They say the punch is the last thing to leave an aging fighter, and that's true for all pugilists except for popular former heavyweight champions -- for these giants of the boxing landscape the last thing to go is their mystique.

	Mike Tyson raises his hands after the 50th victory of his career.

Fortunately for Mike Tyson, he still has both.

Tyson earned his 50th pro victory (and 44th knockout) by starching Clifford Etienne 49 seconds into the first round of their non-title bout at the Pyramid Arena in Memphis, Tennessee, and it's a fair bet that his easy tune-up for heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis attracted great ratings for the Showtime network and a good number of buys for the pay-per-view broadcast.

Despite the fact that most rational boxing fans realize that Tyson is only a shell of his former ring self, and despite the trend of mainstream media treating him like a traveling circus act, people still get excited when the former "Baddest Man on the Planet" fights. They still get excited when they see him on SportsCenter.

Guys who were in high school when Tyson was the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world love 'Iron Mike'. They always will. They don't care how crazy he acts in or out of the ring. And here's the deal: these guys have a way of convincing their girlfriends, their brother, their sister, and their friends who are not even into boxing to watch Tyson fight along with them.

Gradually, over the course of a few days, their enthusiasm begins to rub off on the people around them. By fight time, people who normally don't watch boxing are sitting in front of the TV, antsy for Tyson to come out of his dressing room. They aren't sure why they are there. Maybe they want to see what the big deal is. Maybe they heard reports of Tyson's tattoo on the radio.

The bottom line is that people still have parties when Tyson fights. What other heavyweight prompts your average American sports fan to run out and buy sandwiches, chips, dip, beer and soda and then call all of their friends to come over and watch it on their large screen TV?

Certainly not Wladimir Klitschko, Chris Byrd or John Ruiz. Not even Lewis or Evander Holyfield. Not unless they are fighting Tyson.

Tyson knows this. He knows he's money.

"When Lewis and Holyfield beat me, they made names for themselves," Tyson said after knocking out Etienne. "It was all in God's plan for me to take care of them.

"Sugar Ray Robinson idolized Henry Armstrong as a kid. One day, when Armstrong was old, he approached Robinson on the street and said 'If I'm your idol, why don't you fight me? Let's make some money.' Fighters take care of each other like that.

"I wasn't scared to fight. [Etienne] wasn't scared. He needed the money. I'm always in need of money."

Tyson will always get money as long as his mystique ensures that his faithful fans always want to see him fight. He's still got it. He still does things that makes the men and women of the media scratch their heads. Tyson fans could care less.

Last year, in the same venue that he starched Etienne, Tyson was humbled by Lewis in brutal and one-sided fashion. The loss to Lewis was harder on Tyson fans than it was Tyson.

Tyson has only four losses on his ledger, and each time it happened, his most faithful fans cried real tears right in front of their guests. They got mad. They cursed out and threatened to beat up the folks who cheered for the other guy. They punched holes in their own walls.

When Tyson dropped Etienne, his faithful relived their high school days of watching him dominate the heavyweight division almost every month on HBO, even before the 'the Black Rhino' was counted out.

For the moment, Tyson fans forgot that Etienne was exposed two years ago as having absolutely no defense and no chin for a good right hand. They forgot about all the wild, loping hooks and crosses that Tyson missed with before he landed his right hand.

They forgot about the beating Lewis gave Tyson. They forgot that they, along with Tyson, are getting old.

Even those who didn't know which guy was Tyson before the fight know better. But when the Lewis-Tyson rematch is on, they will be right back on the sofa next to the crazy guy. Hey, who else in sports or entertainment creates that much excitement in only 49 seconds of work?

Heck, Tyson fans are more entertaining to watch than 99 percent of the top boxers in the world.