Tyson lined up for title challenge in March

Although Mike Tyson says he needs two more bouts before fighting for the heavyweight championship, his handlers seem set on insisting he fight just once more before a title fight, probably in March.

After beating the hapless Dane Brian Nielsen in Copenhagen last Saturday, Tyson said: "Probably two more fights and I'll be ready for the championship of the world."

But Jay Larkin, head of sports programming for Showtime -- the cable television broadcaster which has Tyson under contract -- said on Wednesday that it was unlikely Tyson would have more than one more bout before meeting the winner of next month's Lennox Lewis-Hasim Rahman title fight.

"March is the ideal target date," said Larkin, adding that if Tyson were to fight twice before taking a title fight his opponent would have to "sit around for six or seven months".

Larkin could just as well have said his company also would have to sit around before getting back some of the millions of dollars it has loaned Tyson over the years.

It's safe to say that Larkin and others in Tyson's camp are hoping that Lewis defeats Rahman to take back his World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation titles, which the American took last April when he knocked out the Briton in the fifth round.

Showtime wants a fight with Lewis simply because he will bring in more money than will a bout with Rahman.

UNPREDICTABLE TYSON

A matchup between the tall and talented, but often reluctant Lewis and the squat, powerful but unpredictable Tyson has long been a hot subject among fight fans.

Assuming that Lewis beats Rahman, a fight with the temperamental Tyson could turn into an estimated $15-25 million for each man, depending on how Lewis looks if he wins.

Another reason for Tyson's people wanting their man to fight as soon as possible for a big payday is worry that Tyson's mercurial personality might get him into trouble yet again and keep him from fighting.

The irony is that the very personality that his camp is worried about is also the persona they sell to fight fans.

His drawing power is based on a perceived ring malevolence left over from the days when he was the scourge of the heavyweight division, often frightening opponents into defeat while they were still lacing up their shoes.

In those days Tyson had the quickness, power and mental discipline to back up his menacing image.

These days, though, he is not as fast, does not seem to train as hard for his fights and doesn't have the focus and discipline he once possessed.

Showtime knows that and has focused its marketing of Tyson around the chaos that often finds him in and out of the ring.

Showtime's marketing approach is, "You never know what's going to happen. He's unforgiving, unpredictable. He's still the one to beat," said the channel's spokeswoman Marina Capuro.

That was the theme for his fight in Copenhagen on Saturday against Nielsen.

HALF EMPTY

But still the fight only sold about half of the 40,000 seats in the arena for what essentially was a sparring session for Tyson, who hit the blubbery, but hard-chinned Nielsen at will without risk from the Dane's powder-puff punches.

Tyson, who stayed directly in front of Nielsen the entire fight, knocked down the Dane in the third round with a six-punch combination. But other than that Nielsen simply stood in front of Tyson like a heavy bag getting beaten up.

"I'm back and I just look forward to fight again," Tyson said immediately after the bout, which was technically a stoppage in the seventh round after Nielsen quit following the sixth, saying he couldn't see out of his left eye.

The 35-year-old Tyson is back, so to speak, with his first fight in a year. But in the eyes of many boxing observers he will never again be the "baddest man on the planet" he claimed he was in the days when he ruled the ring.

In recent years, with his biting of Evander Holyfield's ears, an attempt to break an opponent's arm in the ring, assorted assault charges and jail sentences, many people feel he is closer to being "the weirdest man on the planet".

"I don't think we learned a lot about Tyson from the Nielsen fight," said Steve Farhood, a former editor of Ring Magazine and now a boxing analyst for Showtime.

"He was in with a punching bag who, when he did punch, wasn't going to break a water balloon. But when Tyson doesn't do anything crazy in the ring it's a victory of sorts," said Farhood.

Boxing fan Billy Arce watched the Tyson-Nielsen fight. After observing a calm Tyson whale away at an impotent Nielsen and then politely answer questions and praise his opponent, Arce said: "I was more impressed with his social skills."