Brutal Tyson wins in seven

Tyson landed shots at Nielsen as he pleased

Mike Tyson beat the durable Brian Nielsen when the Dane failed to answer the bell for the start of the seventh round in Copenhagen.

To a chorus of boos, referee Steve Smoger made the compassionate decision to stop the hometown favourite from coming out of his corner.

Nielsen had apparently told the referee that he was struggling to see through his left eye.

I was rusty - I had no idea he was that tough as a fighter, he took some real shots

Mike Tyson

But referee Smoger later confirmed that he had taken the decision to stop the fight.

While the crowd were obviously not happy with the decision, their compatriot had been on the end of terrible punishment for all six rounds and had shown no indication that he could avoid Tyson's punches.

For Tyson, this fight, his first in almost a year, showed that he can still perform in a boxing ring, although once again, he was involved in controversy, even if he did little wrong himself.

The Dane survived the first round to huge applause from the partisan crowd, although he served as little more than a punch bag for the intimidating Tyson.

The second round followed the same pattern and in the third round, Nielsen was floored by a massive series of hooks to the head.

Upon rising, he was greeted by a Tyson hook which was deemed a low blow.

The punch did not seem deliberate or even that low, but the flabby Dane was given five minutes to recover.

Slow round

Nielsen seemed more hurt by that the 50 or so shots he had absorbed during the fight.

The fourth round saw Tyson slow down for the first time in the fight, and while he clearly won it, Nielsen seemed to withstand the expected barrage quite easily.

The fifth was another slow round until the final 30 seconds, when Tyson rocked his

My eye kept swelling and after the last few punches I could not see

Brian Nielsen

opponent with a big left hand.

Nielsen's legs seemed to betray him briefly, but he recovered his composure to see the round out.

The strength of Nielsen's chin had been tested throughout the fight and he showed huge courage to survive three massive right hands in the sixth round.

But that was his last hurrah and it has to be said that the decision to pull him from the fight was the humane thing to do.