U.S.

Tyson Takes Care Of Botha

Mike Tyson, looking like anything but the baddest man on the planet for most of the fight, threw a thunderous right hand from nowhere that knocked down Francois Botha and stopped him with one second left in the fifth round Saturday night.

Botha was ahead on all three judges' cards in the mauling, dirty fight when Tyson landed a bomb to the South African's chin with 10 seconds left in the fifth. The 233-pound Botha went down in a heap, tried to get up, then dropped back into a sitting position. He got up at the count of 7, but fell back into the ropes and referee Richard Steele waved the fight over.

Although Botha was on his feet, he was knocked out if ever a fighter was.

When the fight ended with one second left, Botha slumped again to the canvas and Tyson went over and tried to help him up.

At the end of four rounds, judges Dave Moretti and Dalby Shirley each had Botha ahead 40-35 while Bill Graham favored Botha 39-36.

The sudden ending concluded a fight that almost ended in controversy at the end of the first round. It also saved a career that was in jeopardy.

"I had a tremendous amount of rust," said Tyson, who had not fought since he was disqualified for biting Evander Holyfield's ears in the third round on June 28, 1997.

That action led to revocation of his license, which wasn't restored until last Oct. 19 by a 4-1 vote of the Nevada commission.

Until the end, however, Tyson looked anything like the Iron Mike who took boxing by storm in the 1980s.

He missed with many of his punches before landing the one that saved the night.

Tyson was cut over the right eye in the first round, which was marked by mauling. When the bell sounded ending the round and Steele tried to separate the fighters, Botha landed a right to the head and Tyson retaliated. They mauled and punched as security and corner men rushed into the ring to separate them.

Steele called a timeout after the bell sounded starting the second round, and for 45 seconds discussed the situation with Marc Ratner, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Steele then warned both fighters.

Botha appeared to have the best of the second round and Tyson also was penalized a point for elbowing.

In the third round, Tyson, who weighed 223 pounds, got in his cleanest shots of the fight to that point.

Botha came back in the fourth round and was actually taunting Iron Mike.

Botha continued to talk to Tyson in the fifth round until the former undisputed heavyweight champion had the last word, a piledriver right hand to the head that dropped the 30-year-old Botha and ended chances of an upset.

"He was talking a lot of smack and stuff but I was cool," said Tyson, who blew his cool in the MGM Grand Garden in his rematch loss against Holyfield.

"Everybody said I was losing my confidence. You know what, they were talking bogus about me. It made me angy. No one was going to disrespect me."

"I just need to fight," Tyson said. "I need to put on a better show."

"I was trying to bait him," admitted Botha, who lives in Newport Beach, Calif. "I just walked into it."

The spectacular but sloppy victory ended a two-fight losing streak (Tyson lost the WBA title to Holyfield in the 11th round Nov. 6, 1996) and was Tyson's first victory since he stopped Bruce Seldon in the first round for the WBA title 28 months ago.

Tyson's victory was watched by Muhammad Ali, who also was on hand to support him during the hearing in which his license was restored.

What Ali thought of Tyson's performance, which wasn't anything like the "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" performance that Ali usually put on remains to be seen. But Tyson got the job done.

Tyson, whose purse was $10 million, notched the 40th knockout on his 46-3 record. Botha, a former IBF champion, lost for the second time against 39 wins, 24 by knockout. His purse was $1.85 million.

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