FIRST OFF . . .

Round Two in the Joe Clark story: The controversial high school principal whose efforts to bring pride to an inner-city New Jersey high school, are chronicled in the new film “Lean on Me,” is throwing punches at heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. Clark, is angry that Tyson has gotten $150,000 from Warner Bros. for a “Lean on Me” commercial, while, Clark said, he has been promoting the film for free and was paid only $15,000 for his story and “a small percentage” of the film’s profits. Tyson has been a regular on the TV talk-show circuit plugging the film, but a Warners spokesman insisted that the boxer has been doing that gratis. Said Tyson promoter Don King: “We just volunteered, we were so inspired and motivated by this that we began to shout the praises of this movie.” King said that Clark shouldn’t be taking punches at Tyson: “We don’t know what kind of deal Joe Clark negotiated. Joe Clark can blame himself for that if it’s not to his liking.” Tyson’s commercial shows the fighter emerging victorious after a boxing match and announcing that after the fight he planned to see “the knockout new movie called ‘Lean on Me.’ ”