The joke making the rounds a few days before Mike Tyson's releasefrom prison summed up his life in one sharp question: 'Which wouldyou rather be? His first opponent or his first date?'
The crowd of fans and reporters waiting outside the Indiana YouthCenter on the morning of March 25 were consumed by two questions: Wasthe former heavyweight champ still a contender after languishing inprison for three years, and who was that shapely woman at his side?
To boxing fans, this was more than idle curiosity. The women inTyson's life are as famous as his knockout punches and just as devastating -- Tyson's ex-wife, Robin Givens, ripped their marriage apart on prime-time television; his date with Desiree Wash ingtonresulted in a rape conviction and prison term.
Now Tyson has fallen for 29-year-old Monica Turn er, not anactress or beauty queen but a medical student in her final year atGeorgetown Univer sity who grew up in Washington, majored inpsychology and biology at the University of Virginia, and plans tospecialize in pedi atric medicine. She's smart but no innocent tolife outside the classroom -- Turner also has had a relationship witha convicted drug dealer 28 years her senior, is raising her 5-year-old daughter and moves comfortably in the raw, extravagant world ofprofessional boxing.
Sporting an eye-popping marquise diamond on her left hand, Turnerhas been traveling with Tyson since the morning he was released:flying to his mansion outside Cleveland, visiting his probationofficer, checking out the $3.7 million palace and five BMWs he justbought in Las Vegas. Having completed her course work, she's notexpected back in Washington until May 27, when she graduates fromGeorgetown -- with a beaming Tyson expected to be in the audience.
It's love, says the Rev. Charles Williams, a close adviser toTyson.
'It's mutual admiration and respect for each other,' he says.'She's fallen in love with a man that she admires and respects forhis tenacity to survive through his personal struggles.'
And Tyson, Williams says, is a new man.
'He's had an opportunity to reflect on his life in general -- thenegative and the positive -- to determine what direction he wouldlike to go. I think he wants to settle down and have a family at somepoint. And he finds in her an extremely good candidate.'
Tyson met Turner during a party at Eddie Murphy's New Jerseymansion in the late '80s -- long before the boxer's legal problems.Tyson is a big fan of the 'Beverly Hills Cop' star, and Turner --curvy, with long dark hair and high cheekbones -- is attractive andintelligent enough to adorn any celebrity bash. They talked, theyclicked.
'Tyson has always been looking for a black princess,' says boxing writer Bert Sugar. 'This woman possess es many of the things he wouldaspire to -- educated, very pretty, conducts herself with a regalmien.'
Then the boxer went to prison, and Turner made sure he didn'tforget her. Almost every two weeks for the past three years, she flewto Indianapolis, checked in to a hotel suite and went to visitprisoner No. 922335. It is not clear who financed these visits.
'She was so supportive,' says Williams. 'She did whatever heneeded done. She brought his daughter {4-year-old Mikey} to see him.She was very dependable and reliable. I think he liked thosequalities in her. And I think he was very impressed with herdetermination to become a doctor and that she would take time out ofher heavy studies to consistently visit him.'
Visiting rules at the Indiana Youth Center are strict. Anindividual can visit only once every 14 days -- for two hours on aweekday or one hour on a weekend. Every six months, Tyson couldsubmit a list of the people he wanted to visit him.
It was a long list. Besides the celebrity names -- ShaquilleO'Neal, Spike Lee, Maya Angelou, James Brown -- there were a numberof attractive female visitors. Since they were all there at Tyson'srequest, it wasn't clear who, if anyone, could claim an inside trackto his affections. Watching Tyson with Turner in the visitor's roomrevealed little: They kept it very, very low-key.
'The relationship developed long before prison,' says MuhammadSiddeeq, Tyson's friend and adviser who tutored him in the Muslimfaith. 'But I think it enhanced itself during prison. They wrote eachother, talked on the phone, and she was at his side constantly.'
By early March, when Turner was still making rounds at medicalschool, her answering machine contained this announcement: 'If youwant to leave a message for Mike, myself or Gena {her daughter} . ..'
That's about as close to an admission anyone got from Turner abouther relationship with Tyson. Publicly declaring herself as Tyson'sgirl is not Turner's style, by all accounts. And maybe only the boxerhimself knew for sure.
But on the morning of Tyson's release, the couple confirmed byactions what they would not in words. Wearing a leather miniskirt,Turner was the only woman allowed at his dawn release, attended theMuslim prayer service with Tyson afterward and then flew by privatejet to his estate in Southington, Ohio.
This romance, says Siddeeq, will be different. 'Mike's belief inGod has brought out in him the latent respect for women that wasalways there.'
Maybe it's just that simple. Or maybe not. Tyson's relationshipshave been described in many ways, but never as simple anduncomplicated. 'Mike Tyson is like the `Three Faces of Eve' timesfive,' says Sugar. 'He can be, at one time, very sensitive, verypolite, very arrogant -- he can be anything he wants to be.'
But Turner's low-key, nurturing style apparently fills a crucialvoid in Tyson's life. Tyson, even as a kid, never had real emotionalsecurity. His father wasn't there, and his mother died. His fatherfigures -- trainer Cus D'A\mato and manager Jimmy Jacobs --unexpectedly died. Then his sister died. 'I think he's searching fora foundation,' says Sugar.
'She's a very simple, down-to-earth person,' says DominiqueWilmot, a classmate at Georgetown. 'She's got beautiful long hair,which she usually wears in a ponytail. She's a very even-keeled,subdued person. She doesn't wear a lot of makeup. She's not the kindof person who's going to wear skimpy clothes.'
Okay, there was that leather miniskirt and, in photographs withTyson, she's wearing a black lace see-through top with very shortshorts. And okay, maybe Turner's Navy Mercedes isn't exactly simple.But she does dress conservatively at school, and the car didn't raiseeyebrows on campus. 'We have Range Rovers, we have Porsches, we haveMercedes, we have Jaguars,' laughs Wilmot. 'This is Georgetown.'
Turner's parents live in a modest home in the Northwest Washingtonneighborhood of Petworth, and she graduated from Regina High School,a Catholic school for girls that closed in 1989. She received herundergraduate degree from the University of Virginia in 1987. Herdaughter was born in 1989, and she entered Georgetown the followingyear as part of a five-year program designed to bring minoritystudents into medicine.
Turner decided early that she wanted to specialize in pediatrics.'She loves kids,' says Wilmot. 'There's a special bond when youdecide to work with children and she has that. She's patient. Verypatient.'
She is also very private. Turner declined to be interviewed forthis article. 'She's always been that way,' says Wilmot, who hasknown her for five years and is close enough to her to have haddinner with Turner's parents. Turner never once mentioned to herfriend that she knew Tyson, much less that she visited him everyother week.
And Turner never mentioned her relationship with Eugene Byrd.Byrd, 57, is currently serving a 10-year sentence in federal prisonin Lewisburg, Pa., for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. At the timeof his arrest in 1989, he was described by law enforcement sources asone of a dozen men who controlled half of the District's cocaine andheroin business; federal officials also said that one of his partnersborrowed $80 million from the now-defunct Old Court Savings & Loan tofinance Byrd's operations. The partner's sentence was reduced tothree years because he cooperated with prosecutors.
Byrd was also manager of Les Nieces nightclub, a popular hangoutfor college students. When Byrd was arrested, Turner accompanied himto the offices of his lawyer, William B. Moffitt, several times, saysMoffitt, but she was not asked to testify in the case. Turner gavebirth to her daughter, Gena, about the time of Byrd's sentencing.Byrd is by all accounts devoted to the little girl.
It's hard to know whether she learned it from the nuns or Byrd,but Turner clearly developed a head for finance. She purchased a$124,500 town house off Georgia Avenue near the Maryland border, andhas an interest in a four-unit apartment building near CatholicUniversity. According to property records, the building is owned by aB. Byrd, but two of the tenants say they still send rent checkswritten out to Turner to her home address . She enrolled her daughterin Lowell School, a private preschool, and applied to enterGeorgetown's medical school. Students in the special minority programattend tuition-free for the first year. For the remaining four,tuition is $22,500 per year.
All of which seems like small potatoes in light of Tyson's pastand future fortunes. Tyson just signed a multi-million-dollarcommentary and pay-per-view deal with Showtime, and is expected toearn up to $50 million for his first major fight, expected to takeplace this year.
But Wilmot insists money is the last thing on Turner's mind.
'She's far from a gold digger,' she says. 'She has enough on herown. She's got a brain to rely on. She stands out as a woman to bereckoned with.'
The lovebirds aren't talking, but Wilmot got a call from herfriend about a week ago. All Turner would say is that she was 'veryhappy.'
Despite rumors to the contrary, Tyson and Turner are not yetmarried -- although things certainly seem to be moving in thatdirection. The terms of Tyson's four-year probation require him toseek permission from his probation officer to marry, as well as toundergo court-ordered psychotherapy and perform community service.
The boxer's much-discussed conversion to the Muslim faith does notrequire that Turner convert from Catholicism. 'It would not be anissue,' says Siddeeq. 'The Holy Koran encourages believers to marrybelievers.' A believer, he explained, can come from any faith. Fornow, he says, 'I see Monica as one who will continue to helpstabilize Mike and help to keep him directed and focused towards thepositive goals that he has set for himself.'
What that means for Turner's medical career is an open question.
The last year of school is filled with rotations, which are theequivalent of student teaching. Turner has completed her work andwill be awarded a degree in medicine on May 27 at graduationceremonies at the Kennedy Center.
'She had expressed a desire for {Tyson} to be at the graduation,'says Clare Fiore, medical center spokeswoman, 'but not at the expenseof her classmates.' When William Kennedy Smith received his medicaldegree four years ago, Georgetown students scalped tickets toreporters for big bucks. The Georgetown medical school has asked itsstudents not to talk to the media about Turner.
She still has to complete a two-year residency to practice as apediatrician, but Turner has postponed her postgraduate training andis taking the next year off.
'Her number one priority is to try to be there for Mike as heneeds her,' says Siddeeq.
A lot, after all, can happen in a year.
