MANILA, Philippines—Last sighted, “Iron Mike” Tyson, with a dwindled hairdo, sat with a female companion at ringside to watch Manny Pacquiao’s demolition of a gloved statue by the name of David Diaz in Las Vegas.

This was on June 28, a Saturday, at the Mandalay Bay Resort Hotel and Casino.

Now, don’t be stunned if Iron Mike, one of these days, ends up either at the Big Dome in Cubao, Quezon City, or at the Cuneta Astrodome in Peewee Trinidad’s Pasay City.

At the rate they are desperately hiring American imports in the PBA, Tyson, a former convict, need not lose his way to end up in Manila.

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Stark developments last week showed the PBA would take in American cagers, regardless of shape and credentials, in a frantic bid to lend life to its rapidly dwindling gates.

There was the disturbing case of Lee Benson, who stood dirtier than his 6-foot-10 frame in shamelessly exposing the former convict in him.

Knowing the owners of the Sta. Lucia Realty team, they would’ve promptly thumbed down Benson if the import had been peddled with an honest-to-badness label.

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It was already too late when Sta. Lucia team manager Buddy Encarnado realized the anomaly of coddling a gangster that masqueraded as a gentleman cager.

As Encarnado would explain later, Benson had been brutish from Day One.

The American bully threw his weight around and, at one time, had a quarrel with a cabbie that he refused to pay after three days of service.

OK. The easy-go-lucky system of hiring foreigners in the PBA obviously does not provide for a deeper check into the mood, habit and character of foreign reinforcements.

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But Encarnado wasted no time.

He sent Benson packing, thereby readily killing Sta. Lucia’s chance of earning a disputed slot in the PBA Fiesta Conference semifinals.

Who knows? Maybe Encarnado thought and hoped that Benson, who served time for drug use and felony in the States, had reformed.

Encarnado, however, bluntly declared a no-deal after Benson tried to take the Sta. Lucia team hostage, threatening not to play to his true worth if he did not get an instant pay increase.

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Of course, there was more than one serious reason behind Sta. Lucia Realty’s decision to kick out Benson.

The danger of indefinitely dealing with a gangster was just one of them.

The bigger factor behind the banishment of that ex-convict was the danger of exposing fans to criminal virus.

Sta. Lucia loves and cares for the PBA, Philippine basketball itself.

It would not allow this to be foolishly contaminated with bums.

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SALUTE: Gabby Fajardo, great basketball Olympian, passed away on Saturday at age 91. Fajardo was also known as the first coach of the legendary Carlos Loyzaga, thereby earning the distinction of having fathered the greatest career in Philippine basketball.