WASHINGTON (AP) – Mike Tyson’s career may have ended in a shocker Saturday night when he quit on the stool after taking a beating in a foul-filled sixth round against unheralded Kevin McBride.

Tyson lost for the third time in his last four fights, and once again he faded badly as the rounds went on before head butting McBride in a desperate attempt to end the fight in the sixth round.

Tyson was pushed to the canvas when the round ended, his head stuck between the first and second ropes. He got up very slowly, wobbled back to his corner and sat on his stool.

When referee Joe Cortez came by to look at him, his corner told Cortez the fighter could not continue. Cortez then went over and raised McBride’s hand in victory.

The 38-year-old Tyson was a huge favorite over McBride and won the early rounds. But as the fight went on, it was McBride landing the bigger punches as Tyson desperately tried to score a knockout.

Tyson was weary by the fifth round and, in the sixth round, he was penalized two points for deliberately head butting McBride and opening a cut over his left eye. The head butt came after Tyson appeared to try to break McBride’s arm in a clinch like he once did against Francois Botha and after he hit him with several low blows.

In a career filled with tremendous highs and terrible lows, Tyson may have reached a new low in the loss to McBride, who came into the fight with no credentials.

“I don’t have the stomach for this anymore,” Tyson said. “I most likely won’t fight anymore. I’m not going to disrespect the sport by losing to this caliber of fighters.”

Tyson was a shell of the fighter he once was, throwing wild punches and trying to knock out McBride with each shot. But McBride took the punches and came back with some of his own and Tyson gradually began wearing down.

The sixth round was bizarre even by the standards of a fighter once banned from boxing for biting Evander Holyfield’s ears.

Tyson was clearly exhausted and opened the round by throwing wild shots. He then appeared to try to break McBride’s arm, drawing a protest from the Irish fighter.

“He tried to break my arm and he butted me,” McBride said. “That’s the rough stuff in boxing.”

Tyson wasn’t through. He banged his bald head against McBride, prompting Cortez to take two points from him for the foul.

“I could have gone on but I thought I was getting beat,” Tyson said. “I don’t think I have it anymore.”

Tyson was tentative early, showing little of the aggressiveness that once made him a feared fighter. McBride stood right in front of him, but Tyson was content to land only one punch at a time, perhaps remembering how he ran out of gas in his previous fights.

“There’s no rush,” trainer Jeff Fenech said after the first round.

But it turned out there was a rush as Tyson faded just as he did against Danny Williams last July. That loss was blamed on torn cartilage in Tyson’s leg, but it was clear even to the pro-Tyson crowd of 15,472 at the MCI Center on this night that Tyson was a shot fighter.

The 6-foot-5 McBride towered over Tyson and weighed 271 pounds to 233 for the former champion. But he had been knocked out four times by lesser fighters and wasn’t expected to give Tyson much of a fight.

Ali’s daughter wins first WBC women’s title

Her dad came to watch, and Laila Ali did him proud.

With Muhammad Ali at ringside Saturday night, Laila Ali pounded Erin Toughill into submission in the third round to remain undefeated and become the first woman to win a World Boxing Council title.

Muhammad Ali got into the ring, hugged his daughter and gave her tender kisses after she stopped the outclassed Toughill at 1:59 of the third round. Toughill took about 20 consecutive punches in her corner before referee Joseph Cooper stepped in to stop the fight.

Laila Ali, who is generally recognized as the top woman in boxing, improved to 21-0 by winning the super middleweight fight against a fighter with far less experience.

“It’s wonderful anytime my dad is there,” Laila Ali said. “It lights a fire in me.”

Ali had promised to give Toughill a beating, and she did just that in the fight on the undercard of the Mike Tyson-Kevin McBride fight.

Toughill had only eight professional fights in five years, and four of those were against women who had never had a fight.

“She talks like me,” Muhammad Ali said.

“I back it up, too, don’t I, Daddy?” Laila replied.

Toughill did land some effective punches in the first round, mostly left hooks. But Ali’s speed and power were too much and she began taking a beating in the second round.

By the end, Toughill (6-2-1) could not punch back.

“People are not used to seeing me hit my opponent like that,” Ali said. “She was cowering in the corner.”

Muhammad Ali was impressed not only with his daughter’s speaking ability, but her fighting ability.

“She’s bad,” Ali said. “It runs in the family.”

As the ring was clearing out after the fight, Muhammad Ali was formally announced, and he responded by throwing a few punches in the air to the crowd.

In another fight, former 140-pound champion Sharmba Mitchell ended up a winner even though he quit after a vicious head butt in the fifth round of his fight with Chris Smith.

Mitchell, fighting for the first time since being knocked out in November by Kostya Tszyu, turned his back on Smith and held his left eye in obvious pain after the two unintentionally butted heads 16 seconds into the fifth round.

Mitchell, fighting in his hometown, could not continue so the fight went to the scorecards, which Mitchell was winning on all three. Smith and his promoter both protested that the fight shouldn’t have been stopped since Mitchell’s only cut was below his eye.

Mitchell said there was no way he could continue.

“When we came together our heads met and it felt like my eye exploded,” Mitchell said.

AP-ES-06-11-05 2234EDT