BY now, you've probably had an earful of Mike Tyson sound bites. To wit: Hit Tyson where
it hurts, his wallet"Ear-responsible."
"Reality bites."
"Pay per chew."
"From champ to chomp."
Tyson did more than take a bite out of Evander Holyfield's ear in their WBA heavyweight championship fight in Las Vegas Saturday night. He took a mega bite out of the sport of boxing, dealing it its lowest blow yet.
No thanks to Tyson's dirty tactics, boxing is no longer a sweet science, unless you're talking about ear surgery. Great heavyweight champions such as Joe Louis, Gene Tunney, Jack Dempsey and Rocky Marciano must be turning over in their graves.
Tyson's utter disregard for the rules put him at the very top of boxing's hall of shame.
The rematch had been billed as one of the greatest heavyweight title fights of all time, rivaling the "Thrilla in Manila" between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. The sportswriter obviously got carried away by his own hyperbole.
Well, that hype turned to tripe because of Tyson's disgraceful act.
Tyson claims he just "snapped" in explaining why he chomped Holyfield's ear. A vegetarian, Tyson probably thought it was cauliflower. Boxing, after all, is known for fighters with cauliflower ears.
ESUS Salud, Hawaii's fistic pride and joy, feels Tyson was just looking for an excuse to get out of the fight.
"It was bizarre, I can't believe he did that," said Salud from San Diego, where he finally resumed training after twisting his left knee running after a pass thrown by his 11-year-old son, Jordan, on Easter Sunday.
"Tyson was just looking for an excuse. He knew he was going to get beat and wanted a disqualification so that he can say, 'you didn't beat me.' He couldn't take it like a man. He couldn't admit he would lose."
Salud speaks from experience. Several years ago, he retained the WBA 122-pound title when challenger Juan Jose Estrada was disqualified. "He knew he was getting beat and kept hitting me below the belt."
Scheduled to act today, the Nevada state athletic commission will undoubtedly fine Tyson 10 percent of his $30 million purse. And maybe suspend him for a year or two.
But it won't be a lifetime ban as the majority of those polled by ESPN would like to see. Nevada won't because Las Vegas wouldn't want to shut itself out of a possible Holyfield-Tyson III.
Absurd as it sounds, in view of what has happened, there will be a rematch. Almost everyone has a "dark side" that wants to see Tyson fight again.
NEXT time, though, if I were Holyfield, I'd ask to wear ear muffs. Or have Tyson fitted with a Hannibal Lecter mask to prevent him from biting again, at least in the ring.
If all those who want Tyson banned from boxing for life would just put their money where their mouth is, we'd have no problem. Just don't pay to watch Tyson fight, that's all. That boycott would do wonders in hurting Tyson in the pocket book, where it really counts.
That won't happen, though. Tyson will be contrite and will be forgiven. Until the next time. But, then, there are suckers born every minute. And Las Vegas will be glad to host the show again.
One guy who's saying "no mas," is Mike Machado, executive director of the Hawaii state boxing commission.
He plunked $54.95 to watch the pay-per-view fight on Oceanic and felt he got gypped.
"I'm cured," said Machado, adding he never wants to see Tyson fight again.
If there were more guys around like Machado, we wouldn't ever have to worry about Mike Tyson again.