The end of Mike Tyson.

The career of a man who wasted an opportunity to be one of the best ever has come to what I hope to be its sad and not unexpected, end.


As Mike Tyson sat on his stool, quitting after six rounds against Kevin McBride, he had a look of resignation and relief on his face.

At last, he realized, his tumultuous career was finally over.

"I didn't feel bad or nothing at all, just that what's over is over," Tyson said during an introspective half-hour interview with ESPN.com following Saturday night's post-fight news conference.

Tyson was mellow, witty, sad, philosophical and happy at different times. But the one thing that came across was plain and simple: Thank goodness it's over.

"I just don't have the desire to fight no more," Tyson said as he signed a few autographs. "I wasn't truly into it. If you're a fighter your heart has to be in it more than your physical attributes. There's nothing like the fighting heart, and I don't have the fighting heart for that kind of work.


Although small for a heavyweight, he was ferocious enough to make up for what he lacked in size. He was a puncher, not a boxer. He defeated many early opponents by intimidation before he entered the ring.


He said the only reason he has continued to fight was because "it was profitable and I was just caught up in the lifestyle. Everybody knew it was over. I'm not lying. You know it. You've been around me. We all know the deal. Don't feel sorry for me. It is what it is."

Tyson had two points deducted by referee Joe Cortez in the sixth round for head butting McBride, 32, of Ireland. Tyson, who has a lengthy history of dirty fighting tactics – who could forget him gnawing on Evander Holyfied's ears? – says he butted McBride on purpose.

"I did because we are fighting. It's just the way it is, man," Tyson said. "No regrets. I'm just glad no one is hurt. That is just the game we live in. We're in the hurt business. It's really not [OK to head butt] but I did it anyway."


He never learned how to box, but more importantly, he never learned how to be a man. D'Amato and Cayton did everything they could to keep their meal ticket out of jail when he misbehaved, but did nothing to alter his behavior for fear of alienating him. D'Amato died and Cayton lost Tyson to Don King anyway.


Tyson said he didn't want any sympathy.

"I'm not the kind of guy you feel sorry for, I'm just not that kind of guy," he said. "I don't want people to look up to me. I know who I am. I've done things I am not proud of in my life. I don't want nobody looking up to me. I'm just an isolated guy. People think they know me but they don't know me."


Kevin Rooney tried to teach him to box, so when his fearsome power inevitably diminished with age, he could still demolish men with his hands. But Rooney was white, and the professional blacks (as opposed to black professionals) around Iron Mike told him he needed black cornermen. What we got was the idiocy of Tyson losing to Buster Douglas in Tokyo while his trainer put a water balloon on the champ's swollen eye.


Tyson said he was going to consider doing missionary work and that he would like to spend more time with his children in retirement but that he probably shouldn't because he is a self-described poor father.

"I'm not a good father. I'm a good man with my kids. I'm very generous with them. I'm very kind to them, but I am not a good father," he said. "I'm not going to tell you I am a good father. I have to contribute to the world. I have to teach them how to contribute to the world. That's our whole existence – to contribute to the world and make it a better place in some way. In my life I contributed to make it a bad place."


Then came the rape conviction, jail, comeback #1, biting Holyfield's ear in two, suing King for $100 million, Robin "Psychobitch" Givens, fights outside the ring, a few more months in jail, losses, medication, another wife or three, tigers, pigeons, more losses, and, of course, a tattoo of mass murderer Mao on his arm. The ignorance and death started to blur into a giant media blob and real boxing fans lost interest.


Tyson's purse for the fight was $5 million, but he is in bankruptcy after blowing some $300 million in career earnings. Most of the purse will go to his creditors. That was one of the main reasons he continued to fight.
"I want to pay my debts, but I will just do the best I can in life," Tyson said. "If I got money, I'll pay them. If I have no money, I can't pay them. If they lock me up, at least I'll have a place to stay. I'm used to being locked up."

Tyson, who was convicted and imprisoned for rape in the 1990s, said he's not afraid to go back to jail if he can't pay his creditors.

Whatever Tyson does, he said fighting won't be a part of it.

"I'm pretty vain. I like the way my body looks so I want to keep in good shape, but I don't want to fight no more," he said. "I just don't have the desire no more, I don't have the stomach to do it no more. I don't even kill insects in my house. I just don't kill anything no more. I used to kill pigeons, rip their heads off, 'You dirty rat pigeon!' I don't even have the heart to kill an animal no more. I just changed my whole life in general. That probably could have changed the way I fight."


Please pray for Mike Tyson. He only knows how to do one thing, and now he is unable to do it. Have no pity on him for the way he has lived his life, but have pity on him for the future he faces.


If Tyson stays retired, he will surely be elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame five years from now and his career will be rehashed yet again. He said he is not interested in such honors.

"I'm not into the boxing world no more. I don't want to be remembered at all," he said. "My heart is not in the fighting game. I don't even like it no more. I hate the smell of the gym. I won't go in the Hall of Fame. I'm just not that guy anymore. The WBC invited me to be one of the 20 greatest fighters of all time, but I'm not going to do that. I hate the boxing game. I'm not interested it in it no more.

"I never appreciated the fame unless I used it to get what I wanted. Great, I never had to wait in line for a restaurant or a club. I never had a problem getting the best girl. I abused it like that. I was pretty selfish with my fans. I never gave them the time the way I should have. I don't think I like the people anymore in the fight game. They look at me as something I no longer am. They're cheering for the wrong guy.

"This is a weird feeling in my life I have to deal with, not being a violent man anymore when my whole life's reputation was built on being extremely violent. I just don't know how to deal with that right now. I don't even go to strip clubs no more. I don't know who I am sometimes, but I am not the guy I used to be. I'm not an angel or anything. I'm still lascivious, periodically. I'm just looking for some balance in my life."

(My apologies to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com for messing up his excellent article.)

Tyson's record in the ring, courtesy of SI.com.

A chronology, also from SI.com.