NEIL BRAMWELL speaks out

THE length of Mike Tyson's ban should never have been an issue.

Tyson should now be where he belongs - behind bars - chewing over the length of his new prison sentence.

This savage will be able to fight again in just over a year.

The 'sport' of boxing could not resist the lure of a mouth-watering blood-curdling rematch with Evander Holyfield.

But Tyson's fate should never have been in the hands of the Nevada Athletic Commission.

An appearance before the district attorney - the morning after the fight - would have been more appropriate.

A man who bites off the ear of a rival in a pub brawl is not banned from drinking for a year.

He is punished in the criminal courts for a criminal act.

The fact that Tyson's crime was committed within the confines of a 'sporting' arena in some ways makes the deed even more hideous.

Boxing can attempt to justify its existence by claiming that the aggression of the fighters is constrained by rigid rules.

So when those rules are blatantly ignored - in the pursuit of huge financial gain - what is the message to a society where such violence is already spiralling?

An alternative to the $3 million fine, the maximum under the commission's regulations, was a suspension under Nevada state law.

Just how can the law of the land apply to financial punishment and not to the act itself? The wider issue is criminality in sport.

To me, it is absurdly abhorent that Frank Williams can be facing trial for manslaughter for an accident which killed Ayrton Senna while this monster called Tyson swaggers round the streets of New York.

Ultimately, the biting of Evander Holyfield can only mean an escalation of his personal wealth.

It is not inconceivable the act was premeditated.

Physical injury is part and parcel of sport, even when opponents openly break the rules of the game.

Footballers must expect the occasional high tackle, cricketers the odd beamer and rugby players stamping in the ruck.

No boxer would expect to complete a career without being on the receiving end of a headbutt.

But no boxer would expect his opponent to pull out a knife and stab him.

That might be taking the argument to the extreme.

But I wouldn't be too bothered whether my ear was severed with a clean blade or the teeth of a raving rapist.

The sour taste this leaves is not that of Evander Holyfield's blood, but that boxing abides by such fickle moral and legal standards.

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