I will be covering the Devon Alexander vs. Lucas Matthysse here in my hometown of Saint Louis, Mo on June 25th. Big fight for Alexander as he tries to get back on the national radar after an awful performance against Timothy Bradley earlier this year.

A win here and he is back in the mix of a loaded Junior Welterweight division, but a loss and I don’t think HBO will be coming back to STL any time soon.

Don King is promoting the fight and any time Don is in town it is a big event. Here are some quotes from King and Alexander.

Have you gotten over the disappointment of the loss to Bradley?

DEVON ALEXANDER: No one likes to lose. I was upset for about a couple weeks but my coach was talking to me and it wasn’t like it was the end of the world. It’s not like Bradley dominated the fight. It was something I didn’t do. I didn’t follow the game plan. There were things I was supposed to be doing in the ring to come out with the victory and Bradley didn’t do anything that we didn’t prepare for in camp. It was all me and I definitely learned from that. Now I am back and ready to rock and roll. I just put it behind me and now I am 110%.

DON KING: We have the biggest show that has ever been in Missouri with four world title fights plus Devon Alexander “The Great” and Lucas Matthysse so we need to make certain the people get what they pay for and get what we promise. This event means a lot to me because I am a promoter of the people for the people and this is an example of that and that’s why I am appreciative of Kevin Cunningham who has been working with me and in the St. Louis area in the great state of Missouri. I have been in touch with the Mayors of St. Charles and St. Louis and the President of the St. Louis Board of Alderman to make this a real happening. It is going to take people like Devon Alexander, Kevin Cunningham as well as Eric Gomez and Lucas Matthysse to make this happen. And we have one of St. Charles’ own in Ryan Coyne challenging Guillermo Jones for the cruiserweight championship of the world, along with the guy that beat Cory Spinks, Cornelius Bundrage—they call him K-9—who is taking on Sechew Powell defending his title for the first time. We have a super hero who fought there before in Tavoris Cloud, the Thunder Cloud who is going to be defending his title against Yusaf Mack. And we put Cory Spinks back on who is looking for redemption from the loss to K-9. I will be arriving in St. Louis tonight (Tuesday, June 14) to work throughout the night of the fight. It means a lot to me to be turning 80 and have a birthday present and you bring these young men together to give them an opportunity to get them into the eyes of the world and it makes me feel good and not do it with knives or guns but with physical prowess and with understanding and love in their heart. They are going to go after it and do each other in. It is a great feeling for me and God bless America and it’s the greatest country in the world.

Is Matthysse’s knockout power a concern?

DEVON ALEXANDER: Of course I will be concerned about whatever the other person’s strong trait is.  We are prepared for that and ready to go 12 hard rounds.  We know what we have in front of us and I am confident in my team that we have a strong game plan.

KEVIN CUNNINGHAM: I call him Lucas ‘The Beast’ Matthysse.  I think he’s a beast and he’s got the highest knockout percentage in the division and that makes him the biggest puncher in the division.  We know exactly the challenge we have in front of us and this is exactly what we want.  This fight is a lot more dangerous than the Tim Bradley fight.  Devon has to be on his game.  He is prepared and he has to be focused.  These are the type of fights that if you want to claim you are the best in your division these are the types of fights you need to take on.  A lot of guys think Maidana is the toughest guy in the division and I think it is Matthysse.  He has a better punching style and better boxing skills.  He is the most dangerous guy in the division and that’s what we are going to be dealing with n the 25^th.

When Mike Tyson does an interview it is always a must listen. This interview with 1100 ESPN in Las Vegas is no different. You can go to Deadspin to read the entire interview.

This one quote though caught my attention, when Tyson was asked did he ever think he would get remarried after two failed marriages.

“No, check this out man. When my wife married me, I was OD’ing every day. I was a mess. I didn’t deserve a prostitute with full-blown AIDS. I could have gotten one, but I didn’t deserve her. She was slummin’ if she was with me at that stage. We’re putting it together We’re putting our foundation together one brick at a time, and it seems to be going well. We had to get reacquainted. We’re started to get reacquainted now that we’re married.”

Tyson’s wife is pretty hot. I saw them at the Mayweather vs. Mosley fight I tried to steal a glance, but Tyson caught me and I turned around real quick.

I remember what he did to that photographer who got too close to his wife.

Don King was in Saint Louis last weekend promoting the Devon Alexander fight, but a lot of the buzz was about who else was at ringside on Saturday night, one Floyd Mayweather Jr.

There have been rumors (mostly fueled by King) that Mayweather would be moving over from Golden Boy to Don King for his promotional services.

King claims if he can get Mayweather signed a Pacquiao fight would not be a problem. Here are some of the more colorful quotes from his interview with Dan Rafael from ESPN.com:

King’s point of view is that Haymon and Golden Boy do not understand Mayweather or know how to treat him.

King said he’d make Mayweather “a people’s champion and be able to create and generate more money than he’s ever had before with dignity, pride and stature. Like it is now, he’s being degraded, vilified, accusations, you know. Some of it goes for the hype, but when it gets to the substance of the man, the substance is not there. And they don’t understand because they can’t communicate with him because Floyd speaks Ghetto-ese and they don’t understand because it’s hieroglyphics.

“They look down on him and put him in disrepute and disregard, the people who’s with him. And they don’t defend him. He goes out and says, ‘Money, money, money,’ and that don’t win it. That don’t give you what you need as a human being.”

King insisted that if he and Mayweather were together, the Pacquiao fight would be made quickly. Sure, he said he and Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum — King’s longtime adversary — would argue and fight like crazy over deal points, but it would be made quickly because they are dealmakers.

“Me and Bob would get that fight done in two shakes of a lamb’s tail,” King said. “If I was there working with Bob Arum, this fight would have been history. It’d be ready now and we’d be talking about how we gonna promote. It wouldn’t be nothing but a piece of cake. But even then it would be so much bigger that what it would be if he were to make with Golden Boy or Al. They cannot make the fight as big as Arum and I can make it. They are not in the class of a Bob Arum.”

If anything King is a convincing speaker, but it is my opinion Mayweather is just using him to get more money from Golden Boy, something that even King is acknowledging as a distinct possibility.

I personally have given up on a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight, so just wake me if it ever does happen and if King is the person that gets it done he will be a hero to boxing fans everywhere, but don’t hold your breath.

I worked at a small call center many years ago doing IT support for the employees.  It was way outside of the city and I was the only black person that worked in the building.  They were the nicest people ever, but they introduced to a few things that I have never heard of before.

One of those things was something called:

THE DEAD POOL

Basically you are in a pool with a bunch of people (similar to a fantasy football draft) and you select people who you think are going to die.  If your person dies then you win the money in the pool and then it starts over.

Totally morbid and I did not want to be involved in something like that (karma), but my curiosity got the best of me and I asked who was the #1 pick.

The answer?

MIKE TYSON

And after you read some of these takes from Tyson’s SI.com and Sports Radio interviews you will understand why that was a good bet.  Glad he has finally turned his life around, but it is sort of shocking he is still with us today:

On his former lifestyle and women:

“It was everything goes. Just being out there, being Mike, not realizing who I am. The next thing I know I got people saying, ‘Yo man when are you going to pay for these drugs?’ I said, ‘Well you know. What’ the problem? I ain’t got the money. I can’t pay you.’ And he said, ‘Well I got to pay somebody.’ And I said, ‘Tell the guy you got to pay to come talk to me.’ Listen, I’m Mike Tyson, international superstar, and I’m robbing a drug dealer.

On being in the Hangover:

“I was doing that to supply my drug habit. I’m sorry I’m coming at you guys like this… I said, ‘Wow, This is going to be really good. We’re going to sell this stuff on 42nd street on bootleg and make a lot of money.’ This is my best thinking on drugs… It wasn’t that way. It was an international success.

And on the worst part about being 350 pounds:

“It was hard to wipe my butt… I was sweating like some kind of guy from a moon project or something. It was crazy… All the clothes you see me with now are clothes that I had 15, 20 years ago. (Host: Did you have the back fat and everything?) Oh man the back fat. The back fat is when it’s so bad, your ass looks like a board. It’s like boom. The back and ass is one. It’s not like the back goes down and the back protrudes. No. It’s just straight down. And then girls were telling me I looked great. It has to be a money deal. It had to be.”

SI: I imagine you have a few stories from your days as a junkie.

Mike Tyson: Listen: I was in St. Tropez, in the South of France. In Ibiza, Spain. I was in Monte Carlo. I was in the Ukraine, Russia, all those places, for three months. From Russia I went to Lisbon, Portgual, from Portugal I went to Amsterdam. In Amsterdam I met this drug dealer, right? And he sees that I like getting high, and he wants to be my buddy, right? This guy goes and gets me a big rock of cocaine. So pretty soon I got a party going on. I got everything: I got these rugby players. I got these naked girls, I got all these … everything’s going on in the room. Plus I also had this girl with me that I picked up in Romania. But then [the dealer he met in Amsterdam] saw how much of a mess I was. He came in and kicked everybody out of my room! All the nude people, all the people having sex. He said, “I feel so bad I ever gave him that stuff.”

SI: How about in Las Vegas? What would your typical day in Vegas be like?

Tyson: This is how the day would start: I would go to a club, at say, 2 o’clock [a.m.]. Hang out there for what, two hours, and then I’d go to the after-hours [clubs], that start at 6 o’clock [a.m.]. So I’d stay there from 6 in the morning to 7:30 at night. I’d be sitting down and drinking and doing cocaine, talking to girls … doing anything. Everything. Then I make it home and I’m tripping out at home. I’m calling people, I’m tired, but I’ve got people coming in and we’re making plans to go out a few hours later. We’re getting high, staying up, [doing] cocaine. Somebody would be calling me: “Come hang out with me.” So we would go out and get high, till 11 o’clock [p.m.] or something, then go somewhere, to a bar or somewhere. We might go to a club, then get high all day long.

SI: You got involved with prostitutes.

Tyson: Listen, I was living a crazy life. A [prostitute] would go, “There’s that guy who hit me the other day, who took money from me the other day, who intimidated me.” And [that guy] had to give some money up. [I'd say,] “This is my girl, man. She works for me now. This is my girl now.” That’s how it was. I wanted to show loyalty to these people. I was so stupid. I’d say, “If you have a problem, just let me know.” And all these guys would say, “What’s Mike Tyson going to do [to me]?” It was always like that until I got in their f—–’ ass. I’m a nice man, but back then, I wasn’t. I’m not proud of it.

SI: How many times did you end up going to rehab?

Tyson: I was addicted to rehab. I was like the poster boy, because I would go to like five meetings a day. You were only required to go to one. I would go to five, because I’m an addictive freak. I love hanging out, the camaraderie. It’s just awesome! But you know what people want, too? [Tyson leans in closer, his voice suddenly quieter.] This is what I realized, bro: It gives people family. A way of starting over. [In rehab] we start a new life with new family members. And all they gotta do to stay in this family is not get high, and you gotta try really hard. And then if you do get high? “We got your back.” That’s what I like.

SI: What do you see when you look back at your infamous press conferences?

Tyson: I always wanted to be that guy who said, “F— you.” When I see people doing that, trying to imitate me, these tough guys trying to emulate me, I’m sitting there thinking, like, This guy’s an idiot, so I know I’m an idiot. Floyd Mayweather doesn’t stand a chance as far as that idiocy. He’s not even in my league as an a–hole. He’s a good kid. Everyone’s hard on him, but this is a great kid. He’s just a kid having fun, living in a fantasy world.

SI: What did you make of your time in jail?

Tyson: In a weird way, prison was the best thing that happened to me. Imagine if I was out here from ’92 to ’95 — I probably would have caught AIDS, I would’ve got shot, I would’ve got into all kinds of s—. You have no idea what kind of person I was on the street, when I was in Mike Tyson megalomaniac mode.

I beg someone close to Mike Tyson to put an end to this comeback talk ASAP.  Hell if need be get Oprah on the phone. We reported a rumor about the alleged Tyson comeback and I had just hoped it was just talk, but King spoke to ESPN.com and here is what he had to say in regards to a possible Tyson comeback.

“I ain’t ready to comment on that,” King said. “Read between the lines. It really is something isn’t it, all the interest there is in Mike Tyson?”

It appears the seeds of this comeback was planted back in November when King and Tyson appeared together on Showtime to say they had mended fences.  At the time King mentioned a possible reunion in the ring, but no one pay him any attention, maybe we should.  This is what King said in November.

“I think Mike’s one of the greatest fighters that ever lived,” King said. “I think he can still be a fighter if he wants to be a fighter. Listen, whatever it is between me and Mike, it ain’t about the bankroll. We gonna do what has to be done. He needs a lot of vitamins. He needs a lot of TLC, tender loving care, dedication and discipline. So whatever we have to do, we’ll do. If you can’t hear me, I’ll say it a little louder.”

The only thing good that King mentioned in his latest comments to ESPN was there is no planned bout between Tyson and Evander Holyfield.  Holyfield might be old, but he obviously isn’t crazy and he shot down the idea.

I don’t know anyone who wants to see Mike Tyson back in the ring accept Don King’s accountant.  It would be a “freak show” and with someone as fragile as Tyson that isn’t what his needs.  King should be ashamed of himself for any putting those thoughts in Tyson’s head, but this is Don King we are talking about.

Have you ever been half sleep and kind of reading something, but not really paying attention and then you start to comprehend what you are reading and be like:

WAIT…WHAT?

That was me when I read about this potential Mike Tyson comeback.  At first I thought maybe it was a joke someone just making something up, but when I saw it was from Ringsidereport.com which is a very good boxing site I was like:

Here are the absolutely ridiculous details of this disaster that hopefully never happens.

According to a source close to Tyson, former Promoter Don King has a tentative deal for Tyson to return to the ring in late 2010. The initial plan is to have Tyson-Holyfield III, but there is rumored hesitation on the part of Iron Mike, and there is a plan B.

A Connecticut heavyweight named Tony Grano, former cruiserweight champ, Jean Marc Mormeck, Vinny Maddalone, and Derric Rossy have all been mentioned as potential first or second comeback opponents for Tyson.

I blame this all on Don King. King stole millions from Tyson and now trying to go back to the “Tyson Bank” and make a final withdrawl. Tyson is at a good place right now in his life. Most people assumed he would be dead by now, but in pop culture he is still relevant and people are trying to forget the end of his career where he was being beaten the Danny Williams’ of the world.

The last thing we need is Tyson who hasn’t fought since 2005 fighting anyone and especially Evander Holyfield who refuses to retire.

Even Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones thinks this is a bad idea.

Hopefully someone close to Tyson explains to him that Don King is just using him (I know shocking) and he should concentrate on more movie cameos and living a relaxing life away from the stress of boxing.