Columnist Dean Juipe: Rival papers jumped gun on Douglas

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4084.

Sometimes the cart gets ahead of the horse.

That may have been the case last week when the morning newspaper and a couple of others stretched their necks and proclaimed Buster Douglas would be Mike Tyson's opponent Oct. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas. Supposedly relying on unidentified sources and making the pronouncement in spite of the denials of the fight's promoter, the morning paper used a matter-of-fact tone to pinpoint Douglas as the selected foil.

By Sunday, however, not only were all bets off, it almost seems safe to say Douglas will not be Tyson's first opponent since his release this spring from a second stint in prison.

If Douglas is indeed out of the running, it's because reality set in. Chances are good to great he would not have been approved (for medical reasons) by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

"We have concerns," said a typically guarded Dr. James Nave, the commission's surrogate chairman, who attended a Sunday evening boxing card at the New Frontier. "I just think for this commission to have a fighter like Douglas, who has had the problems he has had, we'd have to take a very, very in-depth look at him from a medical standpoint."

The NSAC mandates extensive medical tests for every fighter past the age of 35, and Douglas is not only 38 but has a lengthy list of negatives on his resume. Topping the chart: He lost his last fight by first-round knockout at the hands of journeyman Lou Savarese; he was knocked out in his previous fight, albeit after the bell, by a fighter (Louis Monaco) with a losing record; he has, at times, weighed in excess of 400 pounds and no one is sure what he weighs today; and he once lapsed into a diabetic coma that certainly endangered his life.

To put him in the ring with anybody, let alone a hard puncher like Tyson, would place the commission in an extremely risky position. (As it is, the commission has already been on the receiving end of some complaints within the media for even allowing Douglas' name to surface. There are people who believe the man is totally shot and should never fight again.)

Additionally, from a practical standpoint promoter Dan Goossen can hardly propose Douglas as the opponent and then tolerate a month or more of uncertainty as the NSAC puts the fighter through a physical wringer. As Nave said, "time is short."

He also said special emphasis would be placed on determining "and verifying" what Douglas' weight is these days. If it's, say, 300 pounds, would he have sufficient time to get down to 250 or so within the next eight weeks?

In all probability, he won't get the chance. Goossen may not have been in Las Vegas over the weekend yet he knows how the commission feels and -- assuming Tyson really is ready and willing to fight in October -- he can't be playing games with a sad-sack case like Douglas.

So it's on to Plan B and that puts Orlin Norris in the driver's seat. The former cruiserweight champion is available and would get the commission's approval in spite of his own advancing age (34 two days after the proposed fight) and wavering credentials.

Now that Douglas is about to be bypassed, expect an apology from the offending paper (ha!) and to see Norris or some other name in the headlines when the official announcement on Tyson's opponent is delivered.

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