Tyson: Down For The Count

I don't know what to say. First The Juice went sour. Then Michael Jackson moonwalked way way waaaay into Neverland . . . and now, Iron Mike has proven to be made of a much less formidable substance. The great ones are tumbling . . . and it pains me to have to sit back and watch. I've seen all the pics of Tyson stupified on the canvas. The media is gonna run with those pics ad-nauseum like they always do when OUR stars come crashing down. But I remember a better Mike, the real Mike, the Champion, the Animal, the savage beast who made the world's knees weak. I'll remember him this way, and not diminish his accomplishments by focusing on embarassing images of a great athlete in decline. taylorS But here's what the mainstream is saying .... ~ESPN~ If it isn't over, then indeed it should be. There's no reason to go on like this. No one in his right mind would want to. Mike Tyson, of course, has never been accused of being fully sane. Calliope music plays in his head, and he might be able to convince himself it's time to jump off the merry-go-round that has been his boxing career. Danny Williams, a fighter only the sickest of boxing savants ever would have known about in the U.S. before the match was made, ended Tyson's career Friday night in Louisville, Ky. A crowd of 17,000 rubberneckers showed up at Freedom Hall to witness a foregone conclusion. What they saw was a too-far-gone illusion. Williams survived a first-round onslaught to deposit Pugilistic Enemy No. 1 into the ropes late in the fourth round. Williams landed 19 unanswered punches, most to the head. Tyson finally slumped after Williams' right fist landed on the temple, and referee Dennis Alfred counted Tyson out with nine seconds left until the bell. The 38-year-old former undisputed champion of the world looked nothing like Kid Dynamite, nothing like the Baddest Man on the Planet, nothing like the most intimidating SOB ever to inflict pain for money. The talent, the fire and the persona are too far gone. At a time when boxing desperately needs someone to captivate us again, Tyson just doesn't have it anymore. He will never discover it again, and the sport is worse off for it. Even his trainer realized it, although he wasn't ready to come out and say it. Freddie Roach was near tears while speaking to reporters after the fight. He was asked, based on what he saw tonight, if Tyson could ever contend for the heavyweight title. "No," Roach replied, the tone of resignation speaking volumes more than he wanted.