By Steve Trellert

16.09 - With his one sided beating at the hands of Lennox Lewis now behind him, Iron Mike Tyson has been busy surveying the Heavyweight landscape for a prospective prey that will revitalize a career that has become a shadow of its former self. Tyson could go back to fighting Danish pastries, English incompetence, Heavyweight headcases, or rusty retirees, but the public recognizes that the cat is out of the bag in regards to mystique and that Iron Mike must sell tickets based on something other than his legacy. The present is catching up to him. The solution, enter 'the Rhino' Clifford Etienne (Photo: RhinoTime.com)

Many will claim that the Rhino is no different from all the other 'name' tomato cans Tyson fought in those few years prior to Lennox Lewis. In other words an opponent of no threat at all. In all honesty the many are largely right in terms of style. Clifford Etienne is made to order for Mike in that his defense is negligible. He moves straight ahead towards his opponent with little head movement fully exposing his well-publicized brittle chin and temple. Offensively too his power is of relatively limited concern, he can knock his opponent down but it takes numerous combinations to do so. Nevertheless, he is not quite of the order of weakness as the previous brittle bunch. Etienne has something the others largely lacked, which was mental composure and a heart of a warrior. The Rhino has never been one to be intimidated; hence Tyson's advantage in this regards is likely to be null and void. Though clearly a precipitous step down from Lewis, Etienne is a step above Mike's previous routine on par with perhaps Frans Botha whose similar confidence and willpower caused Tyson much concern. Despite his bravery, Etienne has never demonstrated enough ring intelligence to follow a strategy to fruition and therefore will likely become easy meat for team Tyson. Is there any shame in that? None at all as it would be incredibly dangerous to place him in with a top contender immediately after getting blown out. Don't believe me; ask Shane Mosely or Oleg Maskaev. Etienne is just about the right fit at this point in time, not only in regards to style, but in terms of marketing as well.

With the Tyson mystique chopped down like Canadian lumber Mike needs something else to enhance his marketability and nothing else accomplishes this better than action and excitement in the ring. Clifford Etienne is clearly one of the most exciting Heavyweight fighters today. His head on guts and glory aggressive style is exciting to watch as he moves forward throwing combinations at an intensely high activity rate. His Lawrence Cley-Bey and Lamon Brewster fights were strong testaments of that. Unlike Brian Nielson who hardly threw a punch, Etienne most certainly will throw everything but the kitchen sink at Tyson in the early going forcing Mike to respond in kind. A recently low activity Tyson will have no choice but to discard restraint. Short and explosive is the likely outcome of this fight and that is just what Team Tyson needs to get some of the bandwagon jumper's back on board into their seats. Until recent times the name Mike Tyson was a synonym for ring action and excitement, and the Rhino may be the made to order man to bring that back. This fight will likely be Mike Tyson's first step on the road back from oblivion, or the confirmation of a final sunset that calls it curtains for the shadow.

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