Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson (also known as
Malik Abdul Aziz) (born June 30, 1966) is a retired American
boxer. Tyson is a former
undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the
WBC,
WBA and
IBF world heavyweight titles, he was 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old. Tyson won his first 19 professional bouts by knockout, with twelve of them occurring in the first round. He won the WBC title in 1986 after defeating
Trevor Berbick by a
TKO in the second round. In 1987, Tyson added the WBA and IBF titles after defeating
James Smith and
Tony Tucker. He was the first heavyweight boxer to simultaneously hold and only Heavyweight to individually unify the WBA, WBC and IBF titles.
In 1988, Tyson became the
lineal champion when he knocked out
Michael Spinks in the first 91 seconds of the fight. Tyson successfully defended the world heavyweight championship nine times, including victories over
Larry Holmes and
Frank Bruno. Tyson lost his titles to 42-to-1 underdog
James "Buster" Douglas on February 11, 1990, in Tokyo, Japan, by a knockout in round 10. Tyson continued in his quest to regain the titles, defeating
Donovan Ruddock twice in 1991. Tyson was then scheduled to take on the undisputed heavyweight champion
Evander Holyfield but pulled out due to injury.
In 1992, Tyson was convicted of raping Desiree Washington, for which he was sentenced to six years in prison
but was released after serving three years. After being released from prison in 1995, he engaged in a series of comeback fights. In 1996, Tyson won the WBC and WBA titles after defeating Frank Bruno and
Bruce Seldon by knockout. After being stripped of the WBC title, Tyson lost his WBA crown to Evander Holyfield in
November, 1996 by an 11th round TKO. Their
1997 rematch ended when Tyson was disqualified for biting off part of Holyfield's ear.
In 2002, he fought for the world heavyweight title at the age of 35, losing by knockout to
Lennox Lewis. Tyson retired from professional boxing in 2006 after he was knocked out in consecutive matches against
Danny Williams and
Kevin McBride. Tyson declared bankruptcy in 2003, despite receiving over US$30 million for several of his fights and $300 million during his career.
Throughout his career, Tyson became well known for his ferocious and intimidating boxing style as well as his controversial behavior both inside and outside the ring. Tyson is considered to have been one of the best heavyweight boxers of all time.
He is ranked No. 16 on
The Ring's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.
Tyson made his professional debut as an 18 year old on March 6, 1985, in
Albany, New York. He defeated Hector Mercedes via a first round
knockout.
He had 15 bouts in his first year as a professional. Fighting frequently, Tyson won 26 of his first 28 fights by KO/TKO – 16 in the first round.
The quality of his opponents gradually increased to
journeyman fighters and borderline contenders,
like
James Tillis,
David Jaco,
Jesse Ferguson,
Mitch Green and
Marvis Frazier. His win streak attracted media attention, leading to his being billed as the next great
heavyweight champion. D'Amato died in November 1985, relatively early into Tyson's professional career; some speculate that his death was the genesis of many of the troubles Tyson was to experience later as his life and career progressed.
Tyson's first nationally
televised bout took place on February 16, 1986, at
Houston Field House in
Troy, New York against journeyman heavyweight
Jesse Ferguson. Tyson knocked down Ferguson with an uppercut in the fifth round that broke Ferguson's nose.
During the sixth round, Ferguson began to hold and clinch Tyson in an apparent attempt to avoid further punishment. After admonishing Ferguson several times to obey his commands to box, the
referee finally stopped the fight near the middle of the sixth round. Initially ruled a win for Tyson by disqualification (DQ) of his opponent, the ruling was subsequently "adjusted" as a win by technical
knockout (TKO) after Tyson's corner protested that a DQ win would end Tyson's string of knockout victories, and that a knockout would have been the inevitable result. The rationale offered for the revised outcome was that the fight was actually stopped because Ferguson could not (rather than would not) continue boxing.
On November 22, 1986, Tyson was given his first title fight against
Trevor Berbick for the
World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight championship. Tyson won the title by second round TKO, and at the age of 20 years and 4 months became the youngest heavyweight champion in history.
Tyson's dominant performance brought many accolades. Donald Saunders wrote: "The noble and manly art of boxing can at least cease worrying about its immediate future, now [that] it has discovered a heavyweight champion fit to stand alongside Dempsey, Tunney, Louis, Marciano and Ali."
Because of Tyson's strength, many fighters were intimidated by him.
This was backed up by his outstanding hand speed, accuracy, coordination, power, and timing. Tyson was also noted for his defensive abilities.
Holding his hands high in the
Peek-a-Boo style taught by his mentor
Cus D'Amato, he slipped and weaved out of the way of the opponent's punches while closing the distance to deliver his own punches.
[ One of Tyson's trademark combinations was to throw a right hook to his opponent's body, then follow it up with a right uppercut to his opponent's chin; very few boxers would remain standing if caught by this combination. Boxers knocked down with this combination include Jesse Ferguson and Jose Ribalta.
Expectations for Tyson were extremely high, and he embarked on an ambitious campaign to fight all the top heavyweights in the world. Tyson defended his title against
James Smith on March 7, 1987, in Las Vegas, Nevada. He won by unanimous decision and added Smith's
World Boxing Association (WBA) title to his existing belt.
'Tyson mania' in the media was becoming rampant.
He beat
Pinklon Thomas in May with a
knockout in the sixth round.
On August 1 he took the
International Boxing Federation (IBF) title from
Tony Tucker in a twelve round unanimous decision.
He became the first heavyweight to own all three major belts – WBA, WBC, and IBF – at the same time. Another fight, in October of that year, ended with a victory for Tyson over 1984 Olympics Super Heavyweight gold medalist
Tyrell Biggs by knockout in the seventh round.
[26] Also in 1987,
Nintendo released the video game,
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, for its
Nintendo Entertainment System.
Tyson had three fights in 1988. He faced
Larry Holmes on January 22, 1988, and defeated the legendary former champion by a fourth round KO.
This was the only knockout loss Holmes suffered in 75 professional bouts. In March, Tyson then fought contender
Tony Tubbs in Tokyo, Japan, fitting in an easy two-round victory amid promotional and marketing work.
On June 27, 1988, Tyson faced
Michael Spinks. Spinks, who had taken the heavyweight championship from
Larry Holmes via a 15-round decision in 1985, had not lost his title in the ring but was not recognized as champion by the major boxing organizations. Holmes had previously given up all but the IBF title, and that was eventually stripped from Spinks after he elected to fight Gerry Cooney (winning by a 5th-round TKO) rather than IBF Number 1 Contender Tony Tucker, as the Cooney fight provided him a larger purse. However, Spinks did become the lineal champion by beating Holmes and many (including
Ring magazine) considered him to have a legitimate claim to being the true heavyweight champion. The bout was, at the time, the richest fight in history and expectations were very high. Boxing pundits were predicting a titanic battle of styles, with Tyson's aggressive infighting conflicting with Spinks' skillful outfighting and footwork. The fight ended after 91 seconds when Tyson knocked Spinks out in the first round; many consider this to be the pinnacle of Tyson's fame and boxing ability.
Spinks, previously unbeaten, would never fight professionally again.
During this period, Tyson's problems outside boxing were also starting to emerge. His marriage to
Robin Givens was heading for divorce,
and his future contract was being fought over by
Don King and
Bill Cayton.
In late 1988, Tyson parted with manager
Bill Cayton and fired longtime trainer
Kevin Rooney, the man many credit for honing Tyson's craft after the death of D'Amato.
Without Rooney, Tyson's training and personal discipline declined.
In 1989, Tyson had only two fights amid personal turmoil. He faced the popular British boxer
Frank Bruno in February in a fight where Bruno managed to stun Tyson at the end of the 1st round,
although Tyson went on to knock out Bruno in the fifth round. Tyson then knocked out
Carl "The Truth" Williams in one round in July.
In 1989, Tyson was granted an
Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from
Central State University in Ohio.
By 1990, Tyson seemed to have lost direction, and his personal life and training habits were in disarray. In a fight on February 11, 1990, he lost the undisputed championship to
Buster Douglas in Tokyo.
Tyson was a huge betting favourite, but Douglas (priced at 42/1) was at an emotional peak after losing his mother to a stroke 23 days prior to the fight, and fought the fight of his life.
Tyson failed to find a way past Douglas's quick jab that had a 12-inch (30 cm) reach advantage over his own. Tyson did send Douglas to the floor in the eighth round, catching him with an uppercut, but Douglas recovered sufficiently to hand Tyson a heavy beating in the subsequent two rounds (after the fight, the Tyson camp would complain that the count was slow and that Douglas had taken longer than ten seconds to get to his feet).
Just 35 seconds into the 10th round, Douglas unleashed a brutal combination of hooks that sent Tyson to the canvas for the first time in his career. He was counted out by referee
Octavio Meyran.
Though Tyson has been reputed to have been out of shape for this fight, in fact he weighed in at 220 and 1/2 pounds, only 2 pounds more than he had weighed when he beat Michael Spinks 20 months earlier. Mentally, however, he was not prepared for the inspired Douglas.
The knockout victory by Douglas over Tyson, the previously undefeated "baddest man on the planet" and arguably the most feared boxer in professional boxing at that time, has been described as one of the most shocking
upsets in modern sports history.
After the loss, Tyson recovered by knocking out
Henry Tillmanand
Alex Stewart in the first round in his next two fights. Tyson's victory over the 1984 Olympics Boxing Heavyweight gold medalist (and 1983 Boxing Heavyweight
silver medalist of the
Pan American Games) Tillman enabled Tyson to avenge his early career amateur losses at Tillman's hands. These bouts set up an elimination match for another shot at the undisputed world heavyweight championship, which
Evander Holyfield had taken from Douglas in his first defense of the title.
Tyson, who was the No.1 contender, faced No.2 contender
Donovan "Razor" Ruddock on March 18, 1991, in Las Vegas. Ruddock at the time was seen as the most dangerous heavyweight around and was thought of as one of the hardest punching heavyweights. Tyson and Ruddock went back and forth for most of the fight, until referee
Richard Steele controversially stopped the fight during the seventh round in favor of Tyson. This decision infuriated the fans in attendance, sparking a post-fight melee in the audience and the referee had to be escorted from the ring.
Tyson and Ruddock met again on June 28 that year, with Tyson knocking down Ruddock twice and winning a 12 round unanimous decision.
A fight between Tyson and Holyfield for the undisputed championship was arranged for the autumn of 1991.
The match between Tyson and reigning champion Holyfield did not occur, with Tyson pulling out of the scheduled November 8, 1991 title fight at
Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, with a rib cartilage injury sustained during training.
Tyson was arrested in July 1991 for the rape of 18-year-old Desiree Washington,
Miss Black Rhode Island, in an
Indianapolis hotel room. Tyson's rape trial took place in the Indianapolis courthouse from January 26 to February 10, 1992. As part of its case, the prosecution documented Tyson's history of problems with attractive young women. Tyson's defense contended that Tyson was the victim and that Washington was a cold and calculated vixen out to hurt Tyson for publicity.
Desiree Washington testified that she received a phone call from Tyson at 1:36 am on July 19, 1991 inviting her to a party. Having joined Tyson in his limousine, Washington testified that Tyson made sexual advances towards her. She testified that upon arriving at his hotel room, Tyson pinned her down on his bed and raped her despite her pleas to stop. She afterwards ran out of the room and asked Tyson's chauffeur to drive her back to her hotel.
Partial corroboration of Washington's story came via testimony from Tyson's chauffeur, Virginia Foster, who confirmed Desiree Washington's state of shock. Further testimony came from Thomas Richardson, the emergency room physician who examined Washington more than 24 hours after the incident and confirmed that Washington's physical condition was consistent with rape.
Taking the witness stand, under Tyson's lead defense lawyer
Vincent Fuller's direct examination, Tyson claimed that everything had taken place with Washington's full cooperation and he claimed not to have forced himself upon her. When he was cross-examined by the lead prosecutor, Gregory Garrison, Tyson denied claims that he had misled Washington and insisted that she wanted to have sex with him. Because of Tyson's hostile and defensive responses to the questions during cross-examination, some have speculated that his behavior made him unlikable to the jury who saw him as brutish and arrogant.
Tyson was convicted on the rape charge on February 10, 1992 after the jury deliberated for nearly 10 hours.
[
Alan Dershowitz filed an appeal on Tyson's behalf alleging that the victim had a history of at least one false accusation of rape,
that she had offered to drop charges in return for $1 million
and that the judge had blocked testimony from witnesses who would have contradicted Washington. The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled against Tyson in a 2–1 vote.
Under
Indiana law, a defendant convicted of a
felony must begin serving his prison sentence immediately after the sentence is imposed. On March 26, he was given a sentence of 10 years, six in prison and four on probation.
He was assigned to the Indiana Youth Center (now the
Plainfield Correctional Facility) in April 1992,
and he was released in March 1995 after serving three years.
During his incarceration, Tyson converted to Islam.
On July 2, 2010 he visited Mecca to perform the
Umrah (Minor Islamic pilgrimage)
Tyson did not fight again until later in 1995 after he was paroled from prison. He had two comeback bouts against
Peter McNeeley and
Buster Mathis Jr., which he won easily. Interest in Tyson's first comeback fight since his incarceration was high enough that it grossed more than US$96 million worldwide, including a United States record $63 million for
PPV television. The fight was purchased by 1.52 million homes, setting both PPV viewership and revenue records for that time.
The brief, 89-second fight wherein McNeeley swiftly crumpled on facing Tyson, elicited criticism that Tyson's management lined up "
Tomato Cans", easily defeatable and unworthy boxers for his return.
TV Guide included the Tyson-McNeeley fight in their list of the 50 Greatest TV Sports Moments of All Time in 1998.
He regained one belt by easily winning the WBC title from
Frank Bruno (their second fight) in March 1996 by knocking him out in the third round.
Tyson added the WBA belt by defeating champion
Bruce Seldon in one round in September that year. Seldon was severely criticized and mocked in the popular press for seemingly collapsing to innocuous punches from Tyson in the fight
On February 22, 2003, Tyson beat fringe contender
Clifford Etienne 49 seconds into round one, once again in Memphis. The pre-fight was marred by rumors of Tyson's lack of fitness and that he took time out from training to party in Las Vegas and get a new facial
tattoo.
This would be Tyson's final professional victory in the ring.
In August 2003, after years of financial struggles, Tyson finally filed for bankruptcy.
In 2003, amid all his economic troubles, he was named by
Ring Magazine at number 16, right behind
Sonny Liston, among the 100 greatest punchers of all time.
On August 13, 2003, Tyson entered the ring for a face to face confrontation against then
K-1 fighting phenom
Bob Sapp immediately after Sapp's win against
Kimo Leopoldo in
Las Vegas. K-1 signed Tyson to a contract with the hopes of making a fight happen between the two, but Tyson's status as a convicted felon made him unable to obtain a visa to enter Japan, where the fight would have been most profitable. Alternate locations were discussed, but the fight never came to fruition.
It is unknown if he actually profited from this arrangement.
On July 30, 2004, Tyson faced the British boxer
Danny Williams in another comeback fight, this time staged in
Louisville, Kentucky. Tyson dominated the opening two rounds. The third round was even, with Williams getting in some clean blows and also a few illegal ones, for which he was penalized. In the fourth round, Tyson was unexpectedly knocked out. After the fight, it was revealed that Tyson was trying to fight on one leg, having torn a
ligament in his other knee in the first round. This was Tyson's fifth career defeat.
He underwent surgery for the ligament four days after the fight. His manager, Shelly Finkel, claimed that Tyson was unable to throw meaningful right-hand punches after the knee injury.
On June 11, 2005, Tyson stunned the boxing world by quitting before the start of the seventh round in a close bout against journeyman
Kevin McBride. After losing the third of his last four fights, Tyson said he would quit boxing because he no longer had "the fighting guts or the heart anymore."
However he won at Motegi, Japan at the Firestone Firehawk 500 and at the Marlboro 500 at Fontana, California - a race marred by the death of good friend Greg Moore. In addition, he was selected to participate in the IROC series during 1999 where he competed against other top-named drivers including NASCAR drivers Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte and Dale Earnhardt. Fernandez solid racing career which began in 1993, now has 80 total starts in the series. Of those starts he has finished in the top ten 41 times throughout his seven-year career.
5 he drove the 5 Lowe's / Hitachi Chevrolet in Mexico for Rick Hendrick in the first NASCAR Busch Series race held outside the United States. In this race, (called the Telcel-Motorola 200) Fernandez raced in a one time ride to help promote NASCAR racing to the local fans. He led several laps in the race before giving up the lead to eventual race winner Martin Truex Jr.. It was announced that he would run 4 more races in the Busch Series for Hendrick Motorsports, but he did not run up front at any of those races. In 2006 he competed in 2 Busch races for Hendrick and competed full time in the Grand-Am series for his own team with Lowe's sponsorship.
