Tyson Closer to Disaster Than a Heavyweight Title

Apparently that was the New Mike Tyson who rushed over to help Frans Botha when the South African, still feeling the aftereffects of a devastating right uppercut by Tyson, nearly fell through the ropes.

“It’s not that serious; just a boxing match,” Tyson said of his willingness to make amends with Botha after he knocked him out in the fifth round Saturday night.

“There are some people that I’d like to let go through that rope that are not fighters.”

The New Mike Tyson saves his animosity for reporters, psychiatrists and state athletic commission members. What goes on in the ring, now that’s just boxing. Anything else is a challenge to his manhood.

After the fight, Tyson reiterated his desire to end his career after four more fights. One of the reasons he gave was he was sick of being under contract, required to be nice and suck up to representatives of hotels and television networks.

Tyson has stuck with it because he has big IRS bills to pay and no other way to make the money; we’re stuck with him because there isn’t any more compelling story in the heavyweight division.

Tyson did take a step toward a possible future career in modeling by wearing some of his wife’s clothing line into the ring.

“My wife’s the capitalist,” Tyson said. “I’m the socialist. I believe we should give it away, she believes we should sell it.”

The right that dropped Botha and the sight of Botha trying unsuccessfully to get to his feet, then staggering around and careening into the ropes would make a perfect addition to one of those “Tyson’s Greatest Hits” tapes.

But it didn’t come close to telling the story of the fight.

In something of a turnaround for boxing, there was legitimacy in everything the loser had to say afterward.

Botha said he felt he had been in control, and no one could accuse him of having his wits permanently scrambled by Tyson’s one punch. Besides, the three judges agreed with him, awarding him the first four rounds.

Botha clamored for a rematch, and in reality he deserves another shot at Tyson more than Tyson deserves another shot at Evander Holyfield.

Tyson didn’t seem to put much stock in Botha’s rematch talk, and went to one of his favorite lines: “If the price is right, I’ll fight a lion.”

Tyson appears to be perfectly content to remain a freak show. It was obvious his skills were rusty after that 19-month layoff brought on by the ear-biting incident against Holyfield in 1997. That was understandable.

But there was no reason for him not to attempt to stick to any semblance of the game plan drawn up by trainer Tommy Brooks. He didn’t stick-and-move, he didn’t attempt to go to the body. After the first minute he junked any semblance of a strategy and just tried to knock Botha out. Botha could have won this fight if he hadn’t been too busy talking trash and showboating and had remembered what was packed beneath Tyson’s right glove. But Botha got careless and walked right into a Tyson punch. A better fighter doesn’t make that same mistake.

Tyson is a fight historian and described himself as a “pugilist.” On Saturday night he was nothing but a puncher. If he was a baseball player, he’d be Dave Kingman.

If Tyson doesn’t improve, his advisors would be foolish to let Tyson anywhere near Holyfield. If they met right now it would be loss No. 4 in Tyson’s career.

But if it takes Tyson too long to get back to form, Holyfield will get too old to present a fair challenge.

“I’m not getting any younger, either,” the 32-year-old Tyson said.

No disputing that.

“I’m getting better, though,” Tyson added.

Only if getting through a fight without biting anyone qualifies as an improvement. You still watch and wait for something to snap. Saturday night, it was Botha’s arm that almost snapped. When they would clinch, Tyson would try to hold Botha’s arm and twist it backward.

Botha claimed Tyson was trying to break his arm.

When Tyson was asked what he had to say about that, he replied: “He’s correct.”

That’s nice.

Meanwhile, back in the world of sports, Tyson was the No. 3 story last week, behind Michael Jordan’s retirement and the NFL playoffs. We don’t feel compelled to follow Tyson anymore, we simply do so out of curiosity.

When Tyson and Botha continued to fight after the first round ended and security personnel flooded the ring, it almost confirmed our worst fears: that somehow Tyson and the sport of boxing could sink to an even lower levels.

Tyson remains only one step away from disaster, which is a lot closer than he is to being a heavyweight champion.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com