In Tokyo in 1990 Buster Douglas knocked him out

In Tokyo in 1990 Buster Douglas knocked him out.When he returned to boxing, following his jail term, in 1995 he won four relatively uncompetitive fights, and was soon recognised as heavyweight champion by the World Boxing Association. His relationship with the media became a raw wound that has never healed. He blundered along, through a disastrous marriage to Robin Givens, and eventually into jail for the rape of the beauty contestant Desiree Washington.In the ring the technical subtleties of his early years vanished as he cut corners in training More and more he relied on his speed and power. When he was a rising star almost a decade and a half ago, his co-managers Bill Cayton and Jim Jacobs created the image of the boy-monster, who was the terrifying “Iron Mike” inside the ropes and no more than an under-privileged misunderstood youth outside them.When Tyson switched to Don King in 1988, the mask was discarded.

When a journalist asked him what he expected Botha to do – meaning what tactical plot he might use – Tyson bit back nastily: “Die”.To most moderate folk this is crazy, pathetic talk. It’s yet another throwback to Tyson’s first major misdemeanour in the 1980s when he said he had intended to hit opponent Jesse Ferguson with such force that he might drive the tip of his nose into the base of his brain.Yet to some extent we’ve become immune to this kind of sick-speak. Over the last dozen years or so, movies are more openly violent, the language of film and TV more routinely aggressive, athletes increasingly disparaging about opponents and boastful about their own achievements. Suddenly, the weirder Tyson seems, the better he fits into the world of the hard sell.Tyson understands this unpleasant truth more readily than most of us on the outside. “Maybe they [the public] hate me more than anybody, they want my demise,” he said.This is the brooding, bitter, trustless Tyson we have seen so often, which was suppressed during the commission hearings when he pleaded for his licence to fight. until the 32-year-old former champion lost his patience during a phone- in press conference last week and blurted out a litany of obscenities.

His meetings with the media in Phoenix were polite, even friendly; he handed out turkeys to the local poor at Christmas; he visited young offenders in detention, warning them against a life of crime.His trainer Tommy Brooks, who had been in Holyfield’s corner for the infamous fight in June 1997, seemed genuinely pleased with the progress they were making In fact, everything seemed to be going swimmingly well… THE dark, unacceptable, horribly compelling side of boxing surfaces next weekend In other words, Mike Tyson returns to the Las Vegas ring. It is 18 months since Tyson chomped on Evander Holyfield’s ears, was disqualified from the contest and banned from the sport. While Holyfield has gone on to sign for a showdown with Lennox Lewis, Tyson has faced further humiliation in the shape of psychiatric reports and questions about his emotional stability.
After regaining his licence to compete from the suspicious Nevada commissioners, he has signed a huge TV contract with the American company Showtime, which should help clear his tax debts. To the same end, he has put his homes in Las Vegas and Connecticut on the market.He has moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he has registered as a sex offender – a mandatory requirement following his 1992 conviction for rape, which led to three years behind bars in Indiana.Tyson appeared to have things under control as he prepared for his comeback against the California-based South African Francois Botha. In the Melbourne Age, after the Fourth Test.It wouldn’t have happened if they’d picked me: Graeme Hick (oh, but they did in the end), Andrew Caddick, Phil Tufnell, Mal Loye, Andrew Flintoff, Paul Hutchison – but it probably would.. But it’s hard to separate two in Brisbane – the skier to Fraser at third man off Ian Healy or the nick to Nasser Hussain at slip off Steve Waugh.The foul-up: Mullally will not want to be reminded of his fumble in front of the stumps which allowed Steve Waugh to escape at Brisbane.

Unfortunately, he will be – for ever.The team effort: As if you might not have known. Australia made 2,703 runs at 33.37 a wicket, England scored 2,243 at 23.36.The worst shout: Tails.The headline: “The Choke’s On Us”. It removed Mark Butcher but might also have removed the fielder’s rib-cage.The drop: In England’s case there are 22, or is it 23. The yorker of high pace swung one way, then the other, and was never going to do anything else but hit the stumps.The catch: Ramprakash turned the match at Melbourne but Slater’s short-leg effort there has the edge. Normally leaves them in dressing-room when playing for England. Lancashire might have known what they were doing appointing him captain – is not likely to be away on international duty.Michael Slater: All those hundreds, all that dash, and not in the Australian one-day squad.Jason Gillespie: Quickest bowler in Australia, took seven wickets at Perth, not seen since.The England selectors: It is easy to be a selector after the event but occasional glorious hunches like picking Alex Tudor at the WACA and Peter Such (whose name they did well to remember) at Adelaide does not compensate for too many ill-balanced sides, a party which included too many injury- prone players, and only seven batsmen.THE LANDMARKSThe shot: Many from Alan Mullally’s slogging repertoire but more from his archetypal rabbit canon, none better than the defensive prod he played from square leg at Perth, presumably on his way to Adelaide for the next match.The ball: The yorker with which Darren Gough claimed his hat-trick in the Fifth and final Test at Sydney. Yet this marvellous bowler finished the tour without the greatest of his heart’s desires, his England place, and with little prospect of winning it back at 33.John Crawley: Has class, style, handsome strokes, and good footwork.