?The best decision I ever made was to retire from boxing. I hate the small of a gym. I hate the boxing game. That guy I used to be; I don?t know that guy anymore. I?m just not that person anymore. I like the person I am now more than I did. I don?t like Iron Mike.??Mike Tyson in Holger Keifel?s ?The Face of Boxing? (2010)
What a difference three years makes. In the season finale of ESPN Friday Night Fights from the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York, which coincidentally was Mike Tyson?s debut as a boxing promoter, Argenis Mendez (21-1-1, 11 KOs), reigning and defending IBF junior lightweight champion, outclassed Arash Usmanee (20-1-1, 10 KOs) in a fight that was ruled a majority draw.
Mendez, fighting out of the blue corner in blue trunks with green trim, totally dominated the game but limited Usmanee, fighting out of the red corner in red trunks trimmed in black, green and white.
In a bout between an exemplary boxer and a raw puncher, the 27-year-old Mendez, hailing from the Dominican Republic but now fighting out of New York, had the 31-year-old Usmanee?s number. Usmanee, originally from war torn Afghanistan by presently making his home in Las Vegas, was the aggressor throughout, but has no defense to speak off and ate punches from the opening to closing bell.
Mendez by contrast is highly skilled, both offensively and defensively. He is fast and accurate with his punches, a thinking man?s fighter from head to toe. He kept his cool under Usmanee?s unrelenting pressure, bouncing an array of punches?straight rights, left hooks, uppercuts?off his determined, resilient, but woefully one-dimensional opponent.
After 12 one-sided rounds, Teddy Atlas had it a shutout. ESPN?s Facebook followers had it seven rounds for Mendez to five for Usmanee. Boxing.com generously gave two rounds to the Afghani. But only the scores that counted were those of three judges. Don Ackerman scored it 115-113 in favor of Usmanee. Judges Glenn Feldman and John McKaie had it even at 114-114.
Of greater interest than the mismatch of a main event was the meeting at ringside between Mike Tyson and Teddy Atlas. The two men have history, at times unpleasant history dating back to when they were teenagers living, training, and working with Cus D?Amato in the Catskills. In Teddy?s autobiography ?Atlas? he described what went down.
??one of Elaine?s sisters reluctantly revealed that Tyson had done something to their eleven-year-old sister, Suzie. I didn?t go crazy right away, which for someone who knew me might have been scarier than if I had. Very calmly, I pushed for details. Tyson had grabbed Suzie. Put his hands on her. Told her what he wanted to do to her.
?I knew it wasn?t a random thing. Tyson with his street instincts knew exactly what he was doing and what would happen. It was a game and he was playing it hard and mean. He understood power and weakness as only someone who had spent part of his childhood hiding between walls could. I had been the only one at the gym demanding that he abide by the rules of society. Now he was throwing that back in my face, saying, ?Fuck you, we?ll see who wins that battle.??
Atlas was a fighter then, just as he is a fighter now. A friend of his, Bobby Cargioli, had an apartment above a disco in town. And Teddy knew that in that apartment was a gun.
?The door to his apartment was open,? wrote Teddy. ?I went straight for the bedroom. That?s where he kept the gun, under his mattress. It was a .38 revolver. I flipped open the chamber, saw it was loaded, flipped it back, and stuck the barrel in my pants.?
Then he returned to the gym, looking for Mike Tyson.
Atlas saw a cab pull up. ?It was Tyson. I crouched down and waited. He walked up to the door of the building. I sprang from the darkness and grabbed him by the neck of his shirt. I put the gun to his head.?
?You piece of fucking shit!? Teddy said. ?You think you?re gonna do that to my family? After the way I?ve treated you? I will fucking kill you! That?s my family! My family! You understand, you fucking piece of shit??
Teddy continued, ?I was looking for a sign of understanding and I wasn?t getting it. There was still a smugness about him. I stuck the gun in his ear and cocked the trigger. I said, ?Are we clear? Do you see the reality of this?? He gave me a nod. Jerking the gun barrel up in the air at the last moment, I pulled the trigger. He fell to the ground, holding his ear. ?Are we absolutely clear now???
Cus banished Teddy, which must have stung mightily at the time, and Mike went on to become the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history.
Many years have passed since then but the bad blood, no less than the skepticism, at least on Teddy?s part, has remained. Yet Mike approached him Friday night, shook his hand and asked for forgiveness.
Joe Tessitore said to Teddy, ?I know why you and Mike Tyson haven?t spoken since the 1980s. I?m still catching my breath that he came over and embraced you. I?ve been in the same room with the two of you many times in the past. That has never happened.?
Atlas, who is as verbose as he is volatile, was seemingly at a loss for words.
?No,? he said. ?I mean, he behaved like a man. What can I say? He came over, extended his hand and asked me if I would shake it. ?You?re not still mad at me are you? I wish you wouldn?t be.? I give him credit for showing a gentleman side and coming over and saying what he did.?
As the night was drawing to a close, ESPN anchor Todd Grisham spoke with Tyson.
?Before we talk about your career as a promoter,? he said, ?let?s talk about what happened before the fight.?
?What happened?? asked Mike.
?You went over, you spoke to Teddy Atlas. Why did you decide to do that after not speaking to him for two decades??
?I don?t know. Life is short, man. I made amends with everybody. I?ve never talked with Teddy, and just owe that to my sobriety to make amends. And that?s just what I want to do with my life. I?m a vicious addict and I?m recovering and I?m going to die, if I don?t follow my steps I?m useless. If I don?t do what the book tells me to do, I am going to die. And that?s just what?s going to happen.?
