Monday, May 12, 2003 | 9:40 a.m.
Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4084.
Rumjungle money, that's what these boys ought to be using instead of the real thing.
You know rumjungle money. It's the kind that's shaped like regular bills except every piece is blank. Then the nightclub manager puts a real bill on the exposed end of a bundle and acts as if he's depositing the loot in a safe, while, in reality, he's orchestrating a $95,000 heist.
It worked at Mandalay Bay, as was revealed over the weekend.
Maybe it can work at a court in New York.
That's where attorneys for heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis have filed a mind-boggling lawsuit that, in theory, seeks $385 million in damages from promoter Don King and ex-champ Mike Tyson.
Lewis contends that King is conspiring to snatch Tyson and keep the two from fighting. He further alleges that there have been death threats and bribes, and that King is attempting to come between the fighters.
Beyond the fact that this is a textbook example of frivolous and excessive litigation, there is an amusing side to it all.
And that's this bit of incidental information: Lewis has repeatedly said he sees no need to fight Tyson again.
Lewis pummeled Tyson when they fought last June in Memphis, winning by eighth-round knockout in an ugly and one-sided bout. Afterward, both Lewis and Tyson agreed that the better man had won and that if they were to fight again -- as their contract stipulated they could -- there was no rush to do it.
Lewis wanted to move on with his career and Tyson realized he couldn't beat the man and that it was likely futile to try again.
Each went on about his business, the rematch well into the recesses of their minds. Lewis eventually agreed to fight Kirk Johnson June 21 in Los Angeles and Tyson was asked if he wanted a spot on the undercard.
Tyson declined.
Now Lewis is saying it's because King has interfered.
Tyson and King come across as mortal enemies and have dueling $100 million lawsuits filed against each other; that case has a September date in a New York court and it has been suggested that King fears bankruptcy if he were to lose.
Lewis -- via his attorneys, of course -- alleges that King is attempting to soften Tyson's resolve by buying cars and gifts for him, with the idea that each man would set aside his $100 million lawsuit against the other.
You would think Lewis would be indifferent to anything Tyson and King might do, yet it's a sign of the two fighters' divergent drawing power that he's the one now interested in a Tyson rematch. Lewis can make good money without a second Tyson fight, but his lawyers only see the pot of gold an encore would bring and have positioned themselves accordingly.
It's all posturing.
The Lewis side is seeking damages in the event a second fight with Tyson fails to come about. Yet that fight has not only never been scheduled, it neither challenges Lewis nor intrigues Tyson and was thought to be a dead issue as recently as a month ago.
Somehow, Lewis feels a court is going to give him $385 million for this charade.
I'd give it to him in funny money, the kind the rumjungle manager left behind.
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