LESS than an hour after Mike Tyson had said “enough” in the ring at the MCI Centre, movements were already being made to try to flog one more payday out of the former world heavyweight champion. As humiliations go, Tyson’s retirement at the end of the sixth round against Kevin McBride was really as low as it could go in boxing terms, but shortly before Tyson took the stage at the post-bout press conference, Rock Newman, the promoter, spoke.

“I hear there are rumblings about a rematch, perhaps someone would like to ask that,” he said. Of course there were no such rumblings, and no one asked, but the idea was to get the question out there, to put the thought into a few heads while there are still dollars to be made.

Tyson himself showed plenty of dignity and soon left no doubt that his career was over. “I just don’t have the guts for it anymore,” he said. “I don’t want to disgrace the sport. This is a great sport. It can take men from humble beginnings and have them rub shoulders with royalty.”

Tyson has been to the very top and now finds himself at the bottom, but at least he has started to look comfortable with it. Tyson repeated his desire to do missionary work and said he had spoken to a Christian charity about aid work in Bosnia or Rwanda, “somewhere where people are in dire need”.

“I have to be happy and I am only happy when I am making a contribution,” he said. “That’s how I lost all my money, I thought I was contributing but it was to the wrong source. If I’m not contributing, I’m just emotionally dead.

“I’m trying to change my life. I know I’m not above killing any drug dealer for money, so I’m trying to go the other route. I’m just Mike, I’m not an elite person. All I used to think about was acquiring things, but as life goes on, I realise life is more about losing things than acquiring things.”

While no one was about to put him off his immediate plans, he had better go somewhere where there are no telephones, because the debts are still there and the offers to box again will come.

Twice divorced with six children to a string of different women, Tyson’s debts are believed to be about $21 million (£11.58 million), owed mostly to the Inland Revenue Service. Of his $5.5 million purse for this bout, Tyson was expected to receive only $250,000, the rest being divided up between his creditors and the taxman after $1 million in expenses were paid.

The best news Tyson received over the weekend was that Monica Turner, his second wife, waived her rights to $750,000 of the purse, adding that she would not receive any of the $6.6 million in unpaid child support and alimony she is owed until he gets a bout with a purse of more than $7 million, something that now seems impossible.

“I want him to get back to where he needs to be,” Turner said. “The kids and I aren’t getting anything from this fight.”

Turner left her job as a paediatrician at Georgetown University Medical Centre when she took over Tyson’s business affairs. She is believed to have helped to wipe out about $40 million of the incredible debt he built up, having earned about $160 million during his career.

“She’s incredible,” Tyson said. “It’s a shame we can’t be married anymore, but I’m just grateful she is my friend. I wouldn’t be my friend after the way I behaved. I had children with other women and she looked after them.”

The possibility of Tyson doing commentary work — he is a knowledgeable boxing historian — was raised, but Tyson said he was not interested. “Maybe I would be doing myself a favour by earning some money, paying my tax and all that crap,” Tyson said. “I’m too stigmatised in this country, I want to do something that will have a tangible effect on people. I live in a world where I’m not too media -friendly, I would never be successful in this country. People think I’m mad and I do crazy things, but I’m extremely rational and I understand the situation.”

Tyson was not interested in remembering the good times or getting emotional, telling the press to sit down when he received a standing ovation. “I don’t look back,” he said. “My career was over in 1990 (the year he lost the undisputed world heavyweight title to James ‘Buster’ Douglas).

“Most of my fans are too sensitive. I’m a cruel and cold and hard person. I’ve been abused in every way you can imagine. Save your tears. I lost my sensitivity. You embarrass me when you cry.”