All the saleable elements are in place.
The revered champion and the reviled challenger ... the undercurrent of Good vs. Evil ... revenge as a tangible motive ... the expansive audience.
It is, without doubt, the most anticipated fight in history.
Whether it will live up to expectations remains to be seen.
"I don't know if this is the greatest fight ever but it's been built up as the greatest fight ever," said Mike Tyson, the dark-shrouded participant in the equation, the one who must once again confront the virtuous champion, Evander Holyfield.
They'll meet Saturday at the sold-out MGM Grand Garden Arena in a heavyweight title fight expected to gross $200 million and reach a worldwide audience of perhaps as many as three billion people.
"In terms of anticipation and in terms of financial remuneration, this is it," said promoter Don King. "It doesn't get any bigger than this. This is the biggest fight of all time."
At last, a fight that can't be over-hyped.
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"This is the biggest event in the history of the sport," said the levelheaded Marc Ratner, the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. "It's of the magnitude of the Super Bowl."
It's Tyson's brooding presence contrasted with Holyfield's solemn composure that puts this fight over the top. There's a Shakespearian quality at play here.
"These are the two defining heavyweights of this generation," said pay-per-view producer Jay Larkin. "These men not only make this the biggest fight of all time, they'll make it the biggest event in the history of television.
"It's truly gigantic. It'll be seen in 100 countries."
Eleven ringside translators -- including three handling various Chinese dialects -- will be scrambling to keep pace with what is certain to be nonstop, heated action. That's another aspect of the fight's appeal and why it can be sold at $60 a pop on pay per view: Everyone knows Holyfield and Tyson are not coming to dance.
"People on his side are talking and people on my side are talking, but they're not the ones who are going to fight," Tyson said, wearing his emotions on his sleeve for a moment. "I'm the one who's going to fight, me and him. Once we're in the ring we'll become the archest of enemies."
Tyson, 45-2 with 39 wins by knockout, remains a slight betting favorite despite his 11th-round TKO loss to Holyfield last Nov. 9 at the Grand Garden. Holyfield is 33-3 with 24 KOs.
"People might bet on me, but I know they don't consider me a sentimental favorite," Tyson said. "But I'm confident I'm going to win."
Despite protests from Tyson's managers, Las Vegan Mitch Halpern was confirmed as the fight's referee at an emergency meeting of the NSAC Thursday night. The judges are also Las Vegans: Duane Ford, Chuck Giampa and Jerry Roth.
At Thursday's weigh-in both Holyfield and Tyson came in at 218 pounds. In Tyson's case, that's four pounds less than he weighed in November, while Holyfield has added three pounds.
Holyfield, 34, may have won the first fight and the World Boxing Association championship because Tyson and his people took him lightly. That fight opened with Tyson as a 25-to-1 betting favorite.
"We weren't prepared for what Holyfield showed us in November," said Tyson's co-manager, John Horne. "In 1989 or '91 we would have been ready for him because he was known as a man who always fought over his head. But not by '96."
If Holyfield surprised Tyson the first time, he hopes to confuse him again by adding to his repertoire and shuffling his plans of attack.
"I can't do the same things I did back then," Holyfield said, "or I'd probably lose. I have to change a few things."
He makes the admission with a wry, cockeyed smile. It's a vintage expression from a vintage fighter.
Yet Tyson is dubious when it comes to Holyfield's ability to camouflage his approach or be the old dog who learned a few new tricks. "I doubt it very seriously," Tyson said, when asked if he expects to see anything different from Holyfield.
Likewise, Holyfield questions claims from Tyson's camp that he's a new man as a result of adding trainer Richie Giachetti to his staff.
"The way you fight becomes a habit," Holyfield said. "An older guy can only change so much. You can have a new trainer every fight but that doesn't mean you're willing to change."
Besides, Holyfield added, "Mike only knows how to fight one way: coming forward."
Tyson, who will turn 31 Monday, gives Giachetti no special credit yet says he's comfortable with him. "I feel good about the whole positive atmosphere he's brought to the team," Tyson said.
A positive atmosphere has only rarely enveloped Tyson, a notoriously bad boy from the streets of New York City. By the age of 13 he had been arrested 38 times, which led to him being exiled to the Tryon School for juvenile offenders in upstate New York.
There, he came in contact with boxing trainer Cus D'Amato, who had worked with former heavyweight champ Floyd Patterson among others. Within a year, Tyson was living with D'Amato.
By 18 he was fighting professionally and by 20, despite D'Amato's death, Tyson had become the youngest heavyweight champion in history.
Life was moving fast. Tyson was changing managers, drinking heavily and getting into the occasional street fight. He fractured his right hand on a Harlem street corner in 1988 when he smacked a fellow heavyweight boxer, Mitch Green.
That same year he married actress Robin Givens, a union that lasted only 16 months and was best remembered for Givens telling a national television audience that "Mike is manic-depressive." It was embarrassing on all fronts.
By early 1990 Tyson was running the streets of Las Vegas and surviving in the ring solely on his brute strength and imposing presence. Yet within two years his life would irrevocably change.
A Feb. 11, 1990 loss to Buster Douglas in Japan brought an end to Tyson's supposed invincibility. His personal credibility took an even bigger hit the following summer when he was accused of rape by an 18-year-old contestant in the Miss Black America pageant in Indianapolis.
In September of '91 he was indicted by a grand jury and in February of '92 he was found guilty of sexual assault. Prisoner No. 922335 served three years of a six-year sentence.
If anything, Tyson as the mortal, mistake-prone man had an even greater mass-market appeal when he returned to boxing in August of 1995. He helped himself further by quickly winning two of the three legitimate world championships available.
And then he ran into the supposedly over-the-hill Holyfield.
"Absolutely shocking," King recalled of seeing Holyfield withstand Tyson's bludgeoning assault. "The baddest man on the planet losing? It didn't seem to be in the cards."
Now they're meeting again and this time there are historical implications. This time it's a fight, perhaps, for the ages.
Among the greatest heavyweight battles: Gene Tunney vs. Jack Dempsey, 1927 in Chicago, with Tunney coming back from the infamous "long count" to win by decision; Max Schmeling vs. Joe Louis, 1938 in New York, with the "Brown Bomber" taking a patriotic one-round KO; and Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier, 1975 in the Philippines, with Ali surviving the "Thrilla in Manilla" and winning by TKO in the 14th round.
Organized boxing has been around since 1892 and the legendary heavyweights include Tunney, Dempsey, Louis, Ali, Jack Johnson and Rocky Marciano. Holyfield would surely join that list if he could defeat Tyson a second time and manage to retire without another loss. Tyson needs a victory in the rematch with Holyfield to qualify for such illustrious consideration.
"Second place means nothing to me," Tyson said. "I'd rather finish first and not get paid than finish second in this fight and get my $30 million."
Each man will receive $30 million for the scheduled 12-round bout that no one expects to go 12 rounds.
"I respect Mike but when somebody has your number, they have your number," Holyfield said, implying that he, indeed, has Tyson's number. "He hits with quickness and he puts everything he has into every punch. The only reason you don't feel all the pain is because the adrenaline is flowing."
Adrenaline or not, Tyson will be driven to make Holyfield feel that pain. He may be guarding his tactical plans but he's very clear about his ultimate goal.
"I lost the first time," he said, "and I didn't like it."
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