Tyson KOs Botha in 5th round

Just one punch. That's all it took.

Mike Tyson was triumphant in his return to the ring Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and he did it in dramatic fashion.

Tyson, after looking sloppy in the first four rounds, landed an awesome short right to Frans Botha's chin with 1 second left in the fifth. After Botha struggled to his feet, referee Richard Steele stopped the scheduled 10-round bout.

Two of the judges, Dave Moretti and Dalby Shirley, scored the first four rounds for Botha at 40-35, factoring in a one-point deduction Tyson received in the second round for hitting on a break. The third judge, Bill Graham, gave Tyson only the second round, scoring it 39-36.

The decisive punch came after an errant Tyson jab. Tyson quickly followed it up with a shot that traveled about 10 inches. Botha didn't even stagger. He immediately dropped and pitched forward onto his forehead. The first time he tried to get up he fell to his right knee. Once he arose, he staggered backward. As Steele waved his arms to halt the bout, Tyson rushed over to keep Botha from falling through the ropes.

It was Tyson's first fight since being suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for biting Evander Holyfield's ears 19 months ago in the same arena.

A scene eerily similar to the one that erupted after the ear biting occurred at the end of the first round Saturday night. During a clinch and with Steele trying to separate the fighters, Tyson hit Botha. The bell then rang and Botha answered with a shot of his own. Even with their trainers hanging off them and unsuccessfully pulling them apart, Tyson and Botha continued to brawl for about 20 seconds before order was restored.

Thirty-seven seconds into the second round, an obviously furious Tyson received a point deduction for hitting on the break. That round, too, ended with punches being thrown after the bell, but no more penalties were assessed.

Tyson started to calm down in the third despite taunting from the increasingly confident Botha, who routinely dropped his arms and mocked the former undisputed champion of the world.

In the Tyson-Botha precursor, Roberto Garcia hammered out a unanimous decision over John John Molina for the IBF junior lightweight title. In a wild 12th round, Molina knocked Garcia down. Molina also was dropped by a low blow and the fight ended with a head butt that sent him swooning.

"He's a warrior," Garcia said. "He's a gamer. He always comes to fight. He hit me good, but he did not hurt me.

"He tried to get me disqualified."

In another fight in which the obvious loser scored a last-round knock down, the pay-per-view commenced with Gregorio Vargas (39-6-1, 28) cruising to an easy victory over Ben Tackie (18-1, 11) to fill the vacant WBC Continental lightweight title. Vargas won with one score of 117-110 and two scores of 116-111.

On the untelevised portion of the card, Zab Judah (19-0, 14) earned the interim IBF junior welterweight title by knocking out Wilfredo Negron (17-4, 14) at 1:44 of the fourth round; heavyweight prospect Lance "Mount" Whitaker (18-0, 16) recorded a technical knockout against Alex Stewart (43-9, 40) at 1:40 of the seventh round; Fernando Zuniga (14-1, 11) won a unanimous decision over Jamal Harris (5-4-2) in a six- round middleweight fight; and in a women's bout, Corrine Vanreykdegroot (3-0, 2) scored a technical knockout over debuting Heather Shoffner 59 seconds into the first round.

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