Mike Tyson, Andy Lee & that nasty cut

The cinematic release this week of James Toback’s documentary Tyson, showing in the Irish Film Institute in Dublin, reminds me of 1985. That year made me a boxing fan - a year when Barry McGuigan won a unanimous fifteen-round decision against Panama’s Eusebio Pedroza to claim the WBA world featherweight title at Loftus Road, but it was also the year when Mike Tyson made his professional debut beating Hector Mercedes to within an inch of his life in the very first round.
Pay-per-view wasn’t an issue back then. Dad would wake me and my brother up in the middle of the night to take in the travails of Iron Mike. Tyson, a mere 19 at the time, was ferocious winning 26 of his first 28 encounters by knock-out. Tyson earned his shot at the WBC title in November 1986 when he destroyed Trevor Berbick and it wasn’t long before Iron Mike became the first heavyweight to hold all three major belts (WBA, WBC, & IBF).
It took me a long time to realise how dangerous a man Mike Tyson really was.
In 1954 Joe Williams published a book, the TV Boxing Book, and in it he addressed a fascinating question: does television give the fan a complete picture of the fight? Are there things the fan at the ringside will see that the home viewers don’t?
Williams contended that a ringside seat was the only way to truly comprehend what the combatants really go through.
For years I was po-going around the place concocting opinions on fighters based on knowledge borrowed from the TV screen and it wasn’t until February last year, when I sat ringside for Andy Lee’s clash with Alejandro Gustavo Falliga in UL, that it finally dawned on me that boxing truly is the hardest game.
It’s nothing like a fight on the side of the street where fists meet crossed arms, elbows and shoulders, but never jaw or head until someone finally gains the upper hand and sensing his chance, steps forward, teeth clenched, his fists hammering away with all the speed and precision of a heavy-rock drummer until his opponent falters and falls to the ground.
Professional boxing is far more intense and all the more devastating - I could not find more respect for men like Andy Lee if I tried. Here he was in his home town of Limerick walking the tightrope of possible defeat - it was a test of the kind of man he was. Gay Talese once wrote a brilliant article, entitled The Loser, about Floyd Patterson and the potential humiliation a boxer faces every time he steps into the ring. Indeed, after losing to Sonny Liston in 1962 Patterson left his dressing room in disguise; flew to Spain and booked himself into a Madrid hotel under the name of Aaron Watson.
Andy Lee passed the test against Falliga, but failed it against Brian Vera seven weeks later. Vera knew what he was doing that night. He asked a question of Andy’s manhood as opposed to his skills as a professional boxer and the Limerick middleweight fell for it. Andy was drawn into a brawl and suffered the consequences (TKO round seven) - by the way Vera was knocked out after seven rounds by James Kirkland last November.
The wonderful Sugar Ray Leonard also fell for it against Roberto Duran in 1980 and lost.
“He had that bully’s mentality and he always tried to intimidate opponents,” explained Ray Leonard after that fight, “but he did challenge my manhood and I wasn’t mature enough to know how to respond.”
Within months of that defeat Sugar Ray comprehensively won a re-match against Duran. And, in many ways Andy Lee has already won his re-match with Brian Vera. Last week at The O2 Alex Sipos tried to draw Andy Lee into a brawl, but Lee just boxed his way out of trouble and made the German look ordinary. Andy would probably like to set the record straight by having another go at Vera, but there’s no need. Andy is better than Vera and he should know it.
Since Andy Lee is ranked 47th by the International Boxing Organization right now he will have to notch a handful of decisions before getting a shot at Kelly Pavlik (WBO & WBC champion), Felix Sturm (WBA) or Arthur Abraham (IBF). But the real concern is whether he will be able to move his boxing career forward at all.
Following a clash of heads Andy Lee shipped a nasty gash against Willie Gibbs in the UL Arena last summer. The cut required surgery and kept Lee out of the ring for eight months. Against Alex Sibos that cut opened once more and it must be a big concern. How horrible it would be if a fighter as pedestrian as Willie Gibbs brought an end to the promising career of this gifted 24-year-old?

Brian McDonnell