DETROIT -- At the gym where the great Joe Louis once trained, Mike Tyson held his final workout Wednesday for his fight against Andrew Golota.

The scene was one that would have bedazzled Louis, who fought in the pre-television era. The Brewster-Wheeler Recreational Center was jammed with television cameramen, still photographers and reporters with notebooks, tape recorders and microphones.

"I am happy to be here (in Detroit)," said Tyson, who also held an open workout in the rec center on Monday. "I am happy to be anywhere where Joe Louis has been."

Louis began his career in Detroit and made two of his 25 successful title defenses here. He became an American hero when he knocked out Max Schmeling, portrayed as representing Hitler's Nazi Germany, in the first round June 22, 1938.

Louis, of course, didn't escape prejudice, and he had severe financial problems that forced him into pro wrestling, when it was still a nickel-and-dime game, and eventually led him to become a greeter at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Louis' stature, however, remains heroic.

Tyson is seen by many people as an anti-hero, a celebrity in a society in which pro wrestling has turned into a billion-dollar financial empire.

People involved with the promotion cringe at media descriptions of the Tyson-Golota bout Friday night in the Palace at Auburn Hills as one between two men intent on breaking the rules in order to commit mayhem. Rather, the promoters say, will be a tough fight between seasoned pros.

There is no doubt, however, that the dirty tactics practiced by both fighters in some past bouts have added to the pay-per-view match the kind of spice that should attract people only casually interested in boxing.

"This is the kind of fight programmers dream of," Jay Larkin, head of boxing for Showtime, had said after the fight was announced. "It certainly is the kind cable operators look forward to."

One onlooker at the Brewster on Wednesday carried a sign:

"Welcome Mike Tyson; We Love You; Detroit's Newest Bad Boy."

"I enjoy being a bad guy," Tyson said in a brief session with reporters.

When he was asked about calling a questioner who irritated him at Tuesday's news conference "a white boy," Tyson said the man didn't mind because he made him a celebrity. An anonymous celebrity, it should be noted.

"His family loves it, his wife loves it, his children love it -- 'Daddy got called a white boy,"' Tyson said.

Tyson then turned to the person who asked him about his comment and called him "a black instigator."

Just before he dismissed the media, the 34-year-old Tyson said, "This is perhaps my last fight. I'm tired. I don't need this. I'm going to go chill with my kids."

It's not the first time Tyson, who has marital problems, has talked about quitting boxing. Talk is cheap, however, when you're getting $10 million, as Tyson is for fighting Golota, and when bigger purses are in prospect as long as he keeps winning.

The pay-per-view show will begin at 9 p.m. ET, with the Tyson-Golota fight expected to start between 11-11:30 p.m.

In another championship bout on the telecast, Zab Judah of Brooklyn, N.Y., will defend the IBF junior welterweight title against Hector Quiroz of South Gate, Calif.