Tyson set for fight with McBride

Washington:

The new charming Mike Tyson sounded suspiciously like the Iron Mike of old when he told Kevin McBride how their fight was going to go: "I'm going to gut you like a fish." Those were fighting words, and Tyson will have a chance to back them up when launches the latest comeback of his turbulent career on Saturday at the MCI Center against the unheralded Irish heavyweight. Tyson hasn't shown in recent years he can fight like he used to. But for a few moments at Wednesday's final pre-fight press conference he sure sounded like he did in the days he was terrorising the heavyweight division. Of course, it's easy to sound tough when the opponent is McBride, the so-called lones Colossus who seemed afraid to even be at the press conference, much less in the ring against Tyson. "I'm a contender, not a pretender," McBride kept repeating, as if to convince himself that he does have a chance against Tyson in the scheduled 10-round fight. A lot of fighters have a chance with the 38-year-old Tyson these days, as Danny Williams found out when he stopped Tyson in their fight last July in Louisville. McBride, who has been going to a hypnotist to get himself ready for the fight, doesn't appear to be one of them, however. McBride got the fight because he was willing to work cheap - $150,000 to the $5 million Tyson will make - and because Tyson's handlers figure he'll be easy to hit and go down a lot easier than Williams did in his aborted comeback fight. (AP)