‘Tyson Better Than I Thought’--Bruno

LAS VEGAS —  The only thing shorter than the fight Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden was the postfight press conference.

It lasted 0:00.

Neither the winner and new World Boxing Council heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson, nor the loser, Frank Bruno, showed up at the media tent outside the arena.

Tyson probably didn’t show out of spite.

Bruno probably didn’t show out of embarrassment.

It took Iron Mike only six minutes and 50 seconds to regain the title.

However, he remained in the ring a few minutes longer to talk to a pay-per-view television interviewer.

“I threw punches in bunches because I knew Bruno couldn’t stand up to my power,” Tyson said.

A boxing historian, Tyson compared his barrage to those that used to be delivered by the great Henry Armstrong.

“I was going for the knockout from the first round,” said Tyson, who got the job done at 50 seconds of the third round when referee Mills Lane stopped the carnage.

Bruno was still standing, but clearly ready to fall.

He was also trailing badly on points.

Tyson won the first two rounds decisively and Bruno was deducted a point by Lane in the second for holding.

“Bruno was holding all night,” Tyson said about the very brief evening.

Bruno, who had been stopped by Tyson in the fifth round seven years ago, appeared to be petrified before the fight.

One ringside observer said that, by his unofficial count, Bruno crossed himself a dozen times before the introductions.

Once the bell rang, he forgot his jab and allowed Tyson to nullify his 11-inch edge in reach.

Bruno did land a couple of right uppercuts, but the challenger rarely stopped coming and the champion rarely stopped holding.

“I think Mike Tyson was better than I thought,” Bruno told the TV interviewer. “I’m going home to be with my family.”

Tyson, a 6 1/2-1 favorite Saturday night, will be an even more prohibitive favorite in his next fight if he faces World Boxing Assn. champion Bruce Seldon as planned.

Bruno had been as high as a 10-1 underdog, but his loyal followers from Great Britain put their money where their hearts were.

The majority of the capacity crowd was rooting for Tyson, but Bruno got the loudest ovation.

Earlier in the day, an impromptu Bruno rally was staged in the lobby of the hotel.

They sang patriotic songs and chanted, “Broono, Broono, Broono.”

They kept it up during the undercard, but Tyson eventually shut them up.

“I’m not all the way back,” Tyson said after his third win in eight months, “but I’m getting better.”