Once Again, Berbick Plays the Other Guy : There Were Ali, Holmes, Page and Pinklon; Now It’s Tyson

LAS VEGAS, Nev. —  It seems Trevor Berbick is always the other fighter.

He was when he became the first man to go the championship distance with Larry Holmes, when he was the first man to beat Greg Page and when he was the last to fight and beat Muhammad Ali.

When he became the World Boxing Council heavyweight champion by beating Pinklon Thomas, he was again the other fighter--a 6-1 underdog.

And now, even as champion, he’s the other man--this time, against exciting 20-year-old Mike Tyson, who is a strong favorite to take away the 33-year-old Berbick’s title in a scheduled 12-round bout Saturday night at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Don’t bet the rent on it.

“I’m going to be the guy to straighten Spinks out,” Berbick said Monday night after a spirited workout at Johnny Tocco’s gym.

He meant that he will beat Michael Spinks, the International Boxing Federation champion, for the undisputed title next year. Of course, that means he will first beat Tyson and then the winner of the Dec. 12 World Boxing Assn. title bout matching champion Tim Witherspoon and Tony Tubbs.

If he pulls that off, Berbick might get some recognition. But not the kind of recognition someone else in his place might get.

Berbick is hard to figure out, both in and out of the ring.

There are a couple of losses on his 31-4-1 record that are hard to explain. But some of his victories have baffled the experts, too.

Of Berbick, Angelo Dundee, who is working with him for this fight, said, “This guy (Tyson) won’t know what to do with Berbick because he won’t know what he’s doing himself.”

Outside the ring, Berbick has the reputation of being a difficult man to deal with, although a man who gives promoters fits is not necessarily a bad person.

He’s been known to walk out on a fight and have a purse held up for doing it. He’s been abrasive and uncooperative at times with a promotion. He reads and quotes the Bible and calls himself “The Fighting Preacher.”

He survives in a jungle.

“It’s a mystery,” Berbick said, as reporters laughed. “You laugh, but it’s the truth. The truth is a mystery.

“One day very soon, someone is going to write a book about my life, and the mystery will be revealed.

“I should be dead and gone by now.”

A reporter asked what he meant by that.

Don’t ask, he said. It will be in the book.

Will the book be able to record that Trevor Berbick was the undisputed heavyweight champion? He has the ability to take a punch, the stamina--and an awkward style that can confuse an opponent.

Mike Tyson has not been in with an opponent who has held his own in world class competition as Berbick has.

But Tyson shows signs of being born to the ring.

“From what I know about fighting--the small part I know--I notice that he knocks guys out,” Berbick said.

Tyson, who has been a pro only 21 months, has scored 25 knockouts, including 5 in 50 seconds or less.

And he has shown he can win without a knockout. In only pro fights to go the distance, he scored 10-round decisions over James (Quick) Tillis and Mitch Green. He admittedly had trouble in the late rounds against Tillis, but he proved to himself that he can win on points, and he won handily against Green.

“He gets the job done,” Berbick said.

Now can Tyson solve a mystery?