Fenech hits Phoenix to raise Tyson from ashes
By Adrian Warren
April 3, 2005
The Sun-Herald
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Jeff Fenech rates training Mike Tyson the greatest challenge of his career, but he won't hesitate to return home if the former heavyweight champion doesn't put in enough effort.
Fenech flew to Phoenix, Arizona, yesterday to help Tyson, 38, whose next fight is expected to be mid-year.
"Without doubt, it's my greatest challenge, but it's something that I want to do," Fenech said. "I love Mike Tyson, he's my friend, and I want to try to help him."
Fenech said he could spend up to 11 weeks in the US, but has no intention of being separated from his family for that length of time. He plans to fly them over to America twice during his stay.
"My whole life is my family," Fenech said. "If at any stage I feel that something hasn't been done properly, I'll come straight home and be with them.
"For the money that I'll make, I will most probably spend it on airfares, bringing my family back to and fro. Mike is my friend, and that's the reason why I am going. If he gives me the effort and the commitment that I want I'll stay there. If not I'm coming home."
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AdvertisementFenech made it clear he wouldn't tolerate interference from outside influences.
"I'm the boss, if it's not that way, I won't be there," Fenech said.
Asked how he intended to turn Tyson's career around, Fenech said: "I want him to enjoy what he is doing."
Fenech wasn't a happy man in the week prior to his departure. He suffered a six-figure financial loss promoting IBF flyweight world champion Vic Darchinyan's first world title defence and was annoyed by the attitude of some fighters within his team.
"I've got kids like Hussein Hussein who will die for you, and I've got other guys who we've done everything for and they still think you owe them something," Fenech said. "I'm not naming them, I'm just fed up, I've had enough of it."
While declaring he had had "enough of boxing", Fenech stressed he would continue in the sport, but suggested he would spend less time in the corner.
At Penrith last Friday, Fenech opted not to work the corner of his Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation middleweight champion Sakio Bika and rising star Daniel Geale, who he rates the best prospect in Australian boxing.
"I want to concentrate on everybody but it's hard - you only have a certain amount of hours in a day," Fenech said. "You've just got to do the best you can. These boys are going to start to learn that there's got to be life without me in the corner."
Bika and Geale each recorded a stoppage win, but one of the highlights was the brutal one-punch KO of Australian lightweight champion Allan Luxford by Filipino Ranee Ganoy.
Australia's newest world champion, IBF super-featherweight champ Robbie Peden, is eyeing a unification world title bout against Thailand's WBA title-holder Yodsanan Nanthachai.
Peden, who returns this week to the US, where he has lived for most of the past eight years, wants the fight to go ahead in his old home city of Brisbane, where he hasn't fought since just before the 1996 Olympics.
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