Tyson Is Knocked Out in Comeback Match

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —  Mike Tyson was knocked out in the fourth round Friday night in a shocking end to the latest comeback of the fighter who once was the most feared heavyweight of his era.

Unheralded British heavyweight Danny Williams landed a flurry of punches that sent Tyson sprawling into the ropes, perhaps ending his career with the same kind of fury that Tyson once unleashed on other fighters.

Tyson went down from a final right hand, then lay along the ropes, blood streaming down his face. He tried to get up to beat the count, then fell again and the fight was waved to a close at 2:51 of the fourth round.

“People forget this isn’t a peak Mike Tyson. This was a Mike Tyson who was 38 years old,” Williams said. “I thought I could win.”

The fight was a free-for-all from the opening bell. Tyson landed some huge left hooks early, only to take punishment when Williams got over his initial stage fright.

Tyson won the first three rounds, but Williams was landing well to the head and when he began throwing punch after punch with Tyson near a neutral corner, Tyson couldn’t answer back.

When the end came, Tyson lay half propped up by the ring ropes with a look of resignation on his face. He made one effort to get up but stumbled and the fight was over.

Tyson’s handlers said later he injured his knee late in the first round. He was taken to a local hospital to get stitches for a cut near the corner of his right eye.

“I felt like I had him,” Williams said. “I just remember [Evander] Holyfield fighting him like that; Holyfield kept coming with shot after shot.”

After he went back to the corner, Tyson told trainer Freddie Roach: “I’m sorry. I’m disappointed.”

Roach replied, “You don’t have to be sorry with me.”

It was Tyson’s first fight in 17 months, and his second since taking a beating from former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis two years ago.

Tyson left the ring refusing to talk.

Williams came in with a 31-3 record with 26 knockouts. Tyson’s record fell to 50-5-2. The loss was his first in a nontitle fight.

Tyson, who blew an estimated $300-million fortune, earned about $8 million for the 57th fight of a pro career that began 19 years ago. He could keep only $2 million of it, with the rest going to pay off some of the $38 million he owes to creditors, under a bankruptcy reorganization plan.

On the undercard, Laila Ali, daughter of Muhammad Ali, stopped Monica Nunez in the ninth round of a scheduled 10-round fight.