mike tyson - the life story

8/11/2019 Mike Tyson - The Life Story

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Mike Tyson - The Life Story

Credit: http://www.fazli.com.my/views/tyson.htm

Mike Tyson - The Baddest Man on the Planet

After years in the wilderness, Mike Tyson is set to prove. That he is the greatest boxer that ever lived.From the streets of Brooklyn to the Heavyweight Championship of the World, to international fame, Tyson

has experienced a number of peaks and valleys during his life.Mike Tyson is the most explosive, vicious, most watched fighter. Mike Tyson is without doubt is the numberone, Ass Kicker of our generation.WINS : 50 LOSSES : 6 DRAWS: 0 NC : 2 KO : 44Born June 30, 1966 Catskill New YorkHometown Southington, Ohio, USAHeight 5 11Reach 71Record 50-4 (44KOs)Division HeavyweightTitles Former Undisputed Champion, Youngest Heavyweight ChampionManager Shelly Finkel

The Making of the Man

On 30th June 1966 in Cumberland Hospital Catskill in Brooklyn New York City something remarkable had

taken place, Michael Gerard Tyson was born. Mike Tyson has experienced more in his years than mostpeople experience in a lifetime.

Lorna Kirkpatrick was the mother, however, not a great deal is known of this lady. She was born Lorna Smithin 1930, probably in the South. As did many other blacks after WWII, Lorna moved north to search for abetter life. Her destination Brooklyn, New York City.

Somewhere along the way, probably in Brooklyn, Lorna met and married a man called Percel Tyson, ofwhom nothing is known. They later divorced and Lorna never did remarry, despite falling in love with JimmyKirkpatrick. She took Kirkpatrick's name. Jimmy was a heavyset, boisterous man, and father to some 16children. This number would change-he fathered 3 children with Lorna. Rodney in 1961, Denise in 1964, and2 years later came Mike.

Kirkpatrick had already moved out by the time Mike was born, thus keeping his mothers marriage name. Aname that would later gain household recognition the world over - TYSON. Now a poverty-stricken singleparent. Lorna moved into even deeper despair. That move was to Brownsville. In the heart of Brooklyn, itmade their previous Brooklyn address of Bedford-Stuyvesant seem like Bel Air. It would be here, 178 AmboyStreet, Apartment 2A in the most destitute section of one of Americas roughest cities that MichaelGererd Tyson would be moulded. Mike was a huge, tough lad, with a high, lisping voice. This contrast wasthe key to many beatings in Brownsville. People would ridicule him he'd promptly knock them out.

Mike was lonely in his fatherless, ghetto upbringing. This maybe why he kept pigeons, this maybe why hegot into trouble, this maybe why he fought on the street. On one such street fight occasion when Mike was 9,a 15-year-old boy stole one of his beloved pigeons. Bad mistake! Mike flew into a blind rage, throwing

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punches with everything he had, the kind of punches that would have knocked grown men out. Many peoplewitnessed this public onslaught of one of the areas most respected gang members. Now Mike became theMAN.

Mike was now known to the whole of Brownsville, not as Mike, but as Mike Tyson. A name that, in years tocome, would be worth millions on contracts. That's some feat compared to his modest surroundings he wasliving in now. Mike's new found recognised notoriety in Brownsville saw many events and crimes, such asmuggings, robberies, burglaries, assaults that would culminate a lot of arrests. This couldn't carry on,

something had to be done. Some control had to be installed, some initialisation had to occur that would savethe residents of Brownsville anymore distress.

Mike Tyson was sent to the Tryon School for boys in upstate New York. Lorna never disputed this move, shecouldnt control him anymore, let alone install discipline. It was here that Mike Tyson learnt to box. Theman who first taught Tyson the bare essentials of the fight game was Bobby Stewart, a modestly successfulprofessional heavyweight. He was the man who first saw Mikes power and prowess in the boxing ring.

At only 13, he weighed 200lbs, and had muscles that no other 13 year old had. He was strong with it too. Hewas bench-pressing 220lbs for $10 bets with the staff at Tryon. Stewart realised that what he had on hishands was something very special. He made a deal with Tyson-so long as he tried in his lessons, Stewartwould teach him more boxing. Mike tried very hard with his academic study. He knew he would never getcollege scholarships, this didnt put him off. Because he never wanted to be deprived of his boxinglessons from Stewart.

Suddenly, Tyson had direction. He realised that he was in love with something, and he had a reason to liveand look after himself. He became obsessed with the sport of boxing. He would read on great fighters of thepast, practice techniques, and train hard. Staff at Tryon talk about how it was possible to hear grunts andgroans coming from Tysons room at 3, 4 oclock in the morning. It was Mike working on hisdefensive moves. Bobby Stewart was noticing Mikes achievements in the boxing ring. In a laterinterview, Stewart described how he got hit by a Tyson jab that made him want to take a knee. This was a

professional heavyweight talking of a 13 year olds jab! Something had to be done. Stewart knew a legendarymanger and trainer from Catskill in New York.

The name-Cus D'Amato. D'Amato had worked with fighters such as Floyd Patterson and Jose Torres, bothtremendous fighters. Patterson being the youngest ever heavyweight champion to date-Mike would laterchange that. Mike Tyson and Bobby Stewart drove up to Catskill one spring weekend in 1980. Tyson andStewart got in the ring to give Cus a show and try to let the trainer have an insight into what Stewart wastalking about, and why he was being drawn to the attention of a 14 year old kid.

For 3 minutes Tyson hammered Stewart with Jabs, hooks, straight rights, uppercuts. A professionalheavyweight fighter was having trouble detaining a 14-year-old kid and even got wobbled a few times! At theend of the round, Mike stayed in the ring working on his technique on his own, as he had done in his room atTryon so many times before. Stewart walked over to Cus D'Amato. ''Well Cus, what do you think?'' askedStewart. ''What do I think?'' came the response from the legendary trainer. ''I think that's the next heavyweightchamp of the world!'' x

Mike Tyson - The Rest is History

Mike aged 14, went to train with Cus D'Amato, trainer of champions, in a gym in Catskills, NY. During hisyears there, Mike compiled an impressive amateur record of 24-3. His speed and power made the wholeworld take notice and the highly anticipated pro career of Mike Tyson would prove to be as captivating as the

man himself.

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On March 6, 1985, Mike Tyson made his pro debut with a first round knockout of Hector Mercedes. Fromthat point on, Tyson's goal was to capture the Heavyweight Championship of the World, finishing his first yearwith a record of 15-0, all by knockout. Less than two years later, after racking up 27 consecutive wins, Tysonsigned to fight Trevor Berbick for the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight title. On Nov. 22, 1986, afteronly six minutes in the ring, the young fighter was crowned heavyweight champion at the unprecedented ageof 20.

Not content at stopping with one title, Tyson's mission was to unify the heavyweight division and give theworld its first undisputed heavyweight champion since Muhammad Ali a decade before. Tyson accomplishedthe second leg of his mission on March 7, 1987, with a 12-round victory over James "Bonecrusher" Smith toadd the World Boxing Association (WBA) belt to his growing collection. Finally, less than five months later, hisdream was complete. On August 1, 1987, Tyson became the undisputed world heavyweight champion byout-pointing Tony Tucker to claim the International Boxing Federation (IBF) belt, thus unifying the titles.

Going on to make six successful defenses of his unified titles, Tyson defeated everyone in his path includingformer champ Larry Holmes and then-undefeated former champ Michael Spinks. For his 91-seconddestruction of Spinks, Tyson earned more than $20 million, which at the time was the largest sum ever paidto an athlete. Mike went on to post wins over mandatory challenger Frank Bruno, followed by a 93 secondrout of Carl Williams. During this time, Mike became one of the most recognized athletes in the world and themost dominating figure in boxing. A pro for five years, Tyson entered 1990 with a record of 37-0, with 33 winsby knockout. There was one loss in February 1990 to James "Buster" Douglas. Tyson rebounded from theloss in Tokyo with two phenomenal first-round knockouts against Henry Tillman and Alex Stewart.

On March 18, 1991, Mike Tyson and Razor Ruddock met in a "hard hitting" brawl. Tyson won the first fiverounds, scoring knockdowns in the second and third. Ruddock, showing great determination, stunned theformer champ in the sixth round. When the seventh round bell sounded, Tyson mounted a punishing attack,rattling Ruddock with four consecutive power shots. Referee Richard Steele stepped in and stopped thecontest with 38 seconds left in the round.

They met in rematch on June 28, 1991. Ending speculation over what would have happened had their firstfight not been stopped, Tyson knocked Ruddock to the canvas twice and broke his jaw en route to aunanimous 12-round decision.

After more than a four-year hiatus from boxing, Mike returned to the ring with exclusive deals from the MGMGrand in Las Vegas and Showtime Networks Inc., where he was seen both fighting and providingcommentary. Tyson's long awaited comeback finally took place on August 19, 1995 at the MGM GrandGarden in Las Vegas. Showing no ill effects from his layoff, it took Tyson only seven seconds to send hisopponent, Peter McNeeley, to the canvas.

On December 16, 1995 at the CORE States Spectrum in Philadelphia, PA, before a prime time audience onFox television, Tyson came out swinging at Buster Mathis, Jr. early. Throwing bomb after bomb, it took 2:32

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of the third round before Mathis could no longer avoid them. Consecutive right hands sent Mathis to thecanvas and he was unable to beat the 10 count. It was Tyson's 37th knockout and his first since March of1991.

On March 16, 1996 Tyson got another shot at a world title since losing his belt to Douglas in 1990. Before asellout crowd of 15,222 at the MGM Grand Garden, Tyson regained the (WBC) belt. Tyson used uppercuts,

jabs, and hooks, in combination with speed and power to dispose of Frank Bruno just 50 seconds into thethird round

In his effort to once again unify the titles, Tyson took on WBA Champion Bruce Seldon, September 7, 1996at the MGM Grand. Tyson wasted little time in capturing the WBA title, knocking out Seldon 1:49 into theopening round

On November 9th 1996 Tyson met Evander Holyfield at the MGM Grand in the main event on a fight cardbilled "Finally" referring to the fight coming five years and one day after it was originally scheduled. In one ofthe most exciting fights of the decade Tyson's winning streak was halted in the 11th round. During the postfight press conference, Tyson did not make any excuses about his loss, graciously giving Holyfield credit andcongratulating him on his performance.

Following a year and a half layoff, Tyson returned to the ring on January 29th, 1999 versus Francois Botha.During the fifth round, Tyson went on the attack, unleashing a powerful right hand that sent Botha to thecanvas

On October 23, 1999 Tyson returned to the ring at the MGM Grand to face Orlin Norris. The fight aired onSHOWTIME, ended in a no contest after the first round. Referee Richard Steele ruled the late punch

accidental

As we ushered out the 20th century and welcomed in a new millennium, Tyson traveled overseas to Europefor the first time in his career. The response overseas was tremendous as the former two-time heavyweightchampion was greeted by thousands at the airport when he arrived in London. During his two-week stay, fansswarmed Tyson whenever he ventured out

In Brixton, Tyson was greeted by thousands of fans as he walked through the streets. Tyson went to GreatBritain to fight the English Commonwealth Champion Julius Francis in Manchester, England. On January 30,2000 Tyson knocked out Francis in the second round. Tyson displayed his old form knocking down Francisfive times in less than six minutes of work.

Returning to the UK, Tyson fought former USBA and IBA heavyweight champion Lou Savarese on June 24,2000 at National Stadium-Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland. Before a crowd of 25,000, Tyson poundedSavarese, ending the fight in: 38 seconds, the third fastest KO in Tyson history.

October 20, 2000, Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, Michigan. Mike Tyson versus Chicago-basedAndrew Golota. Just 12 seconds remaining in the first round, Tyson landed a powerful right. The fight ended

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in a TKO when Golota failed to come out for the third round.

Tyson has remained true to his roots, recognizing how important it is to 'BE REAL'. He maintains a strongbond with his community, and his charitable efforts have been recognized globally. Not one to seek outpublicity for his good deeds, Mike contributes to under privileged causes through his various businesses:Tyson Gear, Mike Tyson Enterprises and Tyson Records and www.tysongear.com.

We all know some of the stuff he has been through, and we all know about his ups and downs. So what if hehas, assaulted old men, mugged old ladies, broken peoples noses, raped women, head-butted opponents,tried to break peoples arms, bitten ears, burgled people, robbed houses, elbowed opponents, hitbelow-the-belt, started riots in casino arenas, fondled women in nightclubs, threw television sets around incells, fought with prison officers, swore at TV broadcasters? We all make mistakes!

Mike Tyson - The Great Fighter

From the streets of Brooklyn to the Heavyweight Championship of the World to international fame, Tysonhas experienced a number of peaks and valleys during his life. Mike Tyson is indisputably the most explosive,vicious, most watched fighter.

This is his chronicle.

2000

Mike makes his British debut on 28th of January at the MEN Arena against JULIUS FRANCIS of England.After a bit of hassle with customs and women's groups kicking up a fuss because of his rape conviction, it isthought the fight might be cancelled. But home secretary of England-Jack Straw saved the day by grantingMike permission to enter the country. Incidentally, Mike destroyed Francis inside 2 rounds, flooring him 5times along the way. Now Mike is due back shortly for his second British bout, this time in Scotland.

1999Mike makes his return to the MGM Grand with an anti-climax. It's been 9 months since Mike has last fought,this was due to his incarceration at Rockville State Penitentiary for assaulting two men in the mayhemresulting from a car-shunt. The opponent-Orlin Norris. The date-October 23rd. Somehow, Norris decided thata late first round hook to the head from Tyson twisted his ankle. A No Contest was declared. This was thesecond No Contest for Mike this year, the first one being in court, as that was how Mike pleaded to theassault charge.

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January 16th. It's Mikes first fight since the ''Bite-Fight''. It's been nearly 18 months since Mike hasstepped through the ropes. And well over 2 years since he has won a fight. South African Francois Botha isstunning the 16,000 capacity crowds at the MGM by taming Mike Tyson with a style that is, well, less thanordinary. Unfortunately for ''the white buffalo'' he forgets that Mike can actually hurt when he lands a punch.Botha walks straight onto the 223lbs weight of a right hand and hits the canvas like a paralytic drunk. He triesto get up, but Mike and everyone watching have dejavu of the Berbick fight. - It's a sweet, cold KO in the 5th.

1997The date is June 28th, the event-Tyson-Holyfield rematch for the WBA title. Everyone at MGM wonderswhether Mike has what it takes to re-capture the heavyweight crown. But what happened will be rememberedfor all the wrong reasons. The fight started off evenly with both fighters trying to land the telling blow that willdictate how the fight will unfold. However, Holyfield's use of his head is totally obvious to everyone except forthe referee it appears. Mills Lane does nothing about the obvious head butts coming in from Holyfield. Even a3-inch gash over Mike's right eye does not open Lanes eyes as to what is going on here.Mike, eventually and inevitably loses it-BIG-STYLE. He bites part of Holyfield's ear off and spits it on to thecanvas. After an intervention by the referee, Mike decides to chew on the other ear. This time Mike wasthrown out, what happened in the ring afterwards was pretty ugly also. Mikey starts throwing punches atanyone who comes near him. For this 3rd round DQ, Mike earned himself a 1 year ban and $3m fine-thebiggest fine in sports history.

1996'Iron' Mike Tyson vs. Evander 'The Real Deal' Holyfield went down as one of the greatest fights in recenthistory. It delivered a result that very few could predict. Ron Borges of the Boston Globe was the onlyjournalist to get the result right. The fight produced 11 rounds of master craftsmanship boxing from two of theheavyweight divisions biggest stars. It was give and take all the way through the fight. Each fighter givingand taking more than most men could handle. In the end, Evander pulled out all the stops and produced one

of the biggest upsets in heavyweight history. And thus becoming a 3-time heavyweight champion that only Alicould boast alongside him. He had won via a stunning 11th knockout. This one will be remembered for a verylong time.On the 7th September, Mikey produced an emphatic, domineering display to wipeout Bruce Seldon in 1 veryeasy round. It was clear from the start that Seldon was going to be losing his WBA crown. He just hadnothing to deter or defend himself from Mikes vicious hooks. Its curtains for Seldon in 93 seconds. (Priorto this fight Mike paid Lennox Lewis of England $4m 'step-s-side' money, because he feels he isn't ready fora showdown yet).

Mike's second rematch to date, sees him gain the WBC title and become a 2-time champion by knocking outFrank Bruno of England in 3 rounds on the 19th March at the MGM Grand. This rematch was pretty similar tothe first encounter between these two. With Bruno struggling to keep Mike and bay with his lumbersomejabbing. 52 seconds through the 3rd, Mike catches Bruno with a 16, yes 16! punch combination ofunanswered shots, until Mills Lane decided that it was quite enough.

1995Mike's second fight since leaving jail. The 16th December is the date and Buster Mathis Junior is theunfortunate opponent. After a couple of mediocre rounds from Mike, he finally starts to take effect in the 3rd.

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The crowd in Philadelphia on this advent night cheer franticly when Mike steps back from a clinch, takes astep to the right to create an opening to the floating rib and lands a bomb of a left hand to the midsection.August 19th. Everyone has been waiting along time for this night, the crowd at the MGM in the heart of thestrip in Vegas is covered by a blanket of anticipation. Mike's had been away for over 48 months. He has beenin the Indiana Youth Center serving time for the rape of 18-year-old beauty pageant Desiree Washington. It isrumored that Mike had trained himself silly in Jail, and it looked that way. Rumors circulate that while inprison, he was doing 1000 sit-ups a day. As well as having a few 'scuffles' including one where he caught aman called 'TINY' flush with the 'greatest left hook he every threw' only for 'TINY' to respond with a mere

wink. 'The man didn't even move' said one witness.

He is now out of jail and taking the first step of a long journey back to the undisputed crown. Will he be thesame? Will rust have crippled his skills? Is he hungry? Is he in shape? Unfortunately for the Irish-AmericanPeter McNeeley, Mike turned up looking the best shape of his life. Although McNeeley jumped on Tyson fromthe bell-it looked pretty much like a man trying to stop a rhino with a pee-shooter. Mike just composed himselfand took his time. McNeeley's father and chief-second decided that after 2 knockdowns from Mighty Mike, hedidn't really want to see his son get beaten by anymore.

1991It's the rematch that wasn't needed in many peoples opinion. He had already stopped Donavon 'Razor'Ruddock once. Anyway, the fight goes ahead whilst Mike is waiting for a secured date with newly crownedundisputed king Evander Holyfield. Not much differs from fight number 1 between these two guys, except fora knockdown or two-Mike puts Ruddock down in the second and seventh, but they weren't a lot more than

flash knockdowns. It's the same date that wouldn't bring as happy endings 6 years later-June 28th. But fornow, Mike's happy-he wins a unanimous decision.

March 18th, Mike's sees off the big Canadian Donavon 'Razor' Ruddock via 7th round KO. Many peopleinside the boxing village declared this result controversial. Richard Steele was the referee and rumors werecirculating about Steele's close 'friendship' with Don King having something to do with this 'premature'stoppage. Although I feel it was more than adequate.

1990This is Mikes second fight since he lost his undisputed crown in arguably one of boxing's biggestupsets. It isn't thought that Alex Stewart will give Mike too many equations to deal with. 1 round was all it tookfor Mike to keep his comeback bid unfolding successfully. It's December 8th, and Mike now has to look atbigger things.

June 16th, and it is Mike's first fight since the Douglas loss. Henry Tillman is the opponent handpicked by anow 'mixed' promotional team that still has Bill Caytons name on some contracts. It was a good choice of

opponent though, because this 1 round KO was all it took to get Mike's confident levels back to where theyonce were.

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It's Tokyo, 11th February 1990. A unique place for a title fight, but an even stranger time of day-lunchtime.Not a good time for Mike to be fighting if the rumors are true about his partying antics while in Tokyo. Somecamp members and sources close to Tyson claim that he was still hung over from heavy drinking the nightbefore. Mike came into the ring sweating buckets, and he also looked a little soft. Massive underdog James'Buster' Douglas was unbackable at 42-1, but he had a game plan up his sleeve that would change thecourse of history. Douglas's mum had died just weeks before the fight, his wife had filed for divorce, and hewas pretty down. But what a lethal concoction that proved for Mike Tyson. Douglas was absolutely relentless

with the assault he committed Mike Tyson to. The Tokyo ringsiders, common to the culture of the country sawthem just sit there, hands folded in laps watching the heavyweight champion of the world get punished inevery conceivable way.

For every uppercut that Mike landed, Douglas would throw 2 or 3 back in sequence. The display Douglasproduced was quite simply awe-inspiring. The fight carried with this plot for 8 rounds until Mike landed anoff-the-ropes-uppercut with the force of an oak-tree trunk that had Douglas down and surely out. But to theastonishment of every person watching in the world. Douglas rose to his feet and returned to his corner, onlyto come out 2 rounds later and steal the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world by knocking outthe man and the myth that was 'Iron' Mike Tyson. (The knockdown in round 8 was heavily disputed by theTyson camp, namely Don King, that the referee counted too slow, thus allowing Douglas 16 seconds to getup, the belts were held and meetings took place for 2 solid days, until all 3 sanctioning bodies-WBA;IBF;WBC awarded the fight to Douglas, and crowned him champion)

1989Mike Tyson is gunning for a shot at the former cruiserweight champion Evander Holyfield, but before that hehas to deal with Carl 'The Truth' Williams, a relative no-hoper. Mike puts him away easily in 1 round on July21st.

February 25th and finally the fight that had been postponed so many times is taking place. Frank Bruno, themost popular boxer ever to come out of England to date, steps into the ring in a 3rd attempt to capture theworld crown.

It is wildly regarded that, despite his solid-greek-god-like physique, Bruno's array of skills will be far toolimited to match the vicious 22 year old Tyson. 2,000 British fans turned up to watch the fight, and they couldbe heard throughout the arena clearly chanting ''BRU-NO, BRU-NO, BRU-NO'' soccer style. Although Brunowent down 10 seconds into the round he did hurt Tyson mid-way through the 1st with a left hook, although itlooked as though it was Mike's balance that was a little off rather than it being Bruno's punch that had thecrowd screaming.

1988On June 27th, 3 days before Mike became 22, he produced a performance that is wildly regarded as hisgreatest ever. All the hype was in place, and all the celebrities were ringside. Many boxing analysts believedthat Spinks was the man to bring down the aura of Mike Tyson's invincibility down. The timing seemed goodfor Spinks, as outside the ring, Mike was having many problems.

For starters his marriage to Robin Givens was almost over (some say for the better), and his contactdisputes between Don King and Bill Cayton were reaching a climax. They thought that the light rangy Spinkscould dance and jab and keep Tyson off to claim a points victory. How wrong they were. Spinks was scared

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stiff, 91 seconds was all it took for Mike to land the telling shot-a short inside right to the midsection. Spinksrose-briefly-referee Frank Cappuccino stepped back to let the fight carry on. No sooner had he done that thanMike landed a right to the head of Spinks that had his head crushing to the canvas hard. The fight is over.

Now it's March 21st, and Mike has been doing a lot of promotional and marketing work in Tokyo, Japan.What with Nintendo adverts, Toyota adverts Mike is busy. Oh, yes, and incidentally he had a fight in theTokyo dome (a debut location for Mike, and boxing alike) with a fat man called Tony 'TNT' Tubbs. Mike's

takes him out clean in 2 rounds.Larry Holmes had all the mouth in the approach to his fight with Mike Tyson on January 22nd. He startled themedia at a pre-fight press conference by declaring - Mike's going to be remembered as an SOB'. Come fightnight, Larry looked in poor physical condition. His age - 37- was no excuse, look at Evander Holyfield nowand he is also 37. The fourth round antics of Holmes did nothing more than delay the inevitable - he startedsticking and moving with the jab, trying to be the Holmes of 10 years earlier. When Mike finally caught up withthe aging challenger, he landed a beautiful, punch-perfect left right to the head that could be heard from the'$10 dollar seats'.

Holmes' has to be given respect for his courage at trying to get up, but Mike didn't let him off the hook. Hetook about 30 seconds to assess the situation and then he knocked out Holmes in destructive fashion.

1987On the 16th October Mike fought the 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist - Tyrell Biggs. Biggs was having a lot ofproblems making anything of himself in the professional ranks. It didnt help that he was coming off aheavy drug addiction. But his contacts in the game brought him face to face with his former amateur foe. Mikeproduced a mediocre performance, but did manage to stop Biggs in 7 fairly punishing rounds.

August 1st 1987 will be a memorable day for Mike Tyson and heavyweight boxing alike. It was this day thatMike fought Tony Tucker for the IBF heavyweight title (he was also defending his WBA and WBC titles). IfMike won, he would make history and restore the fight game, by becoming an undisputed heavyweightchampion. Mike did win, it went the full course. But there wasnt any doubt whose fight it was. Toward thebell to signal the end of the fight, Mike got caught with a blow that would have floored a lesser man. But Mikesimply poked his tongue out at the jerry curled Tucker.

Mike's second fight since becoming the youngest heavyweight in the history of the sport, sees his up againstthe one time Heroin addict and 6-1 underdog Pinklon Thomas. As per usual, Thomas had all the pre-fightmouth. And when they got in the ring on May 30th, he appeared to be backing that mouth up for a while. Inthe 6th round however, Mike caught Thomas with an uppercut that set up one of the most accurately timedand placed combinations witnessed in a ring for some years. A left, right, and another left (all hooks) sawThomas sitting on his backside like he had just woken up from an afternoon nap. The fight was over.

On March 7th - fresh from his 2 round demolition job on Trevor Berbick 5 months earlier - Mike not only

defended his new WBC title, but also fought for the WBA title against James Bonecrusher Smith.Although still only 20, Mike has learnt to act and portray himself (thanks to Jimmy Jacobs) like he is 10 yearsolder. Everyone was caught up in the Tyson hysteria by now. He had appeared on the front pages of all the

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high-class magazines, and was seen socializing with all kinds of women. He pretty much dominated thewhole fight against Smith and won via a unanimous decision.

1986November 22nd. Mike is 20 years, 4 months and 22 days - and at 2214 hours he became the youngestheavyweight champion ever (his predecessor was another Cus Damato protg - Floyd Patterson).The way he beat Berbick opened the eyes of everyone in the world. He ruthlessly, peerlessly destroyedBerbick in a stunning, awesome performance, to claim the WBC title. The punch that done it was a

short left hook to the temple. Berbick looked as though he was breathing intoxicating fumes as he kept tryingto get up but falling down again. Finally, after 3 attempts to rise, referee Mills Lane saved him from anymorehumiliation by wrapping his arms around Berbick and holding him up. Mike Tyson was king at last. Thepromise he made DAmato had been delivered.

Mike's Journey to the Title

Throughout 1986, Mike carried on his frantic regime. Fighting as often as Bill Cayton and Jimmy Jacobscould get fights. They thought that it was a good way to keep Mike out of trouble. Because Mike had beenslipping back into his naughty ways. The odd assault case cropped up and he even robbed an oldlady in an elevator on one of his many trips back to Catskill. He didnt need the money, and he probablyonly done it to stay true to his roots despite his knew found ambition and fame.

He fought 12 times in 1986. And that was in 9 months (January to September). His victims in the year were(respectively): Davo Jaco in 1 round, Mike Jameson in 5, Jesse Ferguson in 6 (it was this fight that causeduproar in the media world, when Mike told reporters he was trying to drive the nose bone up into thebrain). Steve Zouski then lasted 3, this was followed by a 10 round decision over James QuickTillis. Another points win saw him beat Mitch Blood Green, or Mitch Bitch Green, dependingon who you talked to (Mike would later meet Green in a Harlem street brawl - breaking his own hand whilstbreaking Greens nose).

Reggie Gross was victim number 22, getting banged out in 1. William Hosea also got torn apart in 1 round.Although Lorenzo Boyd fought Tyson in Swan Lake, it wasnt no fairy tale he got dropped in 2. JoeFrazier's son then gets humiliated in 30 seconds. Jose Ribalta done well to last the course of 10 rounds.Then Mike's last fight before the title shot saw him knock Alfonzo Ratliff about the ring before the ref stoppedit in 2.

In 1995, Mike made his debut, it was on March 6th in Albany, New York. The promoters were a husband andwife team the Millers, based in Troy. This had put Hector Mercedes in with the dangerous 18 year old Tyson.Mike boxed like he had so much to prove, it was a powerful display from Tyson to win his debut fight in 1round. Trent Singleton didnt last any longer he too got beaten in 1 round. Don Halpin done relativelybetter to take Mike 4 rounds before getting his nose busted.

Mike's 4th fight, and first in Atlantic City sees him bang out Ricardo Spain in a round. Another fight in thesewer by the sea sees Mike take out John Alderson in 2. Larry Sims then lasted 3 in Poughkeepsie, NewYork. Lorenzo Canaday starts of the first of a four fight return series in Atlantic City. He got taken out in 1,along with Mike Johnson, Donny Long and Robert Colay.

7 days later, Mike takes the camp to Texas to beat up Sterling Benjamin in a round. 12 days later they makethe trip over to Texas and beat up a guy called Eddie Richardson in a round. 5 days later there back in

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Latham beating on Conroy Nelson, he lasted 2.

Back home in New York, Sammy Scaff got his jaw cracked in a round, and one more trip to Latham givesMark Young a nice Christmas present (the fight was 2 days after Christmas day) by flooring him in 1.

So that's the story. But it won't end there. Mike will become, once again, heavyweight champion. Mike Tysonand his wife Dr. Monica Tyson, own a home in Maryland where they raise their four children.

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