Fire Fight

The second knockdown was the real thing. With five seconds to go in the third round, Tyson fired a hook over a missed right hand, and Ruddock danced crazily to his left and fell. This time he stayed down until the count of six. As he retreated toward his corner—the count and the round ended virtually simultaneously—Ruddock raised his arms as if to say, "I'm O.K. He didn't hurt me."

By the end of Round 5, the fight had settled into a brutal, one-sided pattern. Ruddock's hook found Tyson 's head repeatedly, but nothing slowed the former champion. Ruddock's corner told him, "You can't do it with just one punch. Throw combinations." Few came. Ruddock wanted to hurt Tyson with one hard punch, then overwhelm him.

Before the bout, trainer Slim Robinson, who mapped Ruddock's battle plan, had said, "I don't think Tyson 's chin is as good as his punch. He can't take a punch as well as he can throw one. If he wants to fight in the middle of the ring, we'll fight him in the middle of the ring. And we aren't looking to win his respect. To hell with respect. We're looking to take him out of there."

It almost happened. Late in the sixth round, Tyson was stung by two left hooks and a right hand. He bulled into Ruddock, grabbing him. Breaking free, Ruddock cracked home a right hand. Looking disgusted. Tyson paused and pointed to his chin. That was a mistake. Another right hand snapped Tyson 's head back just before the bell. "It was like a bleeping mule kick," Tyson said afterward.

Furious with himself, Tyson was up and out of his corner before the bell opened the seventh round. Glaring, he motioned Ruddock forward. Ruddock complied slowly. By now, between rounds, he was desperately taking great gulps of air.

Tyson caught Ruddock's attention early in the round with two blows low on the hips, drawing boos from the fans but no warning from Steele. With a minute to go, Ruddock was hit low again, and two more right hands drilled him into the ropes. Tyson slammed a right hand to the body, then snapped Ruddock's head back with a hook. Raising both hands high, Ruddock staggered back across the ring.

After missing with a right and a left, Tyson scored with another right and a left, driving Ruddock into the ropes. Rushing in, Steele grabbed Tyson with both arms. Barely glancing at Ruddock, who was on his feet and bouncing off the ropes, Steele waved that the fight was over.

"What!" said Ruddock, his eyes wide with shock. Immediately an angry army came boiling out of Ruddock's corner, led by Delroy Ruddock, Razor's older brother and manager, and Murad Muhammad , his promoter. Tyson spotted the charge first, and in apparent reply to the plaints of Ruddock's handlers that they wuz robbed, he yelled, "That's bull— —! That's bull— —!"

A few feet from Tyson , Giachetti turned and moved to intercept Delroy Ruddock. "He was trying to get at Steele," Giachetti said. "I grabbed him and told him to cool it. Then Murad sucker-punched me." Giachetti went down, and someone kicked him four times.

A squad of green-jacketed security people leaped into the ring and hustled Steele away to safety. Inside the crowded ring, a series of small skirmishes broke out. Ruddock retreated to his corner; Tyson moved to a neutral corner, where—wisely—no one tried to attack him. It was a short melee, but it was stupid and ugly.