Pubdate: Tue, 13 Jun 2000
Source: Daily Record and Sunday Mail (UK)
Copyright: 2000 Daily Record and Sunday Mail Ltd.
Contact:  Anderston Quay, Glasgow, Scotland, G3 8DA
Website: http://www.record-mail.co.uk/rm/

DOC: I'LL BAN TYSON IF HE'S ON DRUGS

BRITAIN'S top boxing doctor will pull the plug on Mike Tyson's Glasgow fight
if the former champ is on drugs.

Dr Adrian Whiteson said he doesn't care how many tickets are sold for the
Hampden showdown a week on Saturday - the fight will be scrapped if Tyson
breaks strict UK fight rules.

He attacked Team Tyson, which arrives in Britain tomorrow, for failing to
give answers on the rapist boxer's treatment despite requests made three
weeks ago. Tyson is said to be on the US drug Zoloft to control his
depression and keep him calm.

Tyson faces Lou Savarese at Hampden on June 24. But Dr Whiteson, chief
medical officer for the British Boxing Board of Control, said the fight is
not certain to go ahead.

He warned: "The sport is greater than the individual and I will not make a
decision which will threaten the name of boxing.

"I don't care that the fight is looming large on the horizon. I don't care
whether it is today, tomorrow or any time. I am only interested in the
facts.

"I asked Mike Tyson's people for the facts three weeks ago and so far I have
not received them. The rules are very clear. Boxers don't go into the ring
on medication."

Dr Whiteson criticised Tyson's trainer Jay Bright for telling the world that
the fighter is taking medication without consulting the BBBC. Boxing chiefs
only learned about the drug in recent weeks.

Even though Tyson is likely to be off the drug while he trains, regulators
fear he could be out of control by the time of the fight.

Meanwhile, US cable giants Showtime have snubbed Britain's world heavyweight
champ Lennox Lewis by leaving him out of a list of top TV bouts in coming
months.

Showtime's Jay Larkin said: "No matter what happens, he is not a box office
draw and the only person he can fight to make him a draw is Mike Tyson."
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