Boxing: Notorious trainer's presence taints Tyson's new image

Lewis looks likely to suffer psychological onslaught ahead of long-awaited heavyweight showdown

It is not that easy to imagine, but the ambience of Mike Tyson's camp here has taken a rather more sinister turn.

Though Tyson's new and respected trainer, Ronnie Shields, was quick to deny any undue significance to the fact, Carlos "Panama" Lewis is in town – and has been seen in the former world champion's gym as he makes his last violent preparations for Saturday's meeting with Lennox Lewis in the Pyramid Arena, which stands shimmering in the heat beside a wide sweep of the Mississippi.

Panama Lewis is maybe the most notorious trainer of boxers in the modern history of a game which has never been stringent in its application of professional scruples.

He has been a fringe figure in big-time fighting for many years, but for a very good reason. He has been banned from boxing since serving a year's imprisonment after being found guilty of stripping the padding from the gloves of his fighter Luis Resto back in 1983. The result was a terrible, career-ending beating for an up-and-coming fighter named Billy Collins Jnr.

Collins was cut to pieces – the effect of Lewis's work was said to be that of a blackjack cracking against the victim's face – and soon afterwards took his life after a bout of drinking. Lewis, who at one point was Don King's trainer of choice when the promoter was in charge of Tyson's career – but it was a move even the then all-manipulative King could not swing – was also under suspicion of supplying an illegal stimulant to his fighter Aaron Pryor in an epic victory over Alexis Arguello. Lewis had been heard to tell a fellow corner man who was offering Pryor water: "Not that bottle, the one I mixed." It was claimed that it contained club soda, honey and schnapps.

When Shields was challenged about Panama Lewis's presence in the Tyson gym, he said: "He ain't doing a thing." The official line is that the disgraced trainer has come here simply as a travelling companion for Mario Costa, whose principal duty is the proper housing of the fighter's flock of racing pigeons. Shields said: "Mario builds all the pigeon coops for Mike – that's why he's here, and Panama came with him." Costa was reported to have smiled, somewhat enigmatically, when he was asked about the role of his friend over the next few days.

The relevant question now is what Panama Lewis can contribute to the armoury of a fighter who, quite apart from convictions for rape and road rage, has bitten the ears of Evander Holyfield, attempted to break the arm of Frans Botha, beaten Lou Savaresi while he was in the arms of a referee, punched Orlin Norris well after the sound of the bell and bitten Lennox Lewis's thigh at a press conference. "Maybe," said one insider, quite deadpan, "Panama can take Mike to another level."

Panama Lewis's arrival completes a jarring double in the development of Tyson's campaign here. Also due on the scene is his notorious rabble-rouser Steve "The Crocodile" Fitch, the ex-con who has been re-hired to conduct "guerrilla warfare" against the psyche of Lennox Lewis.

Fitch was supposedly a small, crass aspect of Tyson's past but the fighter is said to have felt that Memphis is way too sedate for his warring instincts and told an aide: "Call Crocodile." "Mike fires Fitch all the time," says Shields. Though Tyson cancelled yesterday's official press conference, the signs are that he is about to launch a new onslaught on his opponent's nerves.

Maybe he has decided it is time to jettison his brief flirtation with the surreal concept of Tyson the nice guy, which burst into fleeting life this week when he embraced a gay rights protester and shook hands with the British human rights activitist, Peter Tatchell, and told him: "I oppose all discrimination against gay people. I've got nothing against them. I might use homophobic insults but I don't mean them. I'm not homophobic." Tatchell was pleased by Tyson's endorsement of gay rights, but perhaps realises that he has not effected a total conversion of Tyson. "He didn't promise to stop using words like 'faggot', but he is one of only a handful of world-class sports stars who have publicly backed the campaign for gay rights. This makes what has happened here a major coup for the movement in the US and the world."

Panama Lewis's presence suggests that Tyson, who has long admired the controversial corner man, is intent on exploring fully the darker side of his nature. He may reckon it is his only way of reducing Lennox Lewis's huge edge in reach and potential to find much more of the best of his talent against an opponent who has ravaged his own resources for so long.

Panama Lewis, who was in Roberto Duran's corner when he shook the boxing world with victory over Sugar Ray Leonard in Montreal's Olympic stadium 22 years ago, may be a talisman from hell, but plainly Mike Tyson is aware that, like no fighter before him, he is obliged to go to his very limits this Saturday night. The chilling thought provoked by the man who took the padding from Luis Resto's gloves is that those limits may not yet have been fully defined.