Holmes Will Be Fighting Odds, Age Tonight : Tyson, 21, Heavily Favored to Send Ex-Champion, 38, Back Into Retirement

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — They’re bringing back an old champion tonight to fight the child gladiator.

When Mike Tyson, now 21, was a young teen learning to survive on the streets of Brooklyn, he often watched Larry Holmes, now 38, defend his championship on television. In a meeting with reporters this week, he shared the memories:

“I was 13 or 14, and I’d watch his fights on TV. He was the champ, when I was growing up. I always rooted for him. To me, he was a brave guy--(Earnie) Shavers knocked him down, he got up and beat him. (Gerry) Cooney hit him with some great body shots early, he still beat him.

“I used to shadow box and think I was fightin’ Larry Holmes. I always beat him, and there were no split decisions.

“Cus (the late Cus D’Amato, Floyd Patterson’s old manager, who got Tyson out of reform school) used to tell me: ‘Everyone’s scared to throw punches against this guy. . . . If you ever fight him, you make him afraid to throw punches at you.’

“So now I am fighting him. I told my friends over a year ago, after I’d won the title, that Larry would come back to fight me. No one believed me. But Friday night, I won’t be thinking about my kid memories of him. He’ll be just a guy in there I want to beat.

“He was one of the great heavyweight champions, sure. To not say that would be like saying Larry Bird isn’t a great basketball player.”

Atlantic City has been quiet this week, save for the traditional swapping of insults by the fight camps. It’s a heavyweight championship fight, but the “Do not disturb” sign is out on this one. Holmes stopped talking three weeks ago at his camp in Easton, Pa., and even refused to come to Atlantic City until Wednesday.

Tyson never does have much to say, particularly as fight time draws near.

So, much of this week’s conversation and speculation seemed to focus on three subjects, in uncertain order:

--Will Butch Lewis loosen his grip on Michael Spinks, as Tyson’s people demand, and allow a Spinks-Tyson fight this year?

--Will Francesco Damiani, the Italian Stallion, be matched with Tyson in a 100,000-seat Milan soccer stadium, and attract the largest live gate in history?

--And will Tyson be in physical danger from his girlfriends, after a report this week that everything he said to a black activist may be on FBI tapes?

The Lewis-Spinks-Jimmy Jacobs-Bill Cayton imbroglio began a year ago, when Spinks walked out on HBO’s and Don King’s heavyweight tournament--which Tyson won--at the Las Vegas Hilton. Jacobs and Cayton, Tyson’s co-managers, have said they won’t negotiate for a Spinks match if Lewis, Spinks’ promoter-manager, has anything to do with the promotion.

Naturally, Lewis isn’t going out quietly, not on a fight that could approach Leonard-Hagler in revenue.

“Who are Jacobs and Cayton to dictate to me with preconditions?” Lewis said to Mike Marley of the New York Post. “They’re not the Great White Fathers using (Don) King as their token. Those days are over. At least for me they are.

“If that’s the precondition to (the fight) then it will never happen. . . . These guys come on with that mild-mannered, never-tell-a-lie, butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-their-mouths act. They are two of the most vicious s.o.b.’s who ever lived.”

Cayton is doing most of the managing of Tyson these days. Jacobs is recovering from colon surgery.

“If that guy feels like that about me, then I’ve about written him off,” Cayton said. “He’s being sued by the Las Vegas Hilton, HBO and there are suits on their way he doesn’t even know about.

“What I fail to understand is why Michael Spinks would allow Butch Lewis to deprive him of the biggest payday of his life. With or without Michael Spinks, Mike Tyson will make about $15 million in 1988. Without Mike Tyson, Michael Spinks will make almost nothing.”

Rumor had it that Lewis would meet with Cayton and Jacobs here this weekend, after the fight.

Tyson? He seems bored by the whole flap.

“Hey, if Spinks wants to fight me so bad, I’ll fight him for free, down in some cellar,” he said.

Cayton has been subjected to a full-court press all week by Italian promoters, lobbying vigorously for a Tyson-Damiani bout in Milan in early September, promising a crowd of 120,000 and a live gate of $10 million. The brawling Damiani lost to Tyrell Biggs in the 1984 Olympic Games gold medal bout, is unbeaten as a pro but hasn’t boxed a ranked heavyweight yet.

He will fight tonight on the supporting card, against unranked Dorcey Gaymon of Jacksonville, Fla.

“Damiani must fight a ranked heavyweight before we make the bout,” Cayton said. “I’m going to Milan next month to see the Italian promoters, to see the stadium and to talk to security people. I’d never take Mike anywhere where I felt his security was at risk. The Damiani fight isn’t nearly made yet.”

Finally, Tyson seemed more upset by news about the Rev. Al Sharpton, a New York black activist, than he was about insults by the Holmes camp.

Newsday, the Long Island newspaper, reported Wednesday that Sharpton, a friend of King, had for five years provided information to the FBI about King, organized crime figures and certain black activists, and might have been wired during conversations with them.

Tyson was informed of the story during Wednesday’s interview session.

Surprised, he cursed. Then he said: “Oh, man. And I used to hang out with that guy.”

Interjected Cayton, kiddingly: “Mike, everything you ever said to Al Sharpton may be in the newspapers. Do you have anything to worry about?”

Responded Tyson: “Everything? You mean, everything we said about girls and stuff? Oh, man.”

Quipped one reporter: “Can you repeat that, Mike? My lapel mike didn’t pick it up.”

So that’s why Richie Giachetti, Holmes’ trainer, couldn’t get under Tyson’s skin this week. Instead of focusing on Holmes, Tyson’s concentration was at least temporarily directed toward uncomfortable visions of vengeful young women, searching for a boxer who told tales out of school.

At Thursday’s weigh-in--Tyson 215 3/4, Holmes 225 3/4--Giachetti started talking.

“Mike Tyson’s the dirtiest fighter there’s ever been,” he said, lashing out at boxing reporters.

“Why don’t you guys print that? All I read in the papers this week is about the Tyson Mr. Nice Guy Act. ‘I don’t want to hurt Larry,’ you keep writing. It was just a year ago you quoted him as saying he tries to drive an opponent’s nose back into his brain. Now he’s Mr. Nice Guy? Come on!”

Giachetti kept it up at the rules meeting after the weigh-in.

“Mike Tyson is a complete fouler,” he said to Larry Hazzard, New Jersey boxing commissioner. “He hits with his elbows, his head, after the bell and low. Those are all fouls. All I ask is for the referee (Joe Cortez) to enforce the rules.”

He would, Hazzard said. Kevin Rooney, Tyson’s trainer, looked bored and said nothing.

Later, Giachetti said that Holmes’ decision to end his 21-month retirement and to interrupt his Easton real estate development projects wasn’t made quickly.

“It was after the Tony Tucker fight,” Giachetti said. “Larry said to me, ‘I can beat this guy.’ I agreed with him then and I still agree with him.

“We talked about it a lot, though. I didn’t want him to come back unless he was totally committed to getting in the best shape possible, and he’s done that. He hasn’t just gone through the motions. He’s worked very hard.”

Hard work, oddsmakers feel, won’t have anything to do with it tonight. Tyson has been a 7-1 to 9-1 choice all week.

Coincidentally, Muhammad Ali was also 38 in his 1980 comeback, when a younger Larry Holmes beat him badly in Las Vegas.

A week before that fight, Holmes told a roomful of reporters: “When I’m 38, I’ll have better things to do than get punched--like sit at home and watch guys get punched on TV.”