After a brief but vigorous workout, Mike Tyson sat on a stool and uttered a favourite expression that has been used to describe his career and his life.‘‘Old too soon, smart too late,’’ he said. Tyson desperately hopes that it is not too late.Facing his 39th birthday on June 30, after serving a prison sentence for rape and after pitfalls that have included declaring bankruptcy, biting off a portion of Evander Holyfield’s ear, and marrying and divorcing twice, Tyson is trying to resurrect his career — again.Needing a victory to restore his credibility as a heavyweight contender, he will face the unheralded Kevin McBride (32-4-1) on Saturday night.Though he no longer dominates in the ring and despite his many transgressions, Tyson maintains a magnetism that leaves sociologists struggling for explanations. Promoters said that more than 13,000 tickets had been sold for the bout, and it could be a sellout by the time Tyson enters the ring. Many thousands more will spend $45 to watch it on pay-per-view.Love him or loathe him, it remains difficult to ignore him. But Tyson insists he has changed, that he has begun a long journey toward becoming a better person, and not just a better boxer.‘‘I don’t want to be that guy anymore,’’ Tyson said, talking calmly about his past while sitting in the locker room of Burr Gymnasium on the campus of Howard University. ‘‘I liked to humiliate people, because I had been humiliated. I wanted other people to feel the pain I felt as a child.‘‘There’s another fight after this fight, the fight of life. I’m almost perfect in the fighting business, 50-5. But in the fight of life, I’m a pug.’’His last fight — knocked out by Danny Williams in the fourth round last July — exposed Tyson’s lack of stamina and his defensive shortcomings but, with a new trainer, Tyson said that Saturday would be different.Tyson’s plan is to beat McBride, to win another tuneup fight or two and to fight for a championship belt within two years. He certainly has motivation. After squandering almost $300 million, and declaring bankruptcy in 2003, Tyson will be paid $5 million for this bout, and the more he wins, the more opportunity he will have to erase his debt.In his prime, Tyson was among the most intimidating fighters ever, winning his first 37 fights, many of them by devastating knockouts. He won the WBC title from Trevor Berbick in 1986, knocking Berbick senseless in the second round; Berbick stumbled around the ring as if he were walking on a merry-go-round.Perhaps the crowning moment of Tyson’s career came in 1988, when he stretched out Michael Spinks on the canvas in 91 seconds, a performance in which Tyson lived up to his nickname, the Baddest Man on the Planet.But Tyson was bad outside the ring as well, living in excess and behaving in bizarre fashion. It finally caught up with him in 1990, when he was knocked out by Buster Douglas in Japan in one of boxing’s biggest upsets.Less than two years later, Tyson was convicted of raping Desiree Washington in an Indianapolis hotel room, and he spent almost three years in prison.On Tuesday, Tyson took great pains to emphasise that he had changed and that he did not want to be remembered for his many mistakes. Tyson has always been a contradiction but those around him sense a calm they never saw when he had a fat wallet and a fat entourage to go with it.‘‘I’ve gone through hard times under the microscope,’’ Tyson said. ‘‘It’s not about being the best fighter in the world or the worst fighter, it’s about being a better person. I always took care of my children financially, but I never gave anybody my time.’’Tyson hardly has time on his side when it comes to boxing. But in a sport that looks kindly on those who pick themselves up from the canvas, he seemed eager to take advantage of another chance.‘‘I’ve had 30,000 chances,’’ Tyson said. ‘‘I don’t want the chaos anymore.’’(The New York Times)
