MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / Febuary 24, 1999

When is enough enough? Mike Tyson was back in the news again this week. And by no surprise, itwas not for doing something positive. Already in jail for violating hisprobation by getting into an altercation after an auto accident, Tyson managed to get himself in more hot water.

The former heavyweight champion threw a television at the bars at the Mont-gomery County Detention Center in Maryland, forcing jail officials to lock him in an isolation cell for the weekend. The incident could also addfurther jail time for Tyson.

This week’s incident is just another sorry tale in the sorry saga of a boxer who should be called anything but a champion. Tyson has spent time inprison for rape, smiling as he was being led away from the courthouse in handcuffs like he didn’t have a care in the world.

Tyson was given a chance to start over once out of jail but threw it away, having his boxing license suspended for biting Evander Holyfield’s ear during their title fight two years ago. During his hearing to get his licenserenewed, Tyson showed little remorse, banging on the table and swearing.

Giving another chance, he got into the fight that has led to his current time in jail and now this.

When is enough enough? For a person of Tyson’s temperament, the boxing ring seemed to be the perfect place. But he has shown that he cannot behave there either.What happened to that rising star in the mid 1980s, the one that appeared would bring boxing back to the nation’s conscience like in the glory years of the sport? Here appeared to be a worthy successor to Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Muham-mad Ali and Joe Frazier. Here was one that could bringback some meaning to what it means to be a heavyweight champion.

Boxing needed somebody to bring credibility to it, for somebody to step up to represent the sport worldwide. A worldwide ambassador like it hadwith Ali or basketball had with Michael Jordan. Instead, all it got wasanother black eye, another punch to the kidneys. Tyson, who dealt so manyknockout blows on his way to unifying the heavyweight title early in the career, has come close to dealing one to the sport itself.

Boxing will survive. It has overcome unsavory characters in the past andalways found a way to recover. It can start by disassociating itself fromTyson before he deals the sport a punch it cannot recover from.

The people who supposedly care about him need to forget about Tyson the boxer. They need to care about Tyson the person. He has already wastedover 30 years of his life. He needs to find something positive about therest of it.

One of the best quotes about boxing that has come out of Hollywood is “I could have been somebody. I could have been a contender.” Tyson, you couldhave been somebody. You could have been a champion. But you threw itaway as easily as you threw that television set.

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