Since the fight itself promised the classic mismatch it turned out to be, we must assume that the 15,000 who descended on the Pyramid in Memphis on Saturday night came hoping to satisfy their curiosity on a number of salient points.

Would Mike Tyson show up for the fight? Would the tattoo freshly inscribed on the left side of Iron Mike's face bleed the first time Clifford Etienne hit him there? And could Tyson deliver a performance capable of persuading the boxing public that he was worthy of a rematch with Lennox Lewis? The answers were Yes, No, and apparently, according to Tyson himself, No.

The right cross which felled Etienne barely half a minute into Saturday night's brief encounter might have been vintage Tyson, but little else that transpired in the 49 seconds between the opening bell and the moment referee Bill Clancy counted the Black Rhino out will serve as likely selling points for Lewis-Tyson II.

The Maori tattoo adorning Tyson's face, on the other hand, was never tested. Although a wild left hook from Etienne did graze Tyson above the other eye, opening a slight nick, the tattoo remained undisturbed and will now presumably heal in peace.

The fight, such as it was, was mercifully brief. Etienne, despite the timidity with which he had approached the bout, came charging out of his corner in a manner reminiscent of another Tyson victim, the equally inept Peter McNeeley, eight years earlier. As both boxers flailed away, the opening exchanges looked like a reprise of the inartistic undercard catfight between the disgraced Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding and Samantha Browning which had concluded moments earlier.

When Etienne seized Tyson by the shoulders in an attempt to clinch, Tyson pulled him forward and the two went down in an ungainly heap. When they emerged from the tangle of bodies to resume the fray, Tyson tagged Etienne with a crisp left uppercut, and the end was in sight.

As Etienne manoeuvred ungracefully, Tyson moved in and missed with a sweeping left hook that whistled over the Rhino's head. Etienne recognised this as the opening for a counter right hand, but by the time his benumbed brain had processed that information it was too late. As Etienne began to throw the right, Tyson threw one of his own. Etienne's punch never got there, but Tyson's did, and the sound of his right glove exploding against the side of Etienne's head was followed, a split second later, by the sound of the Rhino's 223lb body crashing to the floor.

Barely conscious, Etienne clumsily fumbled with his gumshield but made no move to regain his feet until Tyson helped him up after Clancy completed his count.

The bedlam that ensued throughout the arena - Etienne and his entourage literally fought their way back to the dressing room - was overtaken by the bizarre ringside interview in which Tyson bared his soul in a rambling, often contradictory manner.

He conceded that he wasn't ready "to get my ass kicked" by Lewis again, but almost in the same breath proclaimed himself "a warrior." He somewhat absurdly claimed to have fought with a "broken back," the residue of a motorcycle accident several years earlier. He said "at this moment I don't even know if I want to fight again," but promised to "go right back into the gym a week later." It was almost impossible to make sense of any of this, but then this was Mike Tyson.