Tyson Had a Caesar, Left Bruno Wilted

That was a rerun from Mike Tyson’s salad days Saturday night in Las Vegas. . . .

Tyson delivered punches quickly and with mean intent from the opening bell, landed thunderous right hands, moved his head and shoulders enough so he wasn’t an easy target, and overpowered an intimidated opponent in short order. . . .

I thought the sequel would be similar to the original on Feb. 25, 1989, when Tyson stopped Frank Bruno in the fifth round. . . .

I was wrong. . . .

It was much more lopsided. . . .

Before the rematch, Bruno said he would be “210% better.” . . .

Actually, he was 260% worse. . . .

Bruno must have remembered the first beating he took from Tyson because he showed all the confidence of someone being led to a firing squad when he walked from his dressing room to the ring with a TV camera in his face. . . .

Not even the numerous chants of “Broono, Broono” from his 5,000 fellow Brits, many wrapped in Union Jacks, were able to relax or inspire him. . . .

During six minutes and 50 seconds, Bruno held more than an offensive lineman in an NFL season. . . .

Bruno, who should have tried to jab and utilize his 11-inch reach advantage, used his left hand only to grab the back of Tyson’s neck. . . .

Tyson might have won by disqualification for the second time in his three comeback fights--remember Peter McNeeley’s manager climbing into the ring?--if the fight had continued much longer. . . .

Referee Mills Lane took a point away from Bruno for excessive holding in the second round and warned him in the third that he might get disqualified. . . .

Tyson isn’t far from regaining peak form, and that is good news for boxing, which needs a formidable, sole heavyweight champion. . . .

But what the sport really needs now is a competitive heavyweight title fight. . . .

Tyson against the World Boxing Assn. champion, Bruce Seldon, or the International Boxing Federation champion, whom I believe is Francois Botha, would not be competitive. . . .

Tyson against Lennox Lewis or Riddick Bowe would be. . . .

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Mississippi State’s romp over Princeton in the second round of the NCAA basketball tournament didn’t exactly flatter UCLA. . . .

Why couldn’t Jelani McCoy have dominated underneath against the Tigers the way Bulldog center Erick Dampier did? . . .

Most telling statistic Thursday night was that UCLA had more turnovers than field goals. . . .

I would like to have seen the Bruins’ hot three-point shooter, Brandon Loyd, in the game on the last possession when the outcome was in doubt. . . .

Jim Harrick wasn’t the only coach who has won an NCAA title to be eliminated in the first round. So were Bobby Knight of Indiana and Mike Krzyzewski of Duke. . . .

Dean Smith of North Carolina was eliminated in the second round. Remaining are Nolan Richardson of Arkansas, Denny Crum of Louisville and John Thompson of Georgetown. . . .

Retiring Princeton Coach Pete Carril always looks as though he’s crying. . . .

The last of the Southwest Conference basketball champions, Texas Tech, has turned out to be one of the best. . . .

CBS did a good job of switching around from game to game, but the split screen that shows two games at once is a dud. You can’t see either game well enough. . . .

I got more depressed every time the network showed its promo for “60 Minutes” with Muhammad Ali shaking from the effects of Parkinson’s syndrome as he walked with Ed Bradley. . . .

It was unusual that rival coaches Roy Williams of Kansas and Dick Davey of Santa Clara watched the Arizona-Iowa game together before the Jayhawks played the Broncos. . . .

Lute Olson never has done a better coaching job than with an Arizona team that lost its starting center, Joe Blair, at midseason. . . .

Most watchable player in the tournament is Georgetown guard Allen Iverson. . . .

It was a shame, though, that we didn’t get to see the brilliant performance of another young guard, Georgia Tech’s Stephon Marbury, against Boston College. . . .

Pet peeve: Coaches who call timeout when their team is trailing by 14 points with 40 seconds remaining. . . .

How can any team that plays in a conference that has 11 members and calls itself the Big Ten expect its players to be able to count the number of timeouts it has left in a game?