AND IN THIS CORNER: DON KING'S GUARD ALLEGES TYSON ATTACK

MARY McLACHLIN Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

The Palm Beach Post
Copyright (c) 2003 Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights
reserved.

Saturday, July 12, 2003

A SECTION
WEST PALM BEACH As told by lawyers for fight promoter Don King's battered
bodyguard, it was a sight that should have stopped traffic:


Ex-heavyweight champ Mike Tyson hoofing it down the median of I- 95 on top of
the concrete barrier, with a string of winded people in pursuit, imploring him
to get back in King's car.


It happened the night of May 3, after King picked up Tyson and his entourage at
the Boca Raton Airport, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Palm Beach
County Circuit Court. The incident ended with Tyson putting another notch in
the violent career he has carved for himself outside the ring.


Apparently enraged by something, Tyson punched Isadore "Izzy" Bolton, King's
bodyguard and personal assistant, in the face and broke the orbital bone above
his left eye, then tried to drag him out of a car. Bolton had to go to a
hospital for stitches and now has double vision, his lawyers say.


Bolton, 44, of Boynton Beach, is suing Tyson for compensatory damages of more
than $15,000 and expects to seek punitive damages as the suit progresses,
attorney Bob Montgomery said.


"Somebody's got to put the collar on this guy," Montgomery said.


Even the hefty bodyguard was no match for a sudden attack by Tyson, Montgomery
said, but "the courtroom is a great equalizer."


King, accompanied by Bolton, was in Las Vegas Friday getting ready for a three-
fight event this weekend and did not respond to requests for comment.


Tyson, who lives in Las Vegas, couldn't be reached, and his manager and
attorney did not return calls for this story.


Tyson, 37, was heavyweight champion from 1986-90, and is infamous for biting
Evander Holyfield's ears in their 1997 title fight, for which he was fined $3
million and lost his boxing license.


But he also has led a turbulent life aside from his career. He spent three
years in prison for raping a beauty pageant contestant in 1991 and said during
a recent interview that the time behind bars made him an "animal."


An ex-wife and several other women have accused him of assault, and he's had
violent run-ins with fans, other fighters and road- rage incidents involving
other drivers. He was arrested June 21 in Brooklyn for fighting with two
autograph seekers, but the men also were charged with provoking the fight.


King, the flamboyant showman with a trademark stand-up hairdo, owns an
oceanfront mansion in Manalapan and the Palm Beach Jai Alai Fronton in Mangonia
Park, though in his wife's name. He was Tyson's fight promoter during his
championship days, before they fell out; Tyson has a $100 million suit against
King and King has countersued.


King and Tyson were meeting in May to discuss their differences and plans for
"various boxing-related business dealings," said John McGovern, an attorney in
Montgomery's law firm. McGovern gave this account of the bizarre incident:


Tyson flew into the Boca Raton Airport with an entourage consisting of a
girlfriend, a business manager and three or four other people. Bolton, who once
worked for Tyson, and King picked up the group in two cars and headed down I-95
toward their destination, a south Miami Beach hotel.


Bolton was driving the lead car with three of Tyson's traveling companions as
passengers, and King drove the second car carrying Tyson, the girlfriend, the
business manager and one or two more people.


Approaching the Stirling Road exit in Hollywood, Bolton checked the rear-view
mirror and noted that the second car was nowhere in sight. He telephoned King,
who told him Tyson was out of the car and wouldn't get back in.


Bolton exited, doubled back north and then came south again until he saw King's
car pulled over on the paved median. Tyson was striding along the top of the
concrete barrier dividing the highway, outdistancing his companions, who were
running after him and urging him to get back in the car.


Bolton pulled alongside the fighter, as he and his passengers called to Tyson
to come off the highway. Tyson jumped down from the barrier, challenged Bolton
to come out of the car and became "more aggravated and more annoyed," the
lawyer said.


"The next thing he knew, Tyson was at his open window, had opened the door and
punched Mr. Bolton twice in the face," McGovern said. "Then he tried to drag
him out of the car by his feet. Mr. Bolton didn't know if he was trying to take
the car or what was going on. He pulled away from (Tyson) with such force that
Mr. Tyson got one of his shoes."


Bolton's memory after that is "somewhat unclear," McGovern said, except he
knows he wound up at Broward General Hospital and the King- Tyson party
eventually got to the hotel on South Beach. He said Bolton didn't know what set
Tyson off and prompted him get out of King's car, or why he attacked Bolton.


The incident wasn't reported to police.


"He didn't want to embarrass Mr. King or Mr. Tyson so he did not make any claim
in regard to any kind of criminal aspect," Montgomery said. "He thought it best
to let sleeping dogs lie."


Nor did he land any punches of his own during the brief bout.


"Good heavens, no," Montgomery said. "He was holding on for dear life to keep
from being hauled out of the automobile."


In a two-hour documentary on Tyson's life scheduled for broadcast Wednesday on
Fox Sports Net, the boxer calls himself "homicidal" and "suicidal," says he
hates himself and says he should be in an insane asylum. He also says of Don
King:


"Oh, man, he got me good. He's a very interesting individual."


Staff researcher Madeline Miller contributed to this story.

 

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