Seldon Dove For Tyson And King

Anyone who observed the Mike Tyson first round knockout of Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in 1996 knew the “fight” looked extremely suspect. Seldon entered the ring looking petrified with fear. Multi millions had been invested in Mike Tyson by Showtime Network, the MGM Grand, and of course Don King could not afford for his cash cow to lose to a zero draw like Seldon.

So it made all the sense in the world to choreograph a Iron Mike Tyson knockout win, to keep the gravy train money machine rolling.

This week on Facebook in a boxing page, a man named Kevin Ballenger claims to have an oral confession from Seldon himself that the fight was rigged:  “I Met Bruce Seldon On The Bus. He Told Me That Don King Orchestrated The Whole Thing For Him To Take A Dive Against Mike Tyson. He Said That Don King Ripped Him Off Terribly And He’s Now Working At A Warehouse In Elizabeth, NJ Driving A Forklift, And Taking Public Transportation.”

Seldon was supposed to earn $5m for selling the WBA title to Tyson.  The knockout sequence was highly suspect because none of the punches appeared to land cleanly enough to produce a stoppage yet Seldon went down anyway, in a hurry. After the poor diving performance by Seldon, it would make sense that King used that leverage to deduct from the contracted $5m.

Ballenger, wearing eyeglasses, shared a photo of himself with Seldon showing a fist…

Seldon did not box again professionally after the Tyson fight until eight years later. His final ring record was 40-8 with 36 KOs.

Seldon won the WBA Heavyweight title in 1995 by beating Tony Tucker. The WBA title had been stripped from George Foreman for refusing to fight mandatory challenger Tucker, who then was matched with no. 2 ranked contender Seldon for the vacant title.  Seldon, now 59, made one successful title defense against Joe Hipp in Las Vegas on the Tyson vs. Peter McNeeley undercard.