Tyson calls it quits after loss by TKO

WASHINGTON -- Mike Tyson was sprawled on the canvas, his head stuck oddly between the first and second ropes. Kevin McBride had shoved him down and now he sat there, trying to contemplate whether to get up.

The round was over, and so was Tyson's career. Nineteen years after he became the youngest man to win the heavyweight title, he was reduced to this.

An Irish heavyweight of little repute was bullying him around. He wasn't the baddest man on the planet anymore, not the baddest man in Washington.

He was an aging heavyweight who looked older by the minute Saturday night, finally coming to grips with the fact that this was the way it was going to end. It was all Tyson could do to look at referee Joe Cortez, pull himself to his feet and trudge wearily to his corner.

Tyson (50-6) sat on his stool and told Cortez he had enough. Enough for this fight, enough for a tortured career that began with greatness only to spiral out of control and finally end in desperation and sadness.

He said he would fight no more. The sport that allowed him to earn more than $300 million had passed him by, and now it was time for Tyson to admit as much.

"This is it," Tyson said. "It's finished."