was axing about her.

Very well.
    
>    As for Tyson, who in their right mind would pay $40 or $50 for that

Some looney in my complex did.  I couldn't see it.

Hell, the 15 or so seconds of highlights I saw on the news for free was enough.

So far, all I know about this "fight" is what I read on CNN Teletext and
in here.  Why did the trainer jump into the ring?  Was his fighter in
that much trouble?  Is it true the Commission is holding up the purse?

And how did Tyson look?

Steve

    
    	Bruce Seldon is the current holder of the WBA heavy weight belt.
    Tyson getting a belt might be the only way he can maximize his money
    potential in the short term.
    	The Nevada Boxing Commission is withholding McNeeley's trainers
    fee. They are investigating why in jumped in the rink.
    
    Ron

Seldon fought on the undercard and by some accounts was the bestest
looking fighter of the night.

Earlier, Terry Norris won some kinda title from a guy he had already
beaten twice. Problem was that in both cases he knocked the guy out after
the round ended. Norris completely creamed the guy and ended it in about
5 minutes.

Meanwhile, I think was all should give pause and be thankful that
McNeeley wasn't killed and this fiasco is over. The trainer saw the
result and I guess he figgered that he might as well jump in. A towel
woulda been sufficient but I guess he wanted his 15 minutes of fame, too.
In holding is the 175K that he stands to get if'n he can convince the
commission that he was being merciful and not because he was paid off.

TTom

I didn't see the fight, but as I said, I saw some highlights on the news.

I don't know at what point in the 89 seconds the highlights were from,
but McNeely's face looks wicked swollen.  He must've just waded in with his
hands down.  Unreal.

I can sorta see why it was stopped.


'Saw

    
    	Saw,
    
    		McNeeley decided to go head to head with Tyson. No Jabbing
    or clutching. So Mike just teed off on him. Lets face it Mike has been
    lifting weights in prison for 3 years. He is probably stronger now then
    he was before. He just has to work on his timing/rythem and boxing
    instincts.
    
    Ron

Oh, no doubt Tyson was in shape for this fight.

But I've never seen a fighter look as bad as McNeely did as early....


'Saw

Can you say Michael Spinks?

At least McNeeley went into the middle of the ring to at least attempt to
mix it up. Shore it was stupid but so was getting into the ring in the
firsted place.

TTom

    
    
    I heard one announcer say thst this is the first fight he saw Tyson win
    as a counter puncher. I guess McNelly rushed him at the start  and
    immediatly went down from a right cross.

   >> Bruce Seldon is the current holder of the WBA heavy weight belt.
   >> Tyson getting a belt might be the only way he can maximize his money
   >> potential in the short term.
    

      Tyson don't need no steenkin' belts. He's got the best title of all
      as far as boxing is concerned - he's MIKE TYSON. Fresh out of prison
      his first fight does more than a million homes at an average of $41
      per. And the way the fight went will only whet the public's appetite
      for more. If anything Mike Tyson is the one guy who can take an eraser
      to the alphabet boys and clean up the mish-mash of sanctioning orgs
      by not accepting any title belts. 
    

    Just out of curiousity how did the gate and ppv plus cable replay
    combined compare say to the average hockey team (Winnipeg fe.) in
    revenue?
    
    I think this is what Michael Jordan is essentially getting at: doing
    away with 90% of the nba and just having the megastars doing
    championships; norman of the pga tried something similar.

    Tommorow Don King is supposed to reveal the next person that Tyson will
    destroy.  Personally I am waiting for Bowe to fight him.  However, I
    don't think that will happen for a while.

    	I would like to see Tyson fight Axel Schultz of Germany.  Schultz
    	lost to Foreman by decision although I thought Schultz looked 
    	impressive and won the fight. 

There was some talk on the radio last night about Tyson having lifted a lot
of weight in prison.  The guy was saying that weight-lifting muscles don't
translate into boxing muscles, and that Tyson had mentioned that he had
some "ring doubts" during his training.

You've got to know that Tyson wished that fight had lasted longer.  I would
have were I Mike Tyson.

One can only wonder how much King's manipulation of the strings to maintain
power and control (in the boxing world, not just of Tyson) will hurt Tyson
in the long run.

I'm not convinced yet that Tyson will destroy anyone and everyone.  There's not
many out there who could beat him, but I'd like to see him in a more
challenging test than Peter "Call me Mr. Tomato" McNeely.....


'saw

    
    	George Foreman's promoter Bob Arum. Has sent Don King a proposal
    for a Foreman/Tyson fight on Nov. 4th. Arum is trying to convince
    King that with Holyfield/Bowe already being held on Nov. 4th. He
    needs a big name in order for a Tyson/? to work on Nov. 4th. Who
    are you going to watch Holyfield/Bowe? Or Tyson/stiff? After the
    McNeely fight they won't get anything from PPV. So the money wouldn't
    be there.
    
    Ron

  >> Who are you going to watch Holyfield/Bowe? Or Tyson/stiff? After the
  >> McNeely fight they won't get anything from PPV. So the money wouldn't
  >> be there.
    
     HBO and Rock Newman live in fear that King will dog them by constantly
     scheduling Tyson opposite Bowe/HBO fights. Tyson vs. Anybody would out-
     draw Holyfield vs. Bowe III hands down. Neither Bowe nor Holyfield has 
     the aura that Tyson has - not even close. If either of those two went
     away for three years and came back the interest would be minimal at best.
     Tyson went away for three years and returns as the biggest draw in
     boxing if not all of sport. In boxing the heavyweights are king and
     Mike is the king of the heavies even though at this point Bowe is the
     much better fighter and would clean Tyson's clock if the two were to
     meet within the next year and Bowe came in in the right frame of mind.
     As for Foreman, he had his window of opportunity and unfortunately it
     closed before Mike got back in the ring. After effectively getting
     beaten by a nobody named Axel Schultz, George has seen his box office
     appeal plummet. Does anybody really want to see Mike beat the hell out
     of old, fat and slow George? I really hope not.

    
    Tyson vs. Lewis or Morer would be fun. The only guy out there really
    worth the PPV is Roy Jones..........
    
    mike

    Tyson vs another Tomato Can will draw squat vs Bowe-Holyfield.  There
    was a large portion of the buying public that was curious to see Tyson
    again after his absence, and McNeely did a very good job of hyping the
    fight (nuch better than he had any chancc of doing in the ring).  But
    the way the fight turned out will not lead itself to attract those
    curiosity seekers again, and the true boxing fan will definitely choose
    Bowe Holyfield unless Tyson comes up with a legitimate opponent.  I
    would say only Oliver McCall and Michael Moorer would fall into that
    category, beside Bowe and Holyfield.  If King opts to match Tyson
    against Tomato Can #2, he won't even draw flies.
    
    NAZZ

    Tommy
    I was talking to some fight fans here in Co Springs and there all big
    on Tyson.  Nobody could touch him and all that trash.  However if
    there is anybody who can beat Tyson it would be Bowe.  He's got size,
    reach, movement, good jab, AND unlike the rest of the heavies will
    slip punches.  If Bowe trains and gets his head together he could beat
    Tyson...  Anyway boxing has lost most of its appeal for me...  It seems
    to be mostly show and not much action.  I don't think its fake but it
    sure looks alot like WWF...
    

  >> Tyson vs another Tomato Can will draw squat vs Bowe-Holyfield.  There
  >> was a large portion of the buying public that was curious to see Tyson
  >> again after his absence, and McNeely did a very good job of hyping the
  >> fight (nuch better than he had any chancc of doing in the ring).  But
  >> the way the fight turned out will not lead itself to attract those
  >> curiosity seekers again, and the true boxing fan will definitely choose
  >> Bowe Holyfield unless Tyson comes up with a legitimate opponent.  I
  >> would say only Oliver McCall and Michael Moorer would fall into that
  >> category, beside Bowe and Holyfield.  If King opts to match Tyson
  >> against Tomato Can #2, he won't even draw flies.
    
     I obviously don't agree with this at all. As despicable as Mike Tyson's
     crime was to me, as a boxing fan (like thousands of other boxing fans)
     the heavyweight scene is very interesting again and Mike Tyson is the
     reason why. That holds doubly true for casual fans. That Mike Tyson 
     looked like the vintage Mike Tyson is a detriment? I ain't buying. 
     Millions upon millions of people were curious enough to cough up
     the PPV dough to see whta Tyson would do and now their curiousity
     is sated because Tyson rolled over McNeeley like a dump truck over
     a chipmunk? And let's talk about Bowe vs. The Pipsqueak III. That's 
     more intriguing than the next Tyson fight against a better fighter 
     than McNeeley? More people care to see if Bowe can push himself away 
     from the dinner table often enough to beat a pipsqueak with a bad 
     ticker, who has been away from the game himself, than care if the 
     magic is really back with Mike Tyson? Again, I ain't buying. Bowe
     is probably the best heavy out there right now but he has all the
     charisma of a bowl of cold oatmeal. And Holyfield has the heart of
     a warrior but he too is more bland than a very bland thing and was 
     always too small to be a true heavy. The next Tyson match won't do 
     the same amount of business as this first one but if it goes up a-
     gainst Bowe vs. The Pipsqueak III - Tyson wins, referee stops contest 
     in the first round, HBO and Rock Newman will be forced to pick another
     date.

    

    Tommy,
    
    I just had this vision of you in a small room with Holyfield, calling
    him "The Pipsqueak".  It wasn't pretty...
    
    "More bland than a very bland thing" has my eyes tearing up from
    laughter, though...
    
    People paid $40-45 to see Tyson fight a *nobody*.  To think that
    they won't pay to see him fight a semi-somebody isn't wise.
    
    "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the
    American people..."  (apologies for any misquote)
    
    Roland
    

    
    Of course, I've never seen Tommy before.  Maybe he could kick the
    crap out of Holyfield.  I'm just working on a vision of him as the
    normal American male...
    

>    Of course, I've never seen Tommy before.  Maybe he could kick the
>    crap out of Holyfield.  I'm just working on a vision of him as the
>    normal American male...

I think Tommy could give Holyfield a RUN for his money  8^)

Actually, IMO, Tommy looks like he could handle himself pretty well in the
ring, he's just not in the heavyweight class....



MHO:

	It's more than just who the folks will pay for.  Don King is
	doing his best Jim Henson impression in the background, working and
	playing the angles to get his boy the biggest payday and the biggest
	draw (and the biggest cut for himself) when he finally goes after
	the crown.

	My guess is that if King controls a fighter now other than Tyson
	who is capable of getting one of the four crowns semi-soon, Tyson
	will fight that guy a year from now.  The rest of Tyson's fights
	will be warm ups.


	I agree with Tommy -- Tyson is the most interesting thing on the
	heavyweight scene since boxing started swirling down the commode
	years ago.  King will milk it for all its worth.


'Saw
    

         Tyson's next opponent will be Buster Mathis Jr. on Nov. 4 in Las
    Vegas. Mathis is 20-0 but is a light hitter with only six knockouts in
    his career. His biggest claim to fame came last year when his bout with
    Riddick Bowe was ruled a no contest after Bowe hit him after he was
    down in the fourth round. King defended Tyson's fight against McNeeley
    but said he would drop pay-per-view prices for the Nov. 4 bout because
    both he and Tyson feel bad about the way the fight ended with
    McNeeley's manager, Vinny Vecchione, throwing in the towel. Gee, thanks
    Don. 
    
    ESPNET SportsZone

     You won't catch me even paying attention to Tyson again until he fights a big
    big name fighter.  On the other hand the Bowe/Holyfield fights have always
    been great.  I would pay $50 to watch Holyfield before I pay $5 to
    watch Tyson pummel some bum for 2 rounds (or less).

Ya gotta like Don King!

He proclaimed Buster Mathis, Jr, the best contender out there and
declared that there is none finer.

Oh Don, how 'bout Lennox Lewis and Riddicke Bowe?

The guy that Tyson should fight, cause the money would be right is Ol'
George Foreman. Not that it'd necessarily be a good fight, but people
would pay for it.

TTom

  >> You won't catch me even paying attention to Tyson again until he 
  >> fights a big big name fighter.  

     Er... you entered the basenote. I think that could be strongly 
     construed as "even paying attention". 

     Let's keep in mind that "boxing fans" is a fairly small group. 
     Big money fights like Holyfield-Foreman, Tyson-McNeeley make 
     their money on the huge sea of casual fans that will tune in for
     only fights that they view as "events" - fights with more than
     fistic excellence on dislplay because neither Foreman-Holyfield
     or Tyson-McNeeley promised to be aesthetically pleasing. "Boxing 
     fans" made up a very small percentage of the folks who ponied up 
     for Tyson-McNeeley. The percentage could probably be measured 
     in the single digits. Just like the interest stateside in the World 
     Cup, the vast majority of folks who watched Tyson-McNeeley (and I 
     wasn't one of them) wanted to see a spectacle not a sporting event. 
     "Real boxing fans" aren't very interested in Bowe-Pipsqueak III 
     either. The first fight was exciting but the second was only close
     because Bowe slacked off in his training and came in fat giving 
     Holyfield his only impressive victory as a heavyweight. If Bowe
     trains for it, this next bout will be a blowout.  It's just my
     guess that there are still far more people who view the next Tyson
     fight as an event than view the next Bowe-Holyfield fight that
     way. As a boxing fan, I'd be infinitely more interested in watching
     Roy Jones and Nigel Benn tangle than watching any two heavyweights 
     out there including Bowe-Tyson.