Etienne Photo © Tom Casino /Showtime

by Jim "Boxadamus" De Pierro

Mike Tyson 49-4-0-1 NC (43 KOs) vs. Clifford Etienne 24-1-1 (17 KOs)

(Showtime, main event)

22.02 - Being that I am the great boxing seer boxadamus it is only fitting that I should make my prediction in some cryptic prophecy worthy of Nostradamus so here it goes. The Rhino's charge will break the gates Iron. In other words as crazy as it may sound to some of you I really think Ettiene is going to win tonight and this isn't just some hunch. Tyson has done everything in the last week leading up to this fight to shoot himself in the foot. I almost wonder if Tyson has some sort of self fulfilling prophecy where he wants to lose so he can have a valid excuse to get out of boxing. How stupid can you be to put a tatoo on your face a few days before a fight. I don't think the tatoo will play a major factor but it does increase the likelihood of Tyson getting cut or his skin tearing at some point in the fight. According to Danny LeBlang of Murder Ink Tatoos in an article in fightnews.com such a tatoo requires three weeks to heal and can be aggravated by sweat and direct contact.

In my mind the more troubling signs for the Tyson camp was Jeff Fenech taking the next plane back to Australia out of disgust for the lack of preparation Tyson has put in for this bout. The on again off again nature of this fight with Tyson claiming he had come down with the flu is the dire sign of trouble for Tyson. I tend to believe Tyson may have been sick for a longer period of time than has been let on from the media. Freddy Roach in an interview with Boxingtalk.com's Gregory Leon dated on February 6, 2003 had this to say on how hard he is training Tyson, "I am pushing him hard in the gym; I am pushing him so hard that last week, he's bending over throwing up, because I am working him so hard." Far be it for me to question Freddy Roach on how to train fighters but it seems to me that common sense would dictate that if your fighter is puking something is wrong. When this fight was originally postponed on February 18 it was then that team Tyson sited the flu as reason for not going through with the fight saying that Iron Mike had been in bed for the last few days. Now in the quote I just sited Roach said Tyson was throwing up for the previous week. Given this information it is not to much of a stretch and its a reasonable guess that Tyson may have been ill for almost the whole month of February. If that is true then Tyson is going to have an easy time with come fight time. It may be that this whole illness thing was just a sham and that Tyson's people used this to make sure they were getting paid properly or maybe that said this to get Ettiene out of his rhythm but either way all this tends to suggest that their is a certain amount of despertion in Tyson's camp.

I think Tyson at this point is in this fight solely for the money. If Tyson were financialy secure and he had no lingering debts I think he would retire from boxing tommorow. I heard a rumor and its only a rumor so far as I know that Tyson's finacial situation is so dire right now that his accountant told him he has to take the fight if he doesn't want to lose his mansion. Tyson, at this point only sees $ when he steps into the ring. I think Tyson is overlooking Ettiene at this point. It seems to me that Tyson has this feeling that he will get another shot at Lewis regardless of how he looks in this fight.

I have no doubt that Ettiene will go down and go down hard at some point in this fight. The real question is what does Tyson do if Ettiene gets up? If Ettiene is still standing after round 4 things are going to be a lot more dicy for Iron Mike. My prediction isn't based so much on how good I think Ettiene is but rather how much Tyson has fallen. The Tyson of the 1980's would have taken Ettiene out in a round maybe two. Even the Tyson of the late 1990's that fought Botha and Holyfield would have had enough to beat Ettiene inside of 5 rounds. The Tyson of 2003 is such a hollow shell of the fighter he used to be that I am not even sure he could beat marginal top 20 contender like Ettiene any more. Tyson's boxing skills over the years has gone the way of Michael Jackson's nose. Its almost nonexistant any more. If I had to choose though I would rather have Tyson's ugly-ass tatoo on my face than look like Michael Jackson.

My biggest worry in this fight is that Ettiene might get knocked down early in this fight and the referee will waive it off prematurely. I don't neccesarily expect that to happen but with so much money on the line for a lucratve re-match with Lewis I fear that the officials may try to give the fight to Tyson any way they can. The problem with Tyson is even when the fix is in he is so unruly that he can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

My post aftermath prediction of this fight (if the fight indeed happens, I still think Tyson may pull out at the 11th hour) is that talks of Lewis-Tyson will go down the drain and Tyson will be looking for a rematch with Clifford Ettiene. The biggest contributing factor that leads me to believe that Ettiene will win is the fact that Tyson was sick and and the training doesn't sound like it was going well in the week leading up to the fight. I think Tyson burns out in two rounds and will wilt under the relentless assault of the Black Rhino.

Ettiene IMO, is two things right now. Hungry and pissed off. I think he is going to fight like a man possesed after a rough opening minute. The biggest loser tonight will be Lennox Lewis who might have no other choice but to to defend his tilte against a worthy challenger.

Clifford Ettiene TKO 6 over Mike Tyson

* * * * Bonus Prediction * * * *

Lewis next title defense will be against Chris Byrd and Tyson will have a re-match with Ettiene.

Agree? Disagree? Think I'm full of it? E-mail me at boxadamus@surfglobal.net or post a comment and tell me what you think.