Tyson at 147

I don't have much to say about Jermain Taylor's win over Kassim Ouma last night. The big guy beat up the little guy, but couldn't knock him out because the little guy is tough as leather. To my eyes, Jermain was anything but impressive in victory, clumsy and bullish and spent as always in the late rounds. I find him excruciating to watch.

What interested me last night was the undercard, a coming-out party for 2004 Haitian Olympian Andre Berto (pictured above), who demolished a very courageous Miguel Figueroa in six rounds. A welterweight, Berto has been generating a lot of excitement with his fights in the past year, and last night we all saw why. The guy has the whole package - hand-speed and footwork that makes you think he could trade with Floyd, and power that makes you wince even when you're watching at television distance. Throw in the fact that he's handsome and articulate and cut like a bodybuilder and Andre Berto seems like a guaranteed star in the making. As Larry Merchant pointed out after the bout, despite the fact that he's relatively untested as a pro, 16-0 (14 KO's), right now it feels like there's nothing left but for Berto to make the leap to some elite competition. To keep him on the bum of the month tour would be exceedingly cruel to the bums.

On that score - there are times when I really wonder about my obsession with this unkindest of sports, and last night was one of those times. Berto's opponent, Figueroa, weathered a storm in that ring like few I can think of in recent memory. Think back to the early Tyson one-round demolitions of fury - Figueroa took five-plus rounds of that shit last night, and in the second and third actually looked like he might make a fight of it, despite the fact that Berto had him out on his feet at the end of the first. By the end of the fifth he was clearly shot, glassy-eyed and bloodied, absorbing countless head-snapping uppercuts and hooks. Still his corner showed him no mercy, and sent him out for the sixth. "I can't make it," Figueroa told his handlers, and met with immediate derision. "Are you going to quit on your stool?" he was asked in disgust. "How can you do this to us, to your wife and kids?" Damn man, your fighter is getting killed in there. The man has taken more punishment than any man should ever have to take, and he has NO chance of winning. He was simply outclassed. If you couldn't see that, then you should get out of the game pronto, because last night your kid took a beating that might have killed him.