LAS VEGAS (Ticker) -- Just when you thought Mike Tyson's troubled and turbulent career could not get any stranger, he finds a way to surprise you.

Tyson's long-awaited return to the ring lasted exactly three minutes. In the final seconds of the opening round of his bout with Orlin Norrs, Tyson looked to get inside. Two seconds after the bell sounded and as referee Richard Steele stepped in to call for a break, the former undisputed champion landed a crisp left hand to the chin that buckled Norris.

Norris fell awkwardly to the canvas but got up without any aid. Steele deducted two points from Tyson but when he returned to check on Norris, he was told by Norris' corner that the fighter would be unable to continue due to a injured right knee.

"I didn't want it to end like this," Norris said. "He hit me clearly after the bell. I heard the bell and was about to step back to my corner. He threw an uppercut and Richard Steele stuck his arm in, then came another he caught me with."

"It was simultaneous with the bell," Tyson claimed. "The punch wasn't that deadly. He could've continued. He quit on his stool, but I will take him again in my next fight."

After a conference in the ring with Dr. Flip Homansky and Nevada State Athletic Commission members Dr. Elias Ghanem and Marc Ratner, the bout was ruled no contest. Following the contest, Ratner revealed that Tyson's half of the purse would be withheld pending a general investigation into the incident.

"All we know is that Orlin couldn't continue because his knee was severely twisted," Ratner said. "The fight would have continued if he was mentally fine, mentally sharp and nothing wrong because of the head blow. We will review on Monday. It is one of the things that happens in the fight game. We will review it and do what is right."

It seems the things that happen in the fight game almost always involve Tyson. The twice-jailed boxer was in his first fight in 10 months and just his eighth in eight years.

The first round against Norris, a former cruiserweight champion, appeared innocent enough until the waning seconds, when the latest chapter in Tyson's star-crossed career was written.

The embattled former heavyweight champion looked active and fit in his first action since stopping Frans Botha of South Africa in the fifth round on January 16. He was released from a Maryland jail on May 24 and has fought just twice in the last 35 months.

He was an overwhelming favorite tonight against Norris but now faces a number of new questions, most notably when he will fight again. Tyson's handlers were planning on a four-fight series to get the 33-year-old back into the title picture but tonight's mess surely will neccessitate some changes to that strategy.

Once the most feared boxer and highest-paid athlete in sports, Tyson has seen his career sidetracked by indiscretions in and out of the ring. His drawing power has slid to the point where tonight's fight was televised as part of a free preview of the Showtime Cable Network, rather than pay-per-view.

Tyson's drawing power may be diminished but he still attracted celebrities such as John Travolta, Pierce Brosnan, Wayne Newton, Charlie Sheen and Magic Johnson to the arena. Tonight, he wasted little time after the cancellation of the fight to return to the aggressive style that made him such a draw in the late 1980s.

"He quit on his stool. He knew I was going to put on the heat in the second round," Tyson said. "I feel great. Four more fights, then the heavyweight championship."

While on probation earlier this year, Tyson pleaded no contest to assault charges stemming from a car accident near Gaithersburg, Maryland. He was released in May after Indiana officials ruled that he completed his probation.

Despite the early release, Tyson remains on probation for the next two years. During his incarceration, he made more headlines when he smashed a television during an outburst attributed to his being taken off antidepressant medication.

That was the second imprisonment for Tyson, who also served 3 1/2 years in an Indiana jail earlier this decade for the rape of a beauty pageant entrant.