Are we expecting Mike Tyson to get better as he gets older? Are we expecting his hands to get faster, his reflexes to get sharper? Age is usually inversely proportional to athleticism -- you know, the older one gets, the slower the hands, the duller the reflexes. Mike Tyson is no exception to this rule. Ten years ago, could fat Brian Nielsen go six full rounds with Mike Tyson? What about five years ago? Could Nielsen have stood in front of Tyson and taunted him and survived another moment, let alone another 10 or 12 minutes?

After an opening round in which Tyson did a reasonable approximation of his old self, storming out and tearing into Nielsen's midsection, he quickly regressed to the Tyson of late. That is to say, Mike would walk straight in, indifferent defense and all, throw one punch at a time, and then fall into a clinch. He can still punch with both hands, and that alone gives him an outside chance against the best heavyweights in the world, but the Mike Tyson who showed up to fight Nielsen would not go many rounds with either Hasim Rahman or Lennox Lewis. He also would not beat Vladimir Klitchko. I'd also probably pick Chris Byrd and David Tua over him. We all know what happens when Holyfield fights him, and at this point, even Vitaly Klitchko or John Ruiz would be interesting. And yet I will be there, with most of you, watching intently each and every time Tyson fights.

There are those who say that the only reason most of us watch Tyson at all because we are waiting to see what he will do next. Mike Tyson they say, has become a travelling freak show. Yet there have been other fighters in recent years who have behaved unpredictably, and we have no great fascination with them. Andrew Golota has bitten an opponent in the ring, and fouled out twice in big fights he was winning against Riddick Bowe. We do not sit transfixed in front of our television sets when Golota fights. We watch Iron Mike, because when he was in his prime, he was perceived as the greatest young phenom in boxing history. Yes, a more impressive phenom even than a young Joe Louis.

We watch Mike Tyson, because somewhere in our collective boxing psyche we never truly believe that he is not the best. The baddest man on the planet. He was so dominant as a young fighter, so invincible it seemed, he defeated opponents in such mismatches, he knocked them out so violently, so abruptly, that no matter how many times we see him look ordinary, no matter how many times we see him lose, we have an intuitive, emotional belief that he is still the best, still the champ, still the baddest man on the planet. He is not. Not anymore. But that is why we are compelled to watch him.

And we will watch him lose. Badly. Again. If I were Mike Tyson's manager, I would keep his travelling show going as long as I could find people willing to pay him $10,000,000 for beating up their Brian Nielsens. Because one day, perhaps sooner than we expect, he will not be able to beat even them. We are talking about a guy who was once the most feared fighter who ever lived.

Golden Era at welterweight and junior middle
Schooled southpaw Winky Wright won a junior middleweight belt as expected on this last Friday Night Fights and is now in line for a big payday. The most logical opponent for Winky is Ferocious Fernando Vargas, a fellow belt holder at 154 pounds, and the winner of their controversial first meeting. Many, maybe even most thought Winky won that encounter (I had it a draw), before Fernando was awarded the disputed decision. The winner of a Vargas-Wright rematch would hold two thirds of the "legitimate" titles at 154, and have a great deal of leverage in negotiations with either the remaining junior middleweight belt holder in Oscar De La Hoya, a comebacking Felix Trinidad (should Tito drop back down from middleweight), or with the rising-in-weight welterweight great Sugar Shane Mosley.

Of course, if Shane does jump up yet another weight class he will leave unfinished business at 147. Shane's legacy thus far is based on his total domination of second-tier contenders and one magnificent win over Oscar De La Hoya. The point is probably moot, because the outcome in hindsight was not really in doubt, but it would have been nice for Shane to have taken care of fellow belt holder Stevie Johnston before moving up from lightweight. Things will once again be left unfinished (if not unsettled) at welter if Shane leaves the 147-pound ranks before taking on Vernon Forrest in a unification showdown. Just as would have been the case with Johnston, Shane would be a huge favorite over Forrest, and, just as was the case with Johnston, Shane has bigger fish to fry in bigger weight divisions. Still, just once it would be nice to see him take care of the leading opponent in his own weight class, and it would also be nice to see Vernon with the payday he has earned and yet has thus far been denied.

Max Kellerman is a studio analyst for ESPN2's Friday Night Fights.