IT WAS BILLED AS THE fight of the millennium: Mike "the original bad boy" vs a reconstituted George Forman. Both men were disgruntled, grizzly has-beens; both men knew that "boxing doesn't have an old-timer's home". But both men had been pumped with enough growth hormones, silicon implants and "explosive" knuckles to knock out an eastern European Olympics team. And if their bodies weren't pumped enough, there was also their egos to consider. Because the booty included more than a $500 million purse and the same revenue in media endorsements: up for grabs was the inaugural world SuperWeight title, that and a place in history.

There were plenty of younger, stronger fighters up for the challenge, but Rupert Murdoch was in charge and he was aiming for a retro vibe. He could think of a no more mythic struggle for his five billion strong TV audience than Tyson and Forman slugging it out in the gruesome ring. And he wanted them to do it off-shore to promote his reach into non-American markets. So where to hold it? Thailand was over-rated, Zaire had been done: Rupert opted for the snows of East Antarctica. The bout was scheduled for June 21, 2008: Midwinter Night, the Day of Maximum A-Factor, the Dusk of Murdoch's satanic Millennium of the Eternal Dark. The only trouble was, George Forman now refused to fight outside America.

Which meant they had to find a replacement.