COLUMN: Joe Hawk

     Mike Tyson must never fight again.
      Never.
      Under any condition. In any setting. Against any opponent.
      Tyson must be stripped of his boxing credentials and forever be banished from the sport. And as for that $30 million purse he was to earn Saturday night for his World Boxing Association heavyweight championship rematch against Evander Holyfield at the MGM Grand Garden, that must be stripped from him as well. Make him pay with the biggest financial penalty in the history of the sport.
      Perhaps he also should be imprisoned again -- this time on an assault-and-battery conviction.
      In the most bizarre ending ever to a boxing match, Tyson savagely bit the ears of Holyfield not once but twice in an ugly, ugly third round. Referee Mills Lane stopped the bout on a disqualification at the start of the fourth round as blood streamed from both ears of the stunned Holyfield.
      A hole the size of half a dime was noticeable high on the side of the champion's right ear from the first bite, which came with 35 seconds left in the third round. The second biting incident, which was visible from every camera angle televised by the Showtime cable network, came just before the end of the round.
      If you can believe the irrational rationale Tyson tried to promote during a brief interview outside his locker room afterward, his actions were justifiable revenge for Holyfield having head-butted him and opening a cut above his right eye in the second round.
      Tyson and his camp complained that Holyfield, who also head-butted the then-champion in their first match in November -- which Holyfield won on an 11th-round technical knockout -- did it this time on purpose. The head butt resulted in a two-inch laceration that dripped blood down Tyson's right cheek.
      "He butted me in the first round and in the second round again," Tyson said in lame defense. "He kept going down and coming up on me. This is my career. I have children to raise. I have to retaliate."
      There is no doubt Tyson's actions were premeditated. He spit out his mouthpiece twice during the third round as Holyfield -- suddenly the "Real Meal" rather than the "Real Deal" -- frantically tried to get Lane's attention. Why else would a fighter get rid of his mouthpiece unless he was planning on biting?
      It was just as obvious that Holyfield's actions were unintentional. His plan, as it was in their first fight, was to try to bore in on Tyson as much as possible, sending Tyson back on his heels to negate his devastating punching power. Several replays showed that as Holyfield tried to work in on Tyson, his head dropped to Tyson's brow as the challenger's head was going back.
      Still, Tyson continued to cry foul.
      "Look at me! Look at me! Look at me, man!" he screamed at Showtime reporter Jim Gray afterward. "I have to go home to my children looking like this, and my kids are going to be scared of me."
      Can you blame them? Hey, when Daddy gets frustrated, he bites people. Now there's a parental role model.
      Although his ability as a boxer only had been questioned of late, there always has been concerns about Tyson's mental and emotional stability. But save for the rape of a beauty pageant contestant in Indianapolis in 1991, nothing in his professional life has come as close to being as inhuman as his actions this night.
      Of course, it took little thought on the part of the Nevada Athletic Commission to suspend Tyson and hold his $30 million purse pending a hearing Tuesday. It also should take little thought by the commission to ban him from fighting in Nevada again.
      The state must take the lead in this matter, and with any luck the sport's sanctioning bodies also will never let him fight again. If there was a way to legally ride the part-time Las Vegas resident out of town on a rail, I'd be all for that, too.
      There definitely is something wrong with Mike Tyson, something that belies all of his talk about having found inner peace since being released from prison two years ago.
      Mike Tyson is still an angry man, an angry man who doesn't know how to properly vent his emotions. His uncontrolled viciousness cannot and must not go unpunished.
     
      Joe Hawk's column is published Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. He can be reached by phone at 383-0353 or by e-mail at Joe_Hawk@lvrj.com.