Tyson’s Offense Not Easily Dismissed Anti-Boxing: He Has Yet To Express Remorse

Sure, people make mistakes. They atone for them, they move on. Sometimes they even learn from them and help others to avoid the missteps they’ve taken in life.

That’s a good thing.

But Mike Tyson’s mistake isn’t so easily dismissed. We’re talking about rape.

And should a rapist be allowed - even encouraged - to fight his way back to the heavyweight boxing champ pedestal, to the adoration and awe of the nation?

You wouldn’t think so. But it’s already in the works. Tyson, who will be released from prison this spring after serving half of his sixyear sentence for raping a teenage beauty queen, wants a comeback.

The news is being welcomed in boxing circles, where crooked trainers and managers are eager to make a buck, and among people who cling to the myth that Tyson was wrongly convicted.

But Desiree Washington knows the truth. A 12-member jury saw the truth. Now, Tyson and his cronies will try to hide the truth by distracting us with Tyson’s prowess in the ring.

The thought is sickening.

That tells children athletic ability is more important than moral character. That it’s OK to force a defenseless young woman to have sex with you, as long as you’ve got the speed and power in your fist to knock men unconscious.

It’s the same message that made it possible to dismiss the simmering rage of O.J. Simpson, who beat his wife yet still sold us rental cars and smiled at us from the big screen.

People who say Tyson has paid his debt haven’t listened to what the man has had to say in the last three years. He has yet to express remorse for his crime, except to say he “should have been more polite” to Washington, maybe walked her downstairs or something. He’s never apologized, never asked for help.

He’s says he’s the victim.

Try not to gag at this point. Here’s a man who at best was a lewdtalking, crude, aggressive brute before he crossed the line from sanctioned violence to all-out assault. Now, he’s all that and a criminal. A rapist.

If baseball can ban Pete Rose from his sport for gambling, if skating can kick out Tonya Harding for her crimes, surely boxing can recognize Tyson isn’t the best representative of the sport.

Boxing helped Tyson become the brute he is, it reinforced his take-what-you-want arrogance. But he’s no hero. He’s no victim. Don’t come back, Mike. Just go away.

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