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The "Beast" is back...

Mike Tyson's back, and how.

Appearing before the New Jersey Boxing Commission in a bid to regain his boxing license, the bad boy of the ring ended up swearing in sheer frustration.

Asked repeatedly by an attorney for the commission whether he regretted the incident, last year, wherein he bit off Evander Holyfield's ear, Tyson's patience cracked.

"Why do I have to re-live my ******* life?" he burst out.

His attorney, Anthony Fusco, quickly calmed him down, and Tyson spent the rest of the hearing -- which began at 10 am and went on till almost 2 pm -- with his head in his hands.

"I never lost my cool," said Tyson afterwards. "I was just expressing my hurts."

Tyson's licence had been revoked last July, by the Nevada Boxing Commission, following the Holyfield incident. The boxer decided to reapply, this time in New Jersey.

The New Jersey commission will now hold a closed door executive session on August 6, at which point they will come to a final decision.

The likes of Tyson's wife Monica, spiritual adviser Muhammed Siddeq, and boxing adviser Shelly Finkel all testified, at the hearing, about Tyson's improved conduct.

The most important testimony, however, came from Tyson himself. "I am here today just as a man," the disgraced boxer said. "I am not a good guy or a bad guy. I'm a husband, I have a wife and I'm a fighter, and those are the priorities in my life. Looking back, both of my past ordeals (a reference to his earlier prison sentence, for allegedly raping beauty contestant Desiree Washington) have ruined my life and do you think I would do anything like that again?"

Attorney Fusco then launched into a strong closing argument, describing the hell of Tyson's life and pleading for understanding. "It is time for the crucifixion to come to an end and for Mike Tyson to fight again," he said.

Stirring stuff, all of it, and then Tyson went and ruined it with that outburst.

It's too early to tell whether the hearing will have the outcome Tyson and his team hope for -- but judging by the expressions of the commissioners when the former champ cut loose with that epithet, it would take a brave man to bet on a positive outcome.