Only a Matter of Doing Time Before Tyson Is Back in Ring

This isn’t the end of Mike Tyson, only another sad chapter in his story.

It’s a life and a career undone by uncontrolled outbursts and poor decisions. The latest consequence came Friday, when a Montgomery County, Md., judge sentenced Tyson to one year in prison for assaulting two men after a traffic accident last August.

We’re still waiting for the next shoe to drop, when Marion County, Ind., Judge Patricia Gifford will determine whether Tyson’s actions constitute a violation of his probation for his 1991 rape conviction in that state. I’m no legal expert, but I’d say Friday’s developments did not help his case.

Of course he’ll box again. That’s what boxers do. There’s no keeping them away. I’m sure they’ll announce Leonard-Duran IV any day now.

Tyson is 32. Unless he wins an appeal, he’ll spend at least six months in jail, plus perhaps a year or two more in Indiana, and he then can return to the ring.

If the Nevada State Athletic Commission does not renew his boxing license, then New Jersey will and he’ll fight in Atlantic City, N.J.

A rape conviction and an ear-chomp didn’t stop Tyson from boxing, and neither will this.

The Nevada commission and the mental health experts at Massachusetts General Hospital who authorized the return of Tyson’s boxing license last year have to be feeling dumb right now. The athletic commission tried to put up a front, acting as if it had serious reservations about Tyson. In reality, commissioners couldn’t wait to give Tyson his license so he could start pulling in money for the Nevada hotels and casinos. They took his word that he didn’t do anything in the Maryland incident, with the strange caveat that if he did attack the motorists who rear-ended his car, it was because he blacked out in rage.

That was enough for the athletic commission, which didn’t say a word when Tyson later pleaded no contest to the assault charges.

Tyson had a deal with the previous Montgomery County state’s attorney, Robert Dean, who had said he would recommend no jail time for the no contest plea. But when Douglas Gansler replaced Dean, he pushed for jail time for Tyson.

You would think Tyson would have struck a more concrete deal, made an arrangement that was binding no matter who occupied the state’s attorney office.

But ever since Cus D’Amato died, Tyson hasn’t had success whenever he puts his life in other people’s hands, be it his financial or legal affairs.

His lawyers let him down again, the same way his lawyers failed him in the Desiree Washington rape case by presenting that ridiculous defense that Tyson is such a barbarian she should have known he would want to have sex if they went to his hotel room.

But who got him into these situations in the first place? No one but Tyson. Evander Holyfield and Buster Douglas beat him in the ring, but ultimately Tyson was his own toughest foe.

Now he won’t even be remembered as a great boxer who couldn’t control his personal life, because for the past few years he wasn’t even a great boxer. His most unforgettable sports moment remains the bite he took out of Holyfield’s ear.

None of Tyson’s mistakes outside the ring prompted the huge reaction he drew for that act. Everything else was only crime; that was an affront sports fans took personally.

It wasn’t only the money invested in the pay-per-view purchases that he took from us in that sham. He denied us a rightful conclusion to the most anticipated fight of the decade. It was the first time in his career Tyson stepped into the ring against a man who had defeated him (Douglas ate himself out of the heavyweight title before Tyson could get a rematch).

There’s absolutely no reason to look forward to the next Tyson fight. His handlers would be crazy to let him take on a tough opponent, so he probably will face the easiest foe they can find.

He won’t be any better than his last matchup, that sloppy affair against Francois Botha in which Tyson kept swinging wildly until he finally landed a devastating right cross that knocked Botha out in the fifth round.

His appeal already was dwindling, as evidenced by the 750,000 pay-per-view buys for the Botha fight, about half of what he drew for the Holyfield fights.

The ironic thing is Tyson went after the two motorists because he believed they weren’t showing enough concern for his wife’s welfare after the accident. If he ends up in jail, that’s not going to help her at all.

It certainly won’t be good for Tyson. One stint in the slammer evidently wasn’t enough to keep him out of trouble.

This sentence won’t change anything. It will only provide more evidence for what we already knew.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com

* JAIL TIME

Mike Tyson is sent to prison for a year for assaulting two motorists. A1

* COMMENTARY

It may be time for boxing to stop fixating on Tyson and move on. Steve Springer’s column, Page 9