Mike Tyson sent a chilling message to Lennox Lewis from his training camp in Hawaii yesterday as he prepares for their world heavyweight title fight on June 8th. "My main objective in the fight is to be a professional but to kill him." The aim of the promoters, in all but name the American television companies HBO and Showtime, was to sell the fight and Tyson was only too happy to oblige in a way that left Britain's leading promoter Frank Warren denouncing Tyson as "a total lunatic".
The episode increases the doubts that have persisted over his behaviour since he lunged at Lewis during the original press conference to publicise his fight in New York. He was refused a licence to fight in Nevada because of his record and there are worries he may repeat the wildness that possessed him to bite Evander Holyfield's ear during a world title fight in 1997.
Looking trim, and much fitter than the bloated figure who scaled over 17st for his contest against Brian Nielsen in Copenhagen in October, Tyson added: "Lewis should have died" at that press conference in January which degenerated into a brawl with Lewis claiming that Tyson bit his leg.
"He should have died that night, his two guys putting their hands on me like that. If I had been with the right crew, those guys would have been finished right there."
Warren, who promoted Tyson twice in Britain before their relationship ended after a difference of opinion that Tyson allegedly sorted out with his fist, said: "Tyson is a complete nut but the thing is that this nonsense gets to Lennox and I believe he is scared.
"Tyson has become a professional victim. But he lives in a mansion in Las Vegas and then slags people off because they criticise the way he behaves. Work that out."
Tyson was in vintage victim form yesterday: "I'm tired of coming across as crude and crass. You guys chastise me. I don't know no one other than strippers and bitches because you guys put that image on me."
Tyson ranted on in confused vein: "If I put a camera on your face for 20 years, I bet you might be a homosexual. Just think about it. I'm on television since I was 13 and since you don't like the way I carry myself you make names up for me, and I become insecure about that. Then I realise everybody white is fucked up to me. I can't help it if you're a victim of your colour." Earlier Showtime had been forced to call off an exclusive interview when it became clear that Tyson was incapable of staying coherent long enough.
Revelling in the role of a man who might succeed against the odds, Tyson described himself as "scum" before adding: "Lewis has a fight on his hands. Winning the world championship will mean a great deal to me but it will mean a lot to the people in prison, who don't really believe in the system. I don't care if you are black, white, the Klan, Aryan, a gang member. It will show that you can succeed, that you are not garbage, if I can overcome, if I can accomplish, then they can."
Guardian Service
