Columnist Dean Juipe: King's out and Tyson's better for it

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

It's not like anyone misses him, but it's decidedly different having Mike Tyson in town without the additional burden of promoter Don King.

Lord, King is insufferable.

People who think boxing is glamorous need only spend an hour or two with King to come to their senses. For him, it's all hyperbole, with double talk and run-on sentences lacking meaning or direction.

He's a self-centered, some would say deceitful, man.

He's out of Tyson's life, aside from the fact Tyson is suing him for $100 million and King -- in typical one-upmanship style -- is countersuing for $110 million.

King must have some business acumen, yet it has always been difficult to see him as anything but a scoundrel. When it dawned on Tyson that King was profiting a little too much from the fighter's exploits, he finally severed their lengthy relationship and sought a new promoter.

Many were interested, yet it's Dan Goossen who got the call. He's handling Saturday's fight at the MGM Grand Garden between Tyson and Frans Botha, and it's believed he'll also promote at least one more Tyson fight (tentatively set for April 24).

It's a long way from the Reseda Country Club to the Grand Garden, but Goossen -- who now works for America Presents -- has made the promotional journey in style. He's reliable and accessible, and at 49 years old he's hoping he's primed for this step up to the major leagues.

This week it's his cell phone that's ringing nonstop with an assortment of questions and decisions that need to be made.

"There's no doubt it's tougher at the top, but that's where I want to be," he said during a pass through the MGM's media center. "At any level, a promoter is always handling sticky situations. But multiply everything by a gross and that's the difference for me between what we used to do (in California) and what we're doing today."

He worked the Reseda level for years before moving to Las Vegas and joining Top Rank in 1994. Two years later he moved on to Denver shortly after America Presents was formed.

Now he handles the most prominent fighter in the world. And it doesn't seem to have gone to his head.

"Hopefully I'll always be the same person you knew 10 years ago," he said.

He may be a bit more cautious or protective than he once was, but that's understandable given his client's stature. Yet at least Goossen is good for nine-tenths of the truth, which is the exact opposite ratio of his predecessor.

And while Tyson will always have his sycophants, Goossen isn't a bootlicker. He sees his role as specific and defined.

"My job requires performance," he said. "There are certain things I have to do for Mike and for the fight. If I do the job like I'm supposed to, the promotion will succeed."

He's coy in some respects, saying only "I haven't had time" to raise a toast to his good fortune since agreeing to a deal with Tyson. That remark likely meets the definition of a fib.

He has to be elated. He enjoys the attention and he has arguably joined the ranks of the world's top promoters even without a $100-million lawsuit being filed either for or against him.

King's footsteps? DK would say they're gargantuanly huge-elistic, but here's Dan Goossen looking comfortable as he fills them.

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