THE fight that was supposed to save boxing is already set to kill the game off as a serious spectacle.

The ever diminishing standing of the fight game had a big chance to regain some of the lost ground with the classic heavyweight clash between Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson in Las Vegas in April.

After the lean years where the plethora of titles has devalued holding world champion status, at last in Lewis and Tyson there was a chance to set the boxing world right again.

Instead what we get is a farcical pre-emptive strike.

The bust up between the Tyson and Lewis camps at a press conference in New York dragged the fight game another few notches down the ladder and just who really takes it seriously as a sport anymore?

It is perhaps apt that the Lewis-Tyson fight runs up against the release of a film biopic of Muhamed Ali.

In Ali the world had an arrogant champion, but the game also had a champion who knew how to promote himself and the sport as an entertainer and not a lout.

In fact loutishness was just not a factor.

Despite the ill-feeling between Ali and the likes of George Foreman and Smoking Joe Frazier, there still remained both respect and decorum.

Instead what boxing has now is a challenger for the biggest crown who has little to recommend him - even his standing as challenger is gained more on his past reputation in the ring.

Tyson could have had it all. Some will argue he did have it all, but in the end his arrogance, aggression and inability to act like a civilised human being has seen too much of his reputation eroded.

Biting, punching low and punching after the bell are hardly the hallmarks of an all-time world champion -- and those are just his offences inside the ring!

There has been a conspiracy theory circulating that suggests that the brawling that kicked off in New York was Tyson's way of backing out of a fight that he just does not fancy.

Whatever the truth, the fact is that for once this was not one of those sad staged rucks designed to boost interest and ticket sales.

Had it been a set-up then boxing would once again have been lambasted as a mere circus freak show.

Instead the brawling has created a different image of the sport -- hopefully the damage done won't prove fatal.