Not that I’m bitter about coughing up five bucks to a friend to fire up the barbecue for community hamburgers and hot dogs to watch the biggest pay-per-view fight since the infamous cannibalistic act by Saturday’s loser on Evander Holyfield’s ear, but I was expecting more of a fight out of the Baddest Man on the Planet, “Iron” Mike Tyson.

And not so much in the conventional boxing fashion.

I was genuinely disappointed that Mike Tyson didn’t pull one of his psychotic, deranged, freak-out- and-take-a-chunk-out-of-someone tirade that we have all came to know and love him for at some point during his eighth round championship bout loss, complements of titleholder Lennox Lewis.

I was waiting for it the whole time. Lennox just left his guard down the whole fight with his significant reach advantage over the 5-foot nothing Tyson. Lewis kept connecting with the left jab, then he sipped on a spot of tea before getting bored and connecting with a right hook.

All the while, Tyson couldn’t connect with any of his signature haymakers. Instead, he was taking more shots than Glass Joe.

Eventually, Lewis’ strategy worked until Tyson was so beaten he couldn’t see straight out of either eye. Finally, Tyson suffered two knockdowns and the referee stopped the fight in the eighth round after it was getting out of hand.

All the while, the Ironman disappointingly maintained his inner fury. The same man who had bit Lennox’s leg in a pre-fight promotion months earlier kept his cool.

Even after the fight, while Jim Gray was rubbing shoulders with the two heavyweights during the postgame in the ring, there was nothing but respect and admiration from Tyson for Lewis. Tyson said he had nothing but love and respect “for Lennox Lewis and his momma.”

It was the biggest shock of the evening. The sign of showmanship, how graciously the youngest champ in history congratulated the Brit just months after telling Lewis he was going to eat his children (which he later confessed he said just to sell tickets).

It was a clean fight. Tyson took the loss like a boxer?not the psychopath who was calling his own kids “nothing but little n****s” and a CNN interviewer “a woman in the streets and a hoe in the sheets.”

Yet, even in defeat, Tyson received more attention than Lewis. Maybe that’s why Mike was pulling the media’s string all this time. Maybe he was in it for the dough (he made over $17 million bones for the fight).

He is by far the man with the most intrigue in boxing. But his big bully, pit bull persona just took a humanistic turn.

Last weekend the whole world saw Mike Tyson, the baddest man on the planet, show everyone that he had grown up a little?that even the meanest of thugs can turn into good sports. We all saw him as a gentleman in defeat.

I didn’t think I’d ever see it.

Rory welcomes feedback at: [email protected]