John Rawling: Tyson Should Count Himself Out

The suggestions that Mike Tyson's boxing career might be over seem to have been premature.

The 38-year-old former world heavyweight champion has spent the past week working out with the respected trainer Buddy McGirt at his gym in Florida and is talking about fighting again, only weeks after going on record as saying he no longer had any interest in the sport.

The sad fact is that Tyson is bankrupt and knows no other way of making a decent living, and he knows that he can still trade on his last saleable attribute: his name.

Meanwhile, it hardly needs saying that not one person close to Tyson has the guts to say that the game is up and that he risks being hurt if he gets in the ring with anybody at a level remotely resembling world class.

McGirt is merely saying the words that the former champion wants to hear: "There's no one out there who can beat him. When his mind is right, there's no stopping Mike. Right now he's got the right attitude."

Those words have a hollow ring.

So far there is no mention of who his opponent will be and when or where the fight could take place, but one US matchmaker told me recently: "They will have to go a long, long way down the rankings to find somebody they can be sure Tyson can beat, because he has gone back such a long way."

But with the heavyweight division commanding less interest than at any stage in the past 40 years, it seems Tyson versus some washed-up no-hoper could still have currency.

I only hope this futile repackaging of Tyson does not ultimately steer him to a fight against the current world No1 Vitali Klitschko, something that looks distinctly possible with Klitschko now being advised by Shelly Finkel, who is also Tyson's manager.

Klitschko against Tyson would be an ugly mismatch that would have only one possible conclusion: a win for the Ukrainian and a painful beating for the former champion.

Unfortunately, the impression is that Tyson has long since stopped worrying about the result, provided the cheque doesn't bounce.