now, i would hate to be called a sirrer,, but,,,
i have searched the net, looking for an experts opinion which will give my good mate, el dook a bit of credibility.
he has been known to be wrong (trinidad/hopkins, tyson/neilsen) and although he aint quick to admit his lack of knowledge,he could just possibly be on the right track opn this occasion.
have a squiz at this report from houseofboxing.com
NEW YORK, Oct. 13 - Mike Tyson, like an annual holiday, returned to the ring tonight and it was Christmas for Hasim Rahman and Lennox Lewis and possibly Evander Holyfield, and Yom Kippur for Brian Nielsen.
But Tyson didn't act like Santa Claus to any potential rival looking for a huge payday by saying he wanted at least one more fight before going for a title. The more he delays, though, it seems the less people care. Less than half the seats were occupied in 47,000-Parken Stadium in Copenhagen for Tyson's first appearance on Continental Europe.
And at his age, 35, Tyson isn't improving any. He's plenty good enough to dominate the Great Danes of the heavyweight division, but doesn't seem overwhelmingly confident about moving up in class, after a complete shutout of Nielsen.
So how do you say "no mas" in Danish?
No, that's not fair. Nielsen, genially inept, took a beating from the 35-year-old Tyson before quitting on the stool between rounds six and seven, saying he couldn't see out of a left eye damaged by an accidental head butt in the second round.
It was officially scored as a technical knockout at 1 second of the seventh round and afterwards Tyson told the brave Dane, "You shouldn't have quit, you should have kept fighting. You were putting up a hell of a fight."
Nielsen said he couldn't see out of the left eye, which had a nasty cut on the lid. Referee Steve Smoger, who called Tyson "a true gentleman" who "obeyed every command, every break," told Nielsen that under Danish rules, if the fight were stopped because of an accidental cut, there would be no going to the scorecards.
"There's no rule to cover that (surrendering on the stool)," Smoger told Nielsen. "I'd have to declare him the winner. You want me to do that?"
Nielsen nodded yes and Smoger, who did a good job in his second straight high-profile job (Bernard Hopkins-Felix Trinidad Jr.), said, "I love you."
Tyson, at a career high 239 pounds and moving with less and less agility as his needed rounds droned on, must have felt brotherly to Nielsen, who gave him his longest fight since Holyfield shocked the world the first time in 1996.
As the WBC No. 1 contender, Tyson is positioned to fight the winner of the Rahman-Lewis rematch Nov. 17. Or if Holyfield wins his rubber match with John Ruiz, he could meet his old rival a third time.
Even at least a decade past his prime, Tyson represents not only an economic windfall to any of those heavyweights. He still is a danger, especially early when his handspeed is still good. And he can still punch, of course.
But after becoming the only other fighter other than Dickie Ryan to defeat Super Brian, Tyson seemed unsure of himself again. "How'd I do," he asked the suck-o-fants in his entourage after the 49th victory, and 43d knockout, of his storied career, against three losses and two "no-contests."
"Great," said someone, "he couldn't take any more."
Nielsen took a lot, and was floored for the second time in what is now a 61-2 career in the third round. He was also hit low - accidentally, ruled Smoger - a borderline left hook at the end of that round and, though he could have had five minutes, took only a minute and a half before resuming.
So how do you say heavy bag in Danish?
Nielsen's game plan seemed to be to let Tyson punch himself out. Tyson went to work quickly on Nielsen's soft 259 3/4-pound body. Nielsen retreated to the ropes and absorbed much of Tyson's promised punishment. Seldom did the Dane throw a real punch, but the Tyson of the sixth round was a far cry from the Tyson of the opening minutes.
The line from Walter Tavis' "Hustler" remains true. "Stick with this kid, Fats, he's a loser."
Tyson was bad-intentioned but well-behaved. At one point, after breaking cleanly, he was praised by Smoger, "Very good, Mikey."
Tyson continued to pound away and Nielsen's best responses were to make faces. The faces became bloody in the second round. First, an assault inside by Tyson, including many uppercuts that were mostly smothered, caused some bleeding from the mouth. At the end of the second, the clash of heads had blood dripping into the Dane's left eye.
Tyson, meanwhile, was beginning to suck air. He took a deep breath and landed a combination followed by a left hook to the chin as Nielsen was trying to back out. Nielsen backed out, right into the hook and went down on his butt. Nielsen got up, but just before the bell, a low left hook made him double over in pain.
Smoger immediately ruled that the low blow was unintentional. It wasn't clear that it was even low.
Tyson moved noticeably slower in the fourth round, but didn't have to rush against the slower-moving Nielsen. He walked slowly in, threw three left hooks that were blocked on the arms, but then followed with a big overhand right that was blocked on the temple.
Nielsen was at least giving Tyson the most rounds since he stopped Frans Botha in five Jan. 16, 1999, his first fight back after the suspension for biting Holyfield's ears.
Tyson was even slower in the fifth round. In the final minute, of that round, he walked into a Nielsen right hand. Big deal. Nielsen can't punch. But Tyson was breathing through his mouth and though he was still in control, his lack of conditioning was obvious. If Nielsen was Danish pastry, Tyson was looking like too many pounds cake.
By the sixth, Tyson was fighting only in spurts against the stationary Dane. At the end of the sixth, a left uppercut in combination with an overhand right landed, but Nielsen took them well and dared to throw a couple of slaps.
"You're working fantastic, Mike," trainer Tommy Brooks told him before the seventh round.
Except there was no seventh round.
Nielsen's courage was all he had. He couldn't box, he couldn't punch, and he didn't move very much. Jim Gray of Showtime asked him if he were proud of his performance. "I'm not proud," said Nielsen. "I wanted to go the distance. He hit hard, but not hard enough to knock me out."
"I'm back," said Tyson.
See you in another year, Mikey.
He's not only not what he used to be in the ring. He's not what he used to be at the box office. Only one American fight writer made it to Copenhagen. Even there, with an opponent who finished second in a Danish popularity poll to the Queen of Denmark, he could draw only about 20,000 curiosity seekers to 47,000-seat Parken soccer stadium.
Half empty or half filled. Not too many fighters would attract 20,000 customers to a Brian Nielsen contest.
Wearing a gray sweatshirt with "New York" on it, and a ski cap inscribed "Punishment," Tyson remembered how to walk to a ring, where he had been for maybe 26 1/2 minutes since 1999.
This was his first fight in 51 weeks, or since Andrew (Foul Pole) Golota quit after two rounds. The knockout victory was changed to "no contest" - Tyson's second in his last four fights, having knocked down and injured Orlin Norris with a punch well after the bell ending the first round of their match - because the former champion tested positive for marijuana.
He could have inhaled tonight and still won against the Danish Pastry.
You can get pastry in America, too, and Joe Calzaghe, who has become an opening act for Tyson, got his own cream puff in the Showtime TV opener.
Calzaghe, making the ninth defense of the WBO super middleweight title and his first appearance outside Britain, stopped Will (Kid Fire) McIntyre of Bogalusa, Covington and Baton Rouge, La., at 35 seconds of the fourth round.
"Kid Fire" is about as hot as heartburn. He came in with two ecumenical losses, a four-round decision to Palestinian-born Omar Sheika back in 1997 and a 12-round blanking by Dana Rosenblatt exactly a year ago today. In that fight against the Jewish southpaw, McIntyre fought with all the fervor of Swiss cheese, losing every round on all three official cards.
In other words, he had as much chance tonight as Nielsen. "It's almost totally unfair," said Showtime announcer Steve Albert. "A total mismatch."
After McIntyre took a battering in the first round, his trainer, Les Bonnano, told him, "We didn't come over here for this bullshit. You know why he's beating the shit out of you? Because you're letting him. Fight him."
The oft-injured Calzaghe, a New York Yankee fan who wore a ski hat with the NY logo, was making only his second start this year. He had fought a total of 1:52 in 2001, or the amount of time it took him to score a first-round KO of the WBO mandatory, Mario Veit of Germany. At least McIntyre, who had never been knocked down before, made it all the way to the fourth round. At least he went out. The last time he appeared on a Tyson card, in Manchester, England, where Tyson beat Julius Francis, Calzaghe went 12 dreary rounds outpointing Dave Starie.
Late in the third, a looping left had McIntyre out on his feet, staggering backwards into the ropes. Referee Rudy Battle ruled it a knockdown because only the ropes held him up. McIntyre was bleeding profusely from the nose and had a cut in the corner of his right eye.
"You wanna quit?" Bonnano asked McIntyre after the round.
"No," was the soft reply.
"Well, goddamn it, if you don't fight I'm gonna throw in the f**kin' towel in the ring."
He didn't have to show off his arm. A two-fisted battering, finished by a couple of right hooks to the head, sent him down on all fours in the fourth round and Battle stopped it.
"I want Roy Jones, I want Bernard Hopkins," said Calzaghe, now 32-0 with 27 knockouts.
He'll probably get David Reid or Eric Lucas.
