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Tyson Ready For Norris

September 16, 1999 / 5:58 PM EDT / AP

Mike Tyson didn't dodge any question at a news conference Thursday formally announcing an Oct. 23 fight against Orlin Norris and some of his answers were dipped in acid.

"I feel good, I'm in shape, I'm ready to fight," Tyson said. "I went from 280 pounds for they had me in the joint for a minute to 235 pounds."

Why, someone wanted to know, did he put on weight while in jail?

"Have you ever been incarcerated, sir," Tyson replied. "Go outside, hit somebody with a car, get incarcerated and see how fat you are when you go home."

The 12-round fight against Norris, a former cruiserweight champion, at the MGM Grand will be Tyson's first since he was released May 24 from a Maryland jail after serving 3 1/2 months for assaulting two motorists after a fender-bender.

The former undisputed heavyweight champion, who also has served three years in Indiana on a rape conviction, was asked if he ever thinks about what could have happened different in his life.

"Coulda, shoulda, woulda," Tyson said. "What should happen is there shouldn't be racism, there shouldn't be dysfunctional alcoholics that are reporters. I keep it real."

Asked if he thought it was fair that he served jail time after pleading no-contest in Maryland, he replied, "It's politically correct to put me in jail, to send me to prison."

He, added, however, "I have no man to blame but myself. Other people contributed to it, but I have to carry the weight of a fool by myself."

A smiling Tyson, with hair on his head, but none on his face, actually showed up early for the news conference, signed some autographs and talked to reporters after the conference ended.

The scheduled 12-round fight, to be televised on Showtime, will be Tyson's first since he knocked out Francois Botha with a right to the jaw in the fifth round Jan. 16 at the MGM Grand. He was behind on all three official cards after four rounds. That was his 46th win against three losses and his 40th knockout. It also snapped a two-fight losing streak to Evander Holyfield, including the notorious Bite Fight June 28, 1997, which led to the revocation of his license for a little more than year.

Norris, who will be 34 Oct. 4, has a 50-5 record. He has scored 27 knockouts, but craftiness, not power is his game. He held WBA cruiserweight champion in 1993-95.

Asked about beating Tyson, Norris said, "People who write newspapers, you know, they all say, `You can't do this, you can't do that."'

The odds were 10-1 that Norris can't do it.