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FOR a world heavyweight champion, winning the title is always the easy part. It's the money and the fame that create problems. Mike Tyson has unified the world heavyweight title. Now he's trying to unify his life.
Until recently the 21-year-old champion had only to think about how to demolish his next opponent. But now his toughest opponent, the real world, is coming at him.
Financially, this primeval puncher with 30 knockouts in his 34-0 record has already earned more than $20 million. But now he's wondering if his anticipated $20 million cut of his June 27 title defense against Michael Spinks in Atlantic City is enough. Especially now that Jim Jacobs, who died last month of leukemia after having been his trusted link to the late Cus D'Amato, is no longer there as co-manager to reassure him.
Socially, the champion is adjusting to married life. His wife, the actress Robin Givens, is pregnant. They've purchased a $4.5 million home in rural New Jersey that's described as a castle.
And not surprisingly, Don King, the promoter of Tyson's recent bouts, has been accused by Bill Cayton, who remains Tyson's co-manager along with Jacobs's widow, of ''making moves'' to control the heavyweight champion's future. King denies Cayton's charge. But as anyone in boxing knows, King openly controlled Larry Holmes during most of that former heavyweight champion's career.
TYSON has proclaimed that Cayton remains his manager and that King remains his promoter. But boxing's fiercest fights have occurred outside the ring, not in it. Especially over control of the heavyweight champion.
In all this commotion, Tyson is due to start preparing for Spinks, who has a 31-0 record with 21 knockouts, in two weeks in his little gym in Catskill, N.Y., where his trainer, Kevin Rooney, has been waiting quietly.
''I really don't know yet how all this will affect Mike,'' Rooney was saying over the telephone, ''but I think he'll be all right. All the leeches are out now. People are putting pressure on him, but he's got to go through this sooner or later. I trust Bill Cayton; I know what we got in Bill Cayton is good. Some people perceive Mike's youthfulness as being naive, but he's sharp. And once he gets here, he's mine. He'll set his mind on the fight.''
Maybe yes, but maybe no. Tyson's vision might be even more tunneled to his trade. Some people react that way. But there's always the possibility that Mike Tyson might not be the same Mike Tyson again. Some people react that way, too.
When suddenly surrounded by the real world, heavyweight champions from Jack Dempsey to Muhammad Ali have been affected, often to their detriment. By his nature, a boxer is trained to fight. But he's never been trained to cope with fame, finances and family. During his struggle to win a title, a boxer does what he has always done. But once that title is attained, he is often unprepared to protect himself outside of the ring in his hardest fights.
SOME recent champions wisely watched their money. Some didn't. Holmes is ensconsed in an Easton, Pa., home that has a swimming pool shaped like a boxing glove. Joe Frazier and Floyd Patterson live comfortably, but George Foreman admits his comeback was inspired by a need for cash.
Ali earned an estimated $60 million but now he autographs Black Muslim bibles in hotel lobbies while his fourth wife worries that he won't take his medicine for Parkinson's disease. Ali is not broke, but he'll always need money. One reason was bad investments. Another was that he took such good care of his family and friends.
''I pay my brother $50,000 a year,'' Ali once said when he was champion. ''That ain't bad for drivin' and jivin'.''
Joe Louis owed so much in back taxes that the Internal Revenue Service eventually stopped asking. But in his own words, the ''boos went right down to my bones'' when he was awarded a disputed split decision over Jersey Joe Walcott in 1947 just when the I.R.S. was beginning to chase him. He also was concerned about problems with his first wife that eventually led to a divorce.
Dempsey's marriage in 1924 to Estelle Taylor, a motion-picture actress, forced a split with his longtime manager, Jack (Doc) Kearns. In his next fight, Dempsey was dethroned by Gene Tunney, whom Kearns had not wanted Dempsey to fight.
''Estelle and I discussed my business dealings with Doc,'' Dempsey would write more than half a century later in ''Dempsey,'' his autobiography. ''She insisted I stand my ground and ask him for a complete accounting of my finances.''
That sounds familiar. Not long ago Tyson's bride phoned Cayton to ask vital questions about her husband's earnings. With successful title defenses against Spinks and his next five opponents in his $26 million Home Box Office contract, Tyson will have earned more than Ali did. He's already America's third highest paid television performer annually, behind Bill Cosby and Oprah Winfrey.
But until his marriage and until Jacobs's death, Tyson was more concerned with his next punch than with his next audit.
Cayton, smooth and serene, was Jacobs's longtime partner in their fight-film business. As co-managers, Cayton primarily handled contract negotiations while Jacobs primarily selected future opponents, sites and dates.
Cayton will still do what he always did, but Jacobs's death leaves Tyson without his most trusted boxing adviser. Jacobs's longtime friendship with Cus D'Amato enabled him to counsel Tyson on what Tyson's onetime legal guardian would have thought about any opponent.
Especially that opponent known as the real world.
The prediction turned out to be true, as Tyson never really was the same after the Spinks fight, neither as a man nor as a fighter.
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/19/sp...anted=2&src=pm
Until recently the 21-year-old champion had only to think about how to demolish his next opponent. But now his toughest opponent, the real world, is coming at him.
Financially, this primeval puncher with 30 knockouts in his 34-0 record has already earned more than $20 million. But now he's wondering if his anticipated $20 million cut of his June 27 title defense against Michael Spinks in Atlantic City is enough. Especially now that Jim Jacobs, who died last month of leukemia after having been his trusted link to the late Cus D'Amato, is no longer there as co-manager to reassure him.
Socially, the champion is adjusting to married life. His wife, the actress Robin Givens, is pregnant. They've purchased a $4.5 million home in rural New Jersey that's described as a castle.
And not surprisingly, Don King, the promoter of Tyson's recent bouts, has been accused by Bill Cayton, who remains Tyson's co-manager along with Jacobs's widow, of ''making moves'' to control the heavyweight champion's future. King denies Cayton's charge. But as anyone in boxing knows, King openly controlled Larry Holmes during most of that former heavyweight champion's career.
TYSON has proclaimed that Cayton remains his manager and that King remains his promoter. But boxing's fiercest fights have occurred outside the ring, not in it. Especially over control of the heavyweight champion.
In all this commotion, Tyson is due to start preparing for Spinks, who has a 31-0 record with 21 knockouts, in two weeks in his little gym in Catskill, N.Y., where his trainer, Kevin Rooney, has been waiting quietly.
''I really don't know yet how all this will affect Mike,'' Rooney was saying over the telephone, ''but I think he'll be all right. All the leeches are out now. People are putting pressure on him, but he's got to go through this sooner or later. I trust Bill Cayton; I know what we got in Bill Cayton is good. Some people perceive Mike's youthfulness as being naive, but he's sharp. And once he gets here, he's mine. He'll set his mind on the fight.''
Maybe yes, but maybe no. Tyson's vision might be even more tunneled to his trade. Some people react that way. But there's always the possibility that Mike Tyson might not be the same Mike Tyson again. Some people react that way, too.
When suddenly surrounded by the real world, heavyweight champions from Jack Dempsey to Muhammad Ali have been affected, often to their detriment. By his nature, a boxer is trained to fight. But he's never been trained to cope with fame, finances and family. During his struggle to win a title, a boxer does what he has always done. But once that title is attained, he is often unprepared to protect himself outside of the ring in his hardest fights.
SOME recent champions wisely watched their money. Some didn't. Holmes is ensconsed in an Easton, Pa., home that has a swimming pool shaped like a boxing glove. Joe Frazier and Floyd Patterson live comfortably, but George Foreman admits his comeback was inspired by a need for cash.
Ali earned an estimated $60 million but now he autographs Black Muslim bibles in hotel lobbies while his fourth wife worries that he won't take his medicine for Parkinson's disease. Ali is not broke, but he'll always need money. One reason was bad investments. Another was that he took such good care of his family and friends.
''I pay my brother $50,000 a year,'' Ali once said when he was champion. ''That ain't bad for drivin' and jivin'.''
Joe Louis owed so much in back taxes that the Internal Revenue Service eventually stopped asking. But in his own words, the ''boos went right down to my bones'' when he was awarded a disputed split decision over Jersey Joe Walcott in 1947 just when the I.R.S. was beginning to chase him. He also was concerned about problems with his first wife that eventually led to a divorce.
Dempsey's marriage in 1924 to Estelle Taylor, a motion-picture actress, forced a split with his longtime manager, Jack (Doc) Kearns. In his next fight, Dempsey was dethroned by Gene Tunney, whom Kearns had not wanted Dempsey to fight.
''Estelle and I discussed my business dealings with Doc,'' Dempsey would write more than half a century later in ''Dempsey,'' his autobiography. ''She insisted I stand my ground and ask him for a complete accounting of my finances.''
That sounds familiar. Not long ago Tyson's bride phoned Cayton to ask vital questions about her husband's earnings. With successful title defenses against Spinks and his next five opponents in his $26 million Home Box Office contract, Tyson will have earned more than Ali did. He's already America's third highest paid television performer annually, behind Bill Cosby and Oprah Winfrey.
But until his marriage and until Jacobs's death, Tyson was more concerned with his next punch than with his next audit.
Cayton, smooth and serene, was Jacobs's longtime partner in their fight-film business. As co-managers, Cayton primarily handled contract negotiations while Jacobs primarily selected future opponents, sites and dates.
Cayton will still do what he always did, but Jacobs's death leaves Tyson without his most trusted boxing adviser. Jacobs's longtime friendship with Cus D'Amato enabled him to counsel Tyson on what Tyson's onetime legal guardian would have thought about any opponent.
Especially that opponent known as the real world.
The prediction turned out to be true, as Tyson never really was the same after the Spinks fight, neither as a man nor as a fighter.
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/19/sp...anted=2&src=pm