Mcneeley Doomed From Start

Let’s face it, the fight was only going to last another 10 seconds anyway. Peter McNeeley only knows how to fight one way and he was going to bullrush Mike Tyson once more and get knocked on his keister a third time in the first round, which would have stopped the fight automatically. So, it’s not like we were going to be treated to the 15th round of Ali-Frazier in Madison Square Garden.

Tyson and McNeeley weren’t even in the ring long enough for LeRoy Neiman to capture them.

Johnny Gill’s rendition of the national anthem, among the worst ever heard at a major sporting event, lasted 2:28, or a full 59 seconds longer than the fight.

As unfulfilling as those 89 seconds were, it’s not like we didn’t know what was coming. All in all, I’ve seen worse when it comes to boxing, pro or amateur.

Certainly, you recall that Julio Cesar Chavez-Pernell Whitaker decision (a draw) down in San Antonio a couple of years ago when Whitaker was so completely robbed. That was criminal. Tyson-McNeeley wasn’t that absurd by boxing standards, it just made you shake your head and repeat the only words that help make some sense of nights like Saturday: “Hey, it’s boxing.”

As it turned out, though, I’m forced to wonder about Vinny Vecchione, who must have known going in that his guy McNeeley was going to get one and only one shot at everlasting fame and fortune and this was it. Not that McNeeley was going to win, but suppose he didn’t get knocked down again in the first, if he’d gone, say, four rounds. He’d have become a fight hero, a real-life Rocky Balboa.

Time and again in the post-fight interviews, Vecchione said he was trying to do what was best for his fighter, that he was certain McNeeley was in trouble, and he kept thinking of Gerald McClellan and the others who have suffered fatal or disabling injuries. So there wasn’t going to be any “Cut me, Vinny,” coming from the McNeeley corner.

Strangely, it was McNeeley who was booed at his postfight press conference, and again while he was guzzling drinks at the “Betty Boop” bar inside the hotel/casino.

You know, it’s a weird night when Don King makes sense, but that’s pretty much what happened when the promoter said, “Look, this kid did something - attack - which nobody’s ever tried with Mike Tyson, not even the guy (Buster Douglas) who beat him. He came ready to fight. If you’re going to be upset with anybody, it should be Vinny, because he’s the man who made the decision to stop the fight. … Peter McNeeley was up and ready to continue. Why find fault with him?”

If Saturday night’s turnout was any indication, Tyson is more popular than he was before his exile. What we still don’t know, because he spent only 89 seconds in the ring, is whether he’s as good a boxer as he was before the exile.

And that moves us to Nov. 4 and the mess that exists. Step 2 of the Tyson comeback is scheduled for that night here (perhaps against Buster Mathis Jr.) in the MGM Grand. Just 2 miles down the road at Caesars, the same night at he same time, Riddick Bowe is scheduled to fight Evander Holyfield.

If Mathis is Tyson’s next opponent, the question becomes, in light of Saturday’s quick work and the suspicion that will surround it with the pay-per-view crowd, is whether King can afford to schedule another pushover at $50 a pop, particularly if there is a real heavyweight battle going on down the road and on another pay channel.

Rock Newman, Bowe’s manager, says the Holyfield date is firm. King says he and Tyson aren’t budging.

Somebody has to blink.

The bet here is one of the fights will not take place Nov. 4. There’s too much money to be lost for the casinos, for the pay-per-view people. There’s been talk the Tyson fight could go to Showtime on cable, which would obviously hurt a pay-per-view broadcast. Newman said if King tries to counter program against the Bowe-Holyfield event, “well, I’m sure they have pay-per-view events scheduled in the future.” King and Newman don’t much like each other.

Probably, this squabble will be settled at a level much higher than Newman and King. If King, realizing people aren’t going to pay again for another sham, tries to bring in a somewhat legitimate opponent, Tyson’s drawing power will make it tough on Newman/Bowe/TVKO, even though Bowe-Holyfield is a better fight than anybody King will bring in to fight Tyson. But if King insists on a Mathis for Tyson, Newman/Bowe will have the upper hand after Saturday’s silliness.

Whatever happens, the snap, crackle and pop appear to be back in the heavyweight division, and Tyson’s the reason. Whether or not Tyson can fight like he did once upon a time is something we’ll have to wait and see, perhaps beyond the first week of November.