Mike Tyson

Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson (2019)
Data
Birth Name	Michael Gerard Tyson
Fight name	Iron Mike Kid Dynamite
Weight class	Heavyweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	June 30, 1966
place of birth	Brooklyn , New York
style	Left delivery
size	approx. 1.80 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	58
Victories	50
Knockout victories	44
Defeats	6th
Profile in the BoxRec database

Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson (born June 30, 1966 in Brooklyn , New York ) is a former American heavyweight boxer . At the age of 20 years and 144 days, he was the youngest boxer to date in 1986 to achieve a world heavyweight title. Additionally, Tyson was the first world champion, who simultaneously by the three Boxverbänden WBC , WBA and IBF was recognized ( Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World ). He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2011.

childhood

Mike Tyson was born in the New York borough of Brooklyn , the youngest of three poor children . Tyson hardly met his father, who left the family when Mike was two years old. Tyson lived with his family in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, one of the poorest neighborhoods in New York, until he was ten . Although Tyson became a criminal from an early age - he was soon conspicuous for various offenses (pickpocketing, armed robbery) - there was nothing to suggest a future career as a "bad boy" of boxing. Tyson was rather shy as a child, lived a secluded life and was considered a weakling by his peers. His big hobby was pigeon breeding .

At the age of twelve, Mike Tyson had been arrested 38 times by police for various offenses. Finally he came to a school for problem children in Catskill in the state of New York . His gym teacher there, Bobby Stewart, a former professional boxer, was impressed by Tyson's physical abilities, but initially declined his request to teach him fistfighting. It was only after Tyson had improved his academic performance that Stewart gave in to the boy's will and gave him his first boxing lessons. He soon introduced Tyson to trainer Cus D'Amato . He raved after seeing the only thirteen-year-old Tyson sparring , and allegedly let himself be carried away to the claim: "This will be the future world heavyweight champion".

Amateur career

From then on, Mike Tyson was specifically prepared by Cus D'Amato for a career as a boxer - first as an amateur, then as a professional. So D'Amato obtained from the New York Department of Education that Tyson was allowed to live with him and his partner in Catskill. When Tyson's mother died of cancer, D'Amato eventually became the young boxer's legal guardian.

Mike Tyson lived with D'Amato under the same roof with several other boxers. First he was given a young trainer, Teddy Atlas , who taught him the “ peek-a-boo ” style, which was influenced by Cus D'Amato . The training soon had an effect at Tyson. Due to his enormous physical strength - at the age of 15 he allegedly lifted over 125 kg on the bench press - Tyson was already sparring mostly with adult opponents.

In order to secure Tyson's boxing career with the amateurs financially, Cus D'Amato found financially strong financiers in his two friends Jim Jacobs, a former world-class player in American handball , and Bill Clayton, an ex-advertising man. Tyson's amateur career got off to a promising start. In a striking number of his amateur fights, which were usually set to three rounds, Tyson was able to win early.

Separation from Teddy Atlas

When Tyson was 15 years old, there was a momentous argument with his trainer Teddy Atlas: After Atlas was told that Tyson had molested a niece of his, he took a pistol and threatened him with death. Tyson ran home, distraught, and told D'Amato the incident. Atlas was released, but Tyson had to go back to the reformatory, at least for a few days.

The new trainer who took care of Tyson was Kevin Rooney . He had just finished his active career as a boxer and had known Tyson's foster father D'Amato since the mid-1970s. The coaching change had no noticeable impact on Tyson's boxing development. In 1984 Mike Tyson was able to win the annual traditional boxing tournament Golden Gloves . Participation in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles , however, prevented two defeats in the national qualification against the eventual Olympic heavyweight champion Henry Tillman . Shortly after this disappointment, Mike Tyson ended his amateur career and turned pro. At least there, Tyson was later able to return the favor for his two defeats when he killed Tillman in the first round in June 1990 . o. suggested.

Match record as an amateur

On the Internet via ESPN and Co. for Tyson a match record of 24 wins with three defeats circulates. Probably this is only about the record of the seniors, in boxing magazines there is talk of over 200 Tyson's amateur fights.

Professional career

In March 1985, Mike Tyson moved to the professional camp at the age of 18. Initially, it was carefully built up under the direction of Cus D'Amato by his two managers Bill Cayton and Jimmy Jacobs. On March 6, 1985 Tyson played his first professional fight. In order to gain first wrestling experience, Tyson fought every four weeks against opponents that could hardly be dangerous to him. Ultimately, no one had a chance against Kid Dynamite , as Tyson was soon called by the media. By the end of 1985, Tyson had already fought 15 fights, all of which he could win.

Cus D'Amato died on November 4, 1985 . Mike Tyson later called this the worst of his life, and there were fears that his athletic performance would suffer as a result of this stroke of fate. But just eight days later Tyson won in the usual manner against Eddie Richardson by knockout in the first round.

In his second year as a professional, Tyson was found by his management to be mature enough to be able to fight for the world championship in the medium term. Therefore, the exceptional talent also had to deal with higher-class opponents for the first time. The first serious touchstone was Jesse Ferguson , against whom Tyson made his television debut on February 16, 1986. Tyson won this fight confidently by dropping out on round six.

By March 1986, Tyson had finally fought 19 fights, all of which he won early. What was particularly impressive was the fact that eleven of these victories were already achieved in the first round. In order to be able to market this match record as well as possible, Tyson's management decided to send video cassettes with the young Tyson's best fight scenes to selected sports reporters in the USA. With this campaign, the level of awareness of Tyson could be increased significantly outside of the boxing scene.

In his 20th fight, Tyson had to go the full distance for the first time in his career. He won it after ten rounds against his compatriot James Tillis , called Quick Tillis ("the fast T."), safe on points. In his next fight on May 20, 1986, Tyson had to be content with a unanimous victory on points after ten rounds. The opponent, Mitch Green , came from New York like Tyson and also had the image of a “street thug” in his youth. So this fight was a matter of prestige for both boxers, not least because the fight took place in their hometown.

Fight against Marvis Frazier, James Smith, Pinklon Thomas and the youngest heavyweight world champion in history

In the period from June to September 1986 Tyson defeated all six of his upcoming opponents prematurely in the old manner. Among them was a severe knockout after just 30 seconds against the son of former world champion Joe Frazier , Marvis Frazier , who had previously lost only once (to Larry Holmes). Finally, Tyson led the ranking of the WBC and was allowed to challenge their title holder Trevor Berbick ( Canada ).

On November 22, 1986, at the age of 20 years and 144 days, Mike Tyson became the youngest heavyweight world champion in history with a knockout victory in the second round over WBC world champion Trevor Berbick.

Just three months after winning his first World Cup belt, Tyson was also able to win the WBA title. He defeated his compatriot James "Bonecrusher" Smith unanimously on points in a not very respectable fight . Smith, who had previously sounded that he would knock out the "child" Tyson, boxed extremely passively and tried to frustrate the WBC world champion with constant braces. According to many observers, he should have been disqualified for this. Towards the end of the fight, Smith had scored a real impact hit at Tyson, and was believed to be the first to succeed.

On May 30, 1987, Tyson defended his two titles against former WBC world champion Pinklon Thomas . After Thomas had been able to keep up well at first, he was struck down in the sixth round by a spectacular combination by Tyson.

Fight against Tony Tucker and undisputed world heavyweight champion

On August 1, 1987, Mike Tyson was able to add the IBF belt to his collection of titles when he was able to defeat Tony Tucker (34-0) in a sensational fight. In contrast to the first unification against Smith, the spectators at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas saw an offensive battle from both sides. As in his previous encounters, Tyson sought a quick decision and immediately stormed Tucker. He was hit by a hard uppercut after just a few seconds. Tyson was only briefly impressed and continued his attacks on Tucker. This offered bitter resistance, but could not prevent Tyson's unanimous victory on points after twelve rounds.

Tyson in line with Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis

At the age of just 21, Mike Tyson was the first heavyweight world champion to claim the titles of the three major associations ( Undisputed Heavyweight Champion ). Due to the impressive way in which Tyson catapulted himself to the top of heavyweight boxing after just three years as a professional, many of the boxing experts prophesied a bright future for him and saw him already standing in a row with such greats as Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali . At the time, there was hardly anyone who did not believe that Tyson would dominate the heavyweight scene for years to come. Some even went so far as to believe that the Tyson era could last into the new millennium - provided the world champion was spared major injuries and motivated enough.

Because of his spectacular victories, Tyson's popularity reached a level comparable to that of Muhammad Ali. The boy from Brooklyn seemed to have the world at his feet, he was excellently managed by the so-called "Catskill Connection", consisting of Jim Jacobs, Billy Cayton and Kevin Rooney. Nobody seemed to be able to break this community apart, not even the bustling boxing promoter and manager Don King .

Fight against Tyrell Biggs

On October 16, 1987, Tyson defended his title against the undefeated Olympic and amateur world champion in Los Angeles super heavyweight, Tyrell Biggs (15-0). As usual, Tyson took the initiative in this fight as well. Although Biggs repeatedly took heavy hits, he was initially able to withstand Tyson's attacks. Towards the end of the seventh round, however, he had to go down after another hit from the world champion and was counted. The fight was released again, but after another downpour Biggs was taken out of the fight by the referee - a few seconds before the break gong. Afterwards, Tyson said that he wanted to do it slowly so that his opponent would remember that evening for a long time.

Fight against Larry Holmes

On January 22, 1988, Tyson met former WBC and IBF world champion Larry Holmes , who was considered the best heavyweight boxer until the mid-1980s and in the course of his career boxing greats like Ken Norton , Gerry Cooney , Tyson's first world championship opponent Trevor Berbick , Earnie Shavers and Muhammad Ali had defeated. After a year and a half break from the ring, Holmes tried a comeback and wanted to use his supposed last chance to become world champion in the premier class again. The fight of the 38-year-old "old tiger" Holmes against the 21-year-old "young lion" Tyson was considered by experts as a clash of two generations of boxers, with the defending champion being the clear favorite. In the run-up to the fight, tensions arose between the boxers when the boxing oldie made disrespectful statements about Mike Tyson's personality and character and predicted an inglorious decline for him, among other things.

Tyson gave the answer in the ring, which he did impressively. In just four rounds he got rid of his opponent, who never had a chance in this battle. Tyson was too fast and knocked him to the ground three times in the fourth round, after which the fight was abandoned. Holmes lost for the first and only time in his 29-year professional career, which lasted until 2002, to a knockout.

Marital problems and arguments with managers

Shortly after the Holmes fight, Mike Tyson married actress Robin Givens, two years his senior . It was to be a very turbulent and short marriage. Givens and her mother, described by many people around Tyson as greedy and hysterical, tried to take control of the world boxing champion's management and finances.

Fight against Tony Tubbs and death of Jim Jacobs

In his next title defense, on 21 March 1988 in Tokyo ( Japan took place), needed only two rounds Tyson to challenger Tony Tubbs to beat. After just 5:54 minutes, the one-sided battle was over, which was to serve as a dress rehearsal for the showdown against Michael Spinks that was scheduled for the summer . During this time, after the death of his foster father Cus D'Amato three years earlier, Tyson had to take another blow of fate when his best friend and manager Jim Jacobs died.

Fight against Michael Spinks

After Tyson had got rid of all challengers in the ring by mid-1988, there was for most observers with Michael Spinks (balance 31-0) only one candidate who was trusted to be able to defeat Tyson. The former IBF title holder and linear world champion was unbeaten like Tyson and had ended Larry Holmes' reign three years earlier. Subsequently, Spinks lost his title on the green table because he had refused to compete against the IBF mandatory challenger Tony Tucker, who eventually won the title and had to give up against Tyson. Therefore, for many (including the renowned Ring Magazine ) Spinks was still considered the rightful owner of the IBF title. On June 27, 1988, the meeting finally took place, which was eagerly awaited by all sides. The tension didn't stop at the boxers either, Spinks in particular seemed noticeably nervous before the fight. In addition, there was some irritation immediately before the fight, as both boxers claimed the right of the world champion to be the last to march in. Ultimately, the resulting delay lasted longer than the actual fight itself. After only 91 seconds in the first round, Tyson knocked his opponent out, impressively clarifying who was the absolute ruler in the heavyweight division. Tyson inflicted his only defeat on Spinks and received the hitherto highest combat exchange in history of 22 million US dollars for this performance. Spink's exchange was $ 13 million. Since both opponents were recognized as the best in their class by most experts at the time of the fight, this victory is considered to be the high point of Tyson's career. Nobody seemed to have a chance against "Iron Mike" who now had a match record of 35 fights, all of which were won (31 early). No other boxer before him embodied the "peek a boo" tactic (punch and duck) developed by Cus D'Amato as perfectly as he did. Tyson was able to convince in all fights so far, only very few went the full distance.

Tyson signs with Don King and boxes Frank Bruno and Carl Williams

After the fight against Spinks, Tyson did not renew his expiring contract with his remaining manager Bill Cayton and instead signed with Don King, whom D'Amato had always warned about during his lifetime. Shortly thereafter, Tyson also fired his long-time coach Kevin Rooney, as he had spoken out against Don King. Almost ten years later, Tyson had to pay his ex-coach a severance payment of $ 4.4 million.

King endeavored to promote the image of "the badest man on the planet" because it was easy to market. The further development of Tyson's boxing skills, however, was less important to King, who provided Tyson with an inexperienced trainer in Aaron Snowell . According to many observers, this resulted in Tyson no longer reaching the boxing class of yore. From then on he tried more and more to hit his opponents decisively with individual actions, without, as usual, following methodically with combinations. At the same time, he neglected his defense by practically completely dispensing with the swinging and diving of the upper body that was characteristic of him in the past. This was evident, for example, in Tyson's first fight under King when he faced Frank Bruno on February 25, 1989 . The defending champion got into serious trouble for the first time in his career when he was hit hard several times by the British. In round 5 Tyson was able to defeat his opponent with a technical knockout.

In his next fight against Carl Williams on July 21 of the same year, Tyson could not really convince, although he already won by breaking off in the first round. Tyson benefited primarily from his aura of invincibility, which stems from the time of his brilliant victories and still paralyzed his opponents. Williams, who was fearful and nervous and hardly resisted, was knocked out by Tyson after 93 seconds with a left wrestler.

Private problems

In addition to the changed training, the increasing problems in the private life of the world champion had a negative influence on Tyson's further athletic development. While he was charged in 1987 with the sexual harassment of a woman and assault at a rock concert, Tyson broke his right hand in a street fight with former opponent Mitch Green in August 1988, which led to a postponement of the defense of the title against Bruno . In addition, Tyson had to fight more and more against obesity - allegedly he lost over 20 kg before the said fight against Bruno. In her marriage to Robin Givens, too, there were repeated problems that were increasingly played out in public. These included allegations of domestic violence against his wife or mother-in-law, a faked pregnancy by his wife and a car accident by Tyson, which was portrayed as an attempted suicide. In September 1988, Robin Givens explained in front of the cameras and sitting next to her husband that her marriage to the world boxing champion was "pure hell" and that Tyson was manically depressed. According to Givens, this had to do with his childhood in Brownsville and his poor relationship with his late mother. She also accused Tyson's former mentor, Cus D'Amato, of having prepared Tyson perfectly for a life as a boxer, but never for a life outside the ring. Her husband was only focused on becoming world champion, but not on the consequences that this title has on his private life. Tyson seemed noticeably surprised by what his wife said. A few days after this television appearance, Givens and her mother fled the joint property in Bernhardsville, New York. On Valentine's Day 1989, Tyson and Givens were divorced.

All of these scandals eventually led to Tyson playing just the two fights against Bruno and Williams in 1989. Although he could triumph at least on paper as in the old days, Tyson was far from his level of performance of the past few days.

The end of the halo of invincibility

Even in 1990 Tyson remained loyal to the problems: Before the fight against James "Buster" Douglas there were reports that Tyson had been knocked to the ground by former world champion Greg Page while sparring and had received a laceration over the eye. In addition, he is said to have looked very bad against other sparring partners such as Trevor Berbick and Oliver McCall .

But despite this bad news from sport, Tyson was considered a huge favorite by the bookmakers when he defended his title for the tenth time, and a successful title defense was a foregone conclusion. Therefore, in the run-up to this fight, there was speculation about Tyson's next challenger: Evander Holyfield , the former undisputed cruiserweight world champion who had advanced to the heavyweight division, and the old boxing champion George Foreman .

On February 10, 1990, Tyson finally got into the ring in Tokyo against Douglas. Although the challenger had previously defeated several respected opponents, he was only considered a talented, but lazy and inconsistent boxer. Douglas was listed as a clear 42-1 outsider by the bookmakers. Tyson's team, convinced of quick success, had neither ice nor cooling metal with them. Douglas delivered a highly concentrated fight against Tyson and dominated the action with his long jab . For a long time, Tyson appeared to be extremely limited in boxing. Six seconds before the end of the eighth round, however, Tyson Douglas hit the ground, but a slow-counting referee and the gong saved the challenger. In the tenth round, Douglas struck back and hit Tyson with an uppercut, causing him to stumble dazed through the ring. When Douglas then followed up with a three-stroke combination, Tyson went down. But even though the referee was counting very slowly, Tyson was not fully conscious even at ten and was taken out of the fight. This outcome of the fight was a sensation for the boxing scene, the image of the helpless crawling world champion, who was previously thought to be “invincible”, went around the world. Former master George Foreman mockingly referred to it when, in view of his upcoming comeback, he was asked whether he should fear for his health against younger opponents. Foreman replied, "Oh, I just see muscled young men crawling around on the floor looking for their mouthguards."

Tyson's new trainer, Aaron Snowell, who was working with Tyson for the first time, also didn't look good. Tyson's severe swelling over his left eye was only cooled late and then only with a latex glove filled with ice cubes instead of the cooling iron.

Promoter and Tyson manager King accused referee Octavio Meyran of counting Douglas too slowly. In fact, Douglas was on the ground for more than ten seconds. But this was because the timekeeper started counting too late and Meyran had to do the counting. King wanted the fight to be classified as a "No Contest" so that Tyson would still have been world champion. The WBC initially wanted to agree to this proposal, but when the other associations WBA and IBF insisted on recognizing Douglas as the new world champion, the WBC had to refrain from a "no-contest" rating. For Tyson, on the other hand, it seemed as if he had already passed his zenith as a boxer at the age of 23.

The way back to the top

But in the following non-title fights he seemed to have caught himself. Henry Tillman , against whom he had lost twice in the amateurs in 1984, he defeated in the first round. He also knocked out the blank slate Alex Stewart in the first round. In order to qualify for a fight against the new world champion Evander Holyfield , who had defeated Douglas in his first title defense, he now had to face Donovan "Razor" Ruddock . He made a good figure and defeated him twice, even if many observers believe that the demolition in the first fight came too early. The second fight attracted a lot of attention, as the two athletes fought some verbal skirmishes after the controversial termination in the first fight. Among other things, Tyson said that he would make Ruddock his girlfriend ("I wanna kiss your big lips"), alluding to rumors that Ruddock should like to wear women's clothes in private. Ruddock suffered a broken jaw in the fight, went down twice and ultimately had no chance, but was not knocked out. Tyson was deducted a total of three points for low blows or fouls, which did not endanger his point win. Now the way was clear for Tyson to regain his title.

Conviction for rape

The title fight against Evander Holyfield scheduled for November 1991 had to be postponed twice. First, Tyson broke a rib doing abs training. His management tried to cover up the injury, hoping it would heal in time for the fight. But Tyson could not get into the ring, and the title fight had to be postponed to spring 1992. Before the fight could take place, Tyson was charged with rape by a Miss Black America contestant . He was found guilty and sentenced to six years in prison in the spring of 1992, three of which were suspended. The guilty verdict was based on circumstantial evidence as well as on the statements of the victim and his parents, which the judges found to be more credible than the statements of Tyson's multiple criminal record. The Tyson - Holyfield fight had to be postponed indefinitely.

After the prison sentence

The heavyweight scene underwent a noticeable change during Tyson's jail time. The three world associations WBC, WBA and IBF, whose belts Tyson took into his possession at the end of the 1980s, have had their own champions again since the beginning of 1995. In addition, with the World Boxing Organization (WBO) founded in 1988, there was now a fourth established world association. This inflation in world titles soon resulted in a waning of public interest. Similar to ten years earlier, the middle weight classes experienced a significant image boost. Back then it was boxers like Thomas Hearns or Marvin Hagler who received record fees for their performances, now Roy Jones Jr. and James Toney in particular were better known than the reigning heavyweight world champions at the time.

Tyson's popularity was unbroken despite his years of abstinence from the ring. Weeks before his planned release, he was named the savior of the heavyweight scene in the media. Boxing experts like former Ali trainer Angelo Dundee trusted Tyson to usher in a new era as an unrestricted champion in the premier class of boxing. When Tyson was finally released from Plainfield , Indiana , prison on March 25, 1995 after serving three years in prison for good conduct , camera crews from around the world were in attendance to broadcast the event live. The renowned magazine The Ring also appeared with a 108-page special edition.

The imprisonment had left visible marks on Tyson. He had lost twenty kilos, he had also converted to Islam and had given himself the name "Abdul Aziz". Even if this name soon disappeared from the public consciousness, Tyson's environment was anxious to accomplish a fundamental change in the image of the boxer, as unimagined marketing opportunities arose. Many boxing managers who vied for Tyson's favor since his release from prison repeatedly affirmed his change to "better people". Before his first press conference, Tyson himself went to the mosque near the Indiana Youth Center in Indianapolis to pray in the presence of his many supporters - including Muhammad Ali. Parts of the media also tried to make Tyson's reputation as a convicted rapist forget. The Dayton Daily News published an article in which five jurors from the rape trial at the time expressed their doubts about Tyson's guilt that had now arisen.

Tyson finally hired Don King again as manager, who wanted to raise his protégé back to the world championship throne as soon as possible. Tyson also signed a lucrative contract with the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas in the summer of 1995 . This stipulated that Tyson should fight a total of six fights at MGM within the next three years, which in return guaranteed him the record exchange of 100 million dollars.

comeback

On August 19, 1995, Tyson rose - after more than four years of absence - against his compatriot Peter McNeeley in the ring, who was considered a mediocre boxer despite a single defeat in 37 fights. After Tyson knocked him out after just 89 seconds, he was put back at the top of their rankings by the WBA and WBC associations. Tyson played his second build-up fight on December 16 against Buster Mathis Jr. (balance 20-0) and won after some boxing problems by knockout in the third round.

Second reign as world champion

On March 16, 1996 - almost a year after his release from prison - Tyson was again world champion according to the version of the WBC, when he knocked out the title holder Frank Bruno , whom he had defeated in 1989, after little resistance in the third round. Significant for the high market value of Tysons was his record fee of 30 million dollars, which he earned five times the fee of the defending champion. Other great heavyweight boxers like Lennox Lewis or Riddick Bowe could only dream of such sums of money when they were world champions.

In September 1996, Tyson challenged the WBA title holder Bruce Seldon , but he had to surrender his WBC world championship belt because he avoided a fight with the then number 1 challenger Lennox Lewis. Tyson clearly won this fight, but still failed to prove his class. If Bruno had not exactly covered himself with fame in terms of morale, the idea of ​​Seldon was tantamount to refusing to work. He went down in the first lap without Tyson landing any noticeable hits. After about a minute and a half of the first round, Seldon was taken out of the fight after referee Richard Steele was knocked down again. Immediately after the fight was stopped there were loud expressions of displeasure on the part of the audience, which led to minor riots in and in front of the MGM casino. Voices quickly rose that the fight had been agreed. The biggest media coverage of the evening, however, was the news that the rapper Tupac Shakur , who was a close friend of Mike Tyson, was shot on the way to his victory party at a street crossing in Las Vegas.

The Holyfield Fights

Two months later, on November 9, 1996, the fight against Evander Holyfield , which had been planned for years, finally took place , albeit with reversed roles. This time it was Tyson who got into the ring as (WBA) world champion. Challenger Holyfield was considered a blatant underdog given his knockout loss to Riddick Bowe a year earlier and his alleged heart problems with the bookies. In a poll by the Las Vegas Review Journal , 47 out of 48 journalists counted on Mike Tyson.

In the fight itself, Tyson first had to pay tribute to the fact that he had only stood eight rounds in the ring since his release. Holyfield, who presented himself far fitter than generally assumed, survived Tyson's dreaded hook series at the beginning of the fight unscathed. In the further course of the fight, the defending champion did not find a recipe against Holyfield's way of boxing, which could keep Tyson at a distance for most of the time and stifle all attacks at close range with brackets. From Tyson's previously feared combinations of jab and hook to head and body became less and less visible as the fight progressed, as he sought his salvation almost only in single blows. He was able to get his opponent into trouble in the fifth round, but at the latest after a knockdown in round six the world champion was the clearly inferior man in the ring. Holyfield, a man who had been tried and tested in many twelve-round "ring battles", continued to attack Tyson until he was taken out of the fight by the referee standing in the eleventh round after heavy impact hits. At the time of the cancellation, Tyson was hopelessly behind with all three judges.

The rematch on June 28, 1997, although not on a par with the first duel from a sporting point of view, was even more famous. It ended after three rounds with the disqualification of Tyson when he bit off a piece of his opponent's right ear, behind on points. According to some observers, Tyson wanted to provoke his disqualification because he was again not up to his opponent in boxing and wanted to avoid another sporting defeat at all costs. Others saw the bite attack as an act of frustration as Tyson received an unpunished headbutt from Holyfield in the second round, which left Tyson severely lacerated. Already in the first fight there was a headbutt by Holyfield, which went unpunished and, according to Tyson, was decisive for his defeat at the time. The bite attack severely damaged Tyson's reputation. The leading boxing trade magazine Ring-Magazine , which had judged the former champion very benevolently for a long time, now criticized him strongly. ("Tyson has the physical makeup and terrific punch of a great fighter, but the character of a schoolyard bully. What might have been doesn't count. He does not belong in the company of immortals." - Tyson has the physical requirements and the terrifying clout of a great fighter, but he has the character of a schoolyard bully. What could have been doesn't count. He doesn't belong in the society of immortal boxing greats).

Prohibition of occupation and renewed imprisonment

Due to his extremely unsportsmanlike behavior in the last fight against Holyfield, Tyson was revoked the boxing license for an indefinite period in early July by a resolution of the Nevada State Sports Commission. He also had to pay a fine of three million dollars. The professional ban meant the temporary end of his big paydays for Tyson. Immediately after the verdict became known, the MGM Grand Hotel terminated the contract with Tyson, as Tyson had so far only completed five of the six agreed fights in the MGM. Although the deadline was only estimated in July 1998, it was already clear that Tyson could no longer fulfill his side of the contract, as he was only allowed to apply for a new license at this point at the earliest.

Outside the ring, Mike Tyson continued to make headlines. In October 1997, he suffered a broken rib and a lung injury in a motorcycle accident in the state of Connecticut , which, in addition to his prescribed break from the ring, brought him a six-week break from training. In 1998, Tyson finally left longtime manager Don King and sued him for $ 100 million fraud.

In July 1998, a year after his ban, Mike Tyson applied to the New Jersey Sports Regulatory Authority for a new boxing license. These efforts failed, however, after an initial questioning by officials had been broken off after 35 minutes with a curse tirade from Tyson. About two weeks after his New Jersey licensing process was suspended, Tyson was involved in a minor car accident in which he assaulted two other men - one of whom was the other party involved in the accident. Tyson was then sued by both of them for assault. This threatened the former champion, who had meanwhile applied for a boxing license in Nevada , again a prison sentence because he was still on parole due to his conviction for rape. After five days of examinations, a medical report was finally published that attested Tyson to have depression and a lack of self-esteem, but which still declared him fit for combat. Less than a week later, Tyson received his boxing license back from the Nevada Boxing Commission in a 4-1 decision. This paved the way for a new comeback for the time being.

For his return to the ring, the South African Francois Botha was chosen as his opponent, who - like Peter McNeeley , the opponent in Tyson's first comeback - was only mediocre despite an excellent fight history. The fight, which took place in January 1999, revealed major boxing deficiencies in Tyson and confirmed the critics who had denied him the boxing class for some time. Although Tyson managed to knock his opponent out in the fifth round by a direct hit, he boxed until then anything but convincing. More than once, Tyson was apparently overwhelmed by the South African's unclean way of fighting. After the end of the first round, the fight threatened to degenerate into another scandal. Tyson, who was already badly damaged by a headbutt from his counterpart, seemed - similar to his last fight against Holyfield - to lose his nerve again. He ignored the referee's sever command and instead tried to break Botha's left arm. He tried to free his arm from the grip and hit Tyson. It was only after the intervention of several supervisors that the two counterparties could finally be separated.

About a month after his disappointing ring appearance, Tyson had to answer in court for allegations of bodily harm from August of the previous year; on February 5, he was sentenced to one year in prison, serving in Montgomery County Jail, Maryland . After just under four months, Tyson was allowed to leave the prison by order of the parole board, but was placed under house arrest and psychological care.

Second comeback after imprisonment and other scandals

About five months after his release from prison, Tyson fought on October 23, 1999 against former cruiserweight world champion Orlin Norris , who had now passed his zenith at the age of 34. Tyson appeared to be purified in the run-up to the fight. With a new haircut (curly instead of short cropped), he repeatedly protested that he regretted his previous misconduct. But this fight also caused controversy, because shortly after the gong at the end of the first round by Tyson - probably unintentionally - Norris was hit and could no longer box. The fight result was then as counted Not ( "No Contest") is set. Many observers accused Norris of faking his incapacity to fight Tyson to get another payday. The Nevada Athletic Commission , however, initially reserved the right to freeze Tyson's stock exchange of just under $ 9 million. It was only when Tyson's unintentionality was confirmed after a careful study of the battle records that the money was released.

The fight against Norris was Tyson's last appearance in Las Vegas. His attraction in the United States had diminished significantly since the Holyfield fights, as he had only contested two fights in which he could not convince athletically. Tyson made his next appearance for the first time in Europe, where the enthusiasm for him seemed unbroken. At the end of January 2000, he fought against the British Julius Francis in Manchester , against whom he won by technical knockout in the second round. If this fight was the first that was overshadowed for a long time without any scandalous accompanying circumstances, Tyson made headlines again in the next fight when he defeated his compatriot Lou Savarese by a technical knockout in the first round in Glasgow, Scotland . Tyson again ignored the referee John Coyle's command when he wanted to take the apparently overwhelmed Savarese out of the fight after just one minute. Tyson, who continued to assault his opponent and knocked the referee, who finally threw himself in between, to the ground, could only be made to let go of his opponent through the intervention of his supervisors.

The never-ending story of scandals continued in the next battle against the Pole Andrzej Gołota in October 2000. In the so-called "Duel of the Bad Boys" - Gołota has also been disqualified several times for unfair boxing - Tyson's opponent caused a scandal first. Gołota, who seemed to have recovered after falling down at the beginning of the fight, gave up during the break before the third round for no apparent reason and fled the ring. Only a medical examination later revealed that Gołota had suffered a broken cheekbone and cerebral haemorrhage during the fight - probably due to an accidental headbutt by Tyson. But Tyson also caused a stir after the fight against him was proven to have taken marijuana and so the demolition victory was subsequently converted into a "No Contest" (no rating). Even before the fight, Tyson had refused a mandatory urine test, after which he was punished with a three-month ban and a fine of $ 5,000. For a donation of $ 200,000 to nonprofits, Tyson's positive doping test was not pursued.

World championship fight against Lennox Lewis

After the victory over Brian Nielsen in Denmark in October 2001 - Nielsen suffered a knockdown in round 3 and finally gave up after heavy impact hits in round 7 - the contract for a fight against WBC / IBF world champion Lennox Lewis was signed, which was won by points against Holyfield in late 1999 had become the universally recognized number one heavyweight division. The "summit" was supposed to be in Las Vegas; April 6th was set as the date of the fight. Tyson wanted to contest a build-up battle against Ray Mercer in early January , but this was prevented by Lewis and his management.

A press conference on the fight was held on January 22nd, but it turned into a single fiasco. Lewis, who heavily criticized Tyson, was attacked by him and bitten in the thigh during the mass brawl that resulted. Following this incident, Tyson was stripped of his combat license by the Nevada Boxing Commission. As a result, Las Vegas was canceled as the venue and the planned meeting of the two superstars was delayed by a few weeks.

The meeting finally took place on June 8, 2002 in Memphis , Tennessee . Sensitized by the incidents at the press conference, unprecedented security precautions were taken immediately before the fight to prevent another escalation. Both boxers and their companions were searched for unauthorized weapons as they marched into the hall, which significantly delayed the start of the fight. This rather grotesque spectacle finally culminated in the fact that in the middle of the ring a dozen security guards set up a human wall to separate both opponents from each other up to the gong. Even the traditional "shake hands" (touching the gloves before the fight as the equivalent of shaking hands) was omitted, as the referee carried out the mandatory briefing for each of the boxers individually in the corner.

The fight itself, however, did not meet the expectations of the audience. In the first lap, Tyson was very aggressive and agile, but from lap two he began to lose stamina. He looked sedate and unimaginative and boxed more and more static, which Lewis took advantage of mercilessly. More and more often Tyson was hit by the hard left leading hand of his 15 cm taller opponent, but he himself could only rarely radiate danger with isolated blows. In addition, he suffered the first cut in his right eye in the third lap. Although Tyson fell behind on points with increasing length of the fight, he showed, as in his first encounter with Holyfield, at least impressive taker skills. But in the eighth round, worn down and bleeding from deep wounds in both eyes and nose, he finally had to pay tribute to his opponent's many hits and was counted after two knockdowns.

As a consolation prize for his defeat, Tyson collected 17 million US dollars for this world championship fight, but his sporting reputation was now finally in ruins. Lennox Lewis had proven to be the best heavyweight of the late 1990s and early 2000s, although the question remained whether he would have won against a Mike Tyson at his best.

Tyson, who had sounded before the fight that he would tear out Lewis' heart and devour his children, was more measured again after the fight. “I congratulate Lennox, he fought bravely, I take off my hat. Everything else I said and did before that was done to promote the fight ”.

After losing to Lewis Tyson played a build-up battle against Clifford Etienne in February 2003 , which he won in the first round by knockout. When asked if he would be seen more fights, he said dryly that he would only return for appropriate payment; he thought such a thing possible only through a second fight against Lewis. Despite his convincing victory in the first fight, he initially showed interest, but then declared his resignation after his controversial victory against Vitali Klitschko in June 2003. In August of that year, Tyson declared bankruptcy .

Attempts at comeback

Tyson in the Ring in Las Vegas (2006)

Driven by financial worries, Tyson embarked on another comeback in July 2004. The opponent was the until then quite unknown Brit Danny Williams . After Tyson had been clearly superior in the first three rounds, he went to the ground in the fourth round after more than twenty direct hits from his opponent, whereupon the referee broke off the fight. The reason for Tyson's defeat was a knee injury that he sustained towards the end of the first round. The fight was followed by an operation on the meniscus . Tyson received an estimated $ 8 million purse for the fight, most of which went to his creditors or his ex-wife.

His last fight as an active boxer denied Tyson in a new comeback attempt on June 11, 2005. For a fight exchange of five million US dollars, he competed against the rather mediocre Irish boxer Kevin McBride . In the sixth round, Tyson got into trouble, leading on points, whereupon he fell back into old habits by trying to break his opponent's arm and then inflicting a serious laceration with a deliberate headbutt. Tyson was deducted two points for this gross unsportsmanlike conduct and disqualification was announced in the event of repeated misconduct. Shortly before the end of the round, Tyson went to the ground after a right hook from his opponent, but this was not counted as a knockdown because McBride had helped by pressing down. Tyson had to be formally asked by the referee to get up again - the commentators saw in a hand movement of the exhausted boxer lying on the ground, the request that he should be helped up. He got back on his feet very slowly and dragged himself to his corner, where his trainer Jeff Fenech decided to stop the fight. Immediately afterwards, he announced his final resignation and promised "to make boxing, to which he owed so much, no longer laughable through such appearances".

Since Tyson did not manage to secure himself financially for the time after his active career, despite his boxing earned more than 300 million dollars, a return was initially not ruled out by many observers. However, Tyson did not make a comeback.

In 2007 he was convicted of drunk driving. He was also found to have three bags of cocaine . He was detained for one day, was given three years probation and was given rehabilitation.

On May 26, 2009, Mike Tyson's four-year-old daughter Exodus was killed in an accident when she was strangled from a treadmill cord while playing. On November 9 of the same year, Tyson knocked down a press photographer at a ticket office in Los Angeles International Airport and was temporarily arrested. Tyson said he acted in self-defense against the aggressive paparazzo to protect his wife and their child. The hospitalized photographer and Tyson, who was released on bail a few hours later, announced criminal charges.

In 2011, Tyson was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame .

In July 2020, 54-year-old Tyson announced that he would return to the boxing ring on September 12, 2020 for an exhibition match against his 51-year-old compatriot Roy Jones junior . The fight, which will take place in Los Angeles, will last eight rounds and will be broadcast as a pay-per-view event on the Triller social media platform . Both athletes are intensively accompanied by camera teams during their preparations, and a ten-part documentary is to be created from the collected material. For Tyson, the exhibition match is his first professional match in 15 years, after his last match against the Irish Kevin McBride in 2005 ended in defeat. However, Tyson's comeback was not entirely unexpected. In the previous weeks, he kept posting training videos of himself on social media, which sparked rumors of an upcoming fight. It was speculated, among other things, that Tyson would face Shannon Briggs or his long-time rival Evander Holyfield , but this was ultimately not confirmed.

Tyson's boxing style

Tyson in May 2013

Mike Tyson is remembered by most boxing observers because of his aggressive fighting style and the impressive hardness of his punches, which earned him the name "Iron Mike" shortly after starting his professional career. But his numerous premature victories could not be explained with great clout alone. At the height of his performance in the late 1980s, Tyson also had excellent defensive behavior, which was repeatedly underestimated by experts. The very muscular, but small for a heavyweight, Tyson learned to box under Cus D'Amato according to the principle of "Defense first", according to which the most important rule is not to be hit by the opponent. The basis for this was Tyson's pronounced mobility in the trunk area.

In this way, he was able to compensate for the range disadvantages compared to his consistently larger opponents by avoiding their blows by constantly swinging his upper body and then literally “diving through” under their fists (see e.g. Tyson vs. Reggie Gross). Because of his relatively short arms, Tyson had great advantages over his opponents in the close range, where he achieved an unusually high stroke frequency for a heavyweight when exchanging blows. The pendulum movements also enabled him to put as much weight of the upper body as possible into his strokes.

Ultimately, Tyson was able to place lightning-fast series of massive jabs and hooks on the opponent. This boxing style was vaguely reminiscent of earlier champions such as Jack Dempsey , Rocky Marciano and Joe Frazier and was invented by D'Amato himself and christened "Peek-a-boo" . But none of them acted with such dynamism as Tyson, who carried out the attacks during his fights with unprecedented force and explosiveness and thus literally overran his opponent more than once.

Accordingly, they were required to keep Tyson at a distance by constantly working with the leading hand. But due to its pendulum movements with the upper body, it usually seemed impossible to stick to this tactic in the long run and to score your own hits - let alone land impact hits. Most of them eventually despaired of this way of boxing as they deteriorated more and more. In addition, Tyson resorted to body hits when he did not want to succeed any impact hits on the head, forcing his opponents to move the cover down and thus bare the head.

The psychological component also played a large role in Mike Tyson's successes. Since the beginning of his professional career, Tyson has cultivated the image of a "bad boy" who not only defeated his opponents, but literally destroyed them. To underline his supposed dangerousness, Tyson walked into the ring - on the idea of ​​his first managers Jacobs and Clayton - wearing only black trousers and combat shoes (no shirt, no socks), which should be reminiscent of a gladiator . This appearance seemed to leave a lasting impression on not a few of his opponents. In the opinion of many observers, in some of Tyson's fights, the opponents had already come to terms with their defeat before the first gong and were therefore unable to call up their full potential (e.g. BM Spinks, B. Seldon). The resulting "lightning victories" of Tyson in turn reinforced his myth of invincibility. Even when "Iron Mike" - meanwhile already defeated by a knockout - had noticeably lost some of its explosiveness after several years in prison, the belief in its elemental force was so deeply rooted in some of his opponents that only one year after his comeback two the three big championship belts were in his possession again. Only with Evander Holyfield came a boxer who was supposedly unimpressed by Tyson's charisma and uncovered previously unknown boxing and physical weaknesses in the champion.

successes

• Professional balance: 50 wins - 6 losses - 2 without evaluation
• 44 wins by knockout, 22 of them in the 1st round
• November 22, 1986: WBC World Champion (9 title defenses)
• March 7, 1987: WBA World Champion (8 title defenses)
• August 1, 1987: IBF World Champion (6 title defenses)
• March 16, 1996: WBC World Champion
• September 7, 1996: WBA World Champion
• January 30, 2012: WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2012
• 4th place in most WBC heavyweight title defense (after Lennox Lewis , Larry Holmes and Muhammad Ali )
• 2nd place in most WBA heavyweight title defenses (after Muhammad Ali )
• 2nd place of most IBF title defenses in heavyweight division (after Wladimir Klitschko )

List of professional fights

50 wins (44 knockout wins), 6 defeats , 0 draws
year	Day	place	opponent	Result for Tyson
1985	6th March	Plaza Convention Center, Albany, New York, USA	Hector Mercedes	Victory / TKO 1st round
	10th of April	Albany, New York, USA	Trent Singleton	Victory / TKO 1st round
	23. May	Albany, New York, USA	Don Halpin	Victory / KO 4th round
	20th June	Resorts International, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Ricardo Spain	Victory / TKO 1st round
	July 11th	Trump Casino Hotel, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	John Alderson	Victory / TKO 2nd round
	July 19	Mid-Hudson Civic Center, Poughkeepsie, New York, USA	Larry Sims	Victory / KO 3rd round
	15th of August	Resorts International, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Lorenzo Canady	Victory / KO 1st round
	5th September	Atlantis Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Michael Johnson	Victory / KO 1st round
	9th October	Trump Casino Hotel, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Donnie Long	Victory / TKO 1st round
	October 25	Atlantis Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Robert Colay	Victory / KO 1st round
	November 1st	Latham Coliseum, Latham, New York, USA	Sterling Benjamin	Victory / TKO 1st round
	November 13th	Ramada-Houston Hotel, Houston, Texas, USA	Eddie Richardson	Victory / KO 1st round
	22nd of November	Latham Coliseum, Latham, New York, USA	Conroy Nelson	Victory / TKO 2nd round
	6th of December	Felt Forum, New York, New York, USA	Sammy Scaff	Victory / TKO 1st round
	December 27th	Latham Coliseum, Latham, New York, USA	Mark Young	Victory / TKO 1st round
1986	11th January	Plaza Convention Center, Albany, New York, USA	David Jaco	Victory / TKO 1st round
	January 24th	Trump Plaza Hotel, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Mike Jameson	Victory / TKO 5th round
	February 16	Rensselaer PI, Troy, New York, USA	Jesse Ferguson	Victory / TKO 6th round
	March 10th	Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York, USA	Steve Zouski	Victory / KO 3rd round
	May 3rd	Civic Center, Glens Falls, New York, USA	James Tillis	Points victory (unanimously) / 10 rounds
	May 20th	Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, USA	Mitch Green	Points victory (unanimously) / 10 rounds
	June 13th	Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, USA	Reggie Gross	Victory / TKO 1st round
	June 28th	Houston Field House, Troy, New York, USA	William Hosea	Victory / KO 1st round
	July 11th	Stevensville Hotel, Swan Lake, New York, USA	Lorenzo Boyd	Victory / KO 2nd round
	July 26th	Civic Center, Glens Falls, New York, USA	Marvis Frazier	Victory / KO 1st round
	17th August	Trump Plaza Hotel, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Jose Ribalta	Victory / TKO 10th round
	September 6th	Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Alfonzo Ratliff	Victory / TKO 2nd round
	22nd of November	Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Trevor Berbick WBC World Heavyweight Championship	Victory / TKO 2nd round
1987	7th March	Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	James Smith WBA / WBC Heavyweight Title Association	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	30th May	Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Pinklon Thomas WBA / WBC Heavyweight Title Defense	Victory / TKO 6th round
	August 1st	Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Tony Tucker IBF / WBA / WBC Heavyweight Title Association	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	October, 16th	Convention Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Tyrell Biggs IBF / WBA / WBC Heavyweight Title Defense	Victory / TKO 7th round
1988	22nd of January	Convention Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Larry Holmes IBF / WBA / WBC Heavyweight Title Defense	Victory / TKO 4th round
	March 21st	Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan	Tony Tubbs IBF / WBA / WBC heavyweight title defense	Victory / TKO 2nd round
	June 27th	Convention Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Michael Spinks IBF / WBA / WBC heavyweight title defense	Victory / KO 1st round
1989	February 25	Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Frank Bruno IBF / WBA / WBC heavyweight title defense	Victory / TKO 5th round
	21 July	Convention Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Carl Williams IBF / WBA / WBC heavyweight title defense	Victory / TKO 1st round
1990	February 11th	Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan	James Douglas IBF / WBA / WBC Heavyweight Title Defense	Loss / KO 10th round
	June 16	Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Henry Tillman	Victory / KO 1st round
	December 8th	Convention Center, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Alex Stewart	Victory / TKO 1st round
1991	March 18th	Mirage Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Donovan Ruddock	Victory / TKO 7th round
	June 28th	Mirage Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Donovan Ruddock	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
1995	August 19th	MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Peter McNeeley	Victory / Disqualification 1st round
	December 16	Core States Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA	Buster Mathis Jr.	Victory / KO 3rd round
1996	March 16	MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Frank Bruno WBC World Heavyweight Championship	Victory / TKO 3rd round
	7th of September	MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Bruce Seldon WBA World Heavyweight Championship	Victory / TKO 1st round
	November 9th	MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Evander Holyfield WBA heavyweight title defense	Defeat / TKO 11th round
1997	June 28th	MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Evander Holyfield WBA World Heavyweight Championship	Loss / disqualification 3rd round
1999	January 16	MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Francois Botha	Victory / KO 5th round
	23rd October	MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Orlin Norris	Tie / cancellation in round 1
2000	January 29th	MEN Arena, Manchester, Lancashire, UK	Julius Francis	Victory / TKO 2nd round
	June 24th	Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland, UK	Lou Savarese	Victory / TKO 1st round
	the 20th of October	The Palace, Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA	Andrew Golota	Tie / cancellation in round 3
2001	October 13th	Parking, Copenhagen, Denmark	Brian Nielsen	Victory / abandonment 7th round
2002	8th June	The Pyramid, Memphis, Tennessee, USA	Lennox Lewis IBF / IBO / WBC World Heavyweight Championship	Loss / KO 8th round
2003	February 22	The Pyramid, Memphis, Tennessee, USA	Clifford Etienne	Victory / KO 1st round
2004	30th July	Freedom Hall State Fairground, Louisville, Kentucky, USA	Danny Williams	Loss / KO 4th round
2005	June 11th	MCI Center, Washington, District of Columbia, USA	Kevin McBride	Loss / TKO 6th round
Source: Mike Tyson in the BoxRec database

Filmography (selection)

Mike Tyson can be seen in feature films at irregular intervals. Mostly he appears there as himself.

• 1999: Black and White
• 2001: Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles
• 2006: Rocky Balboa
• 2007: Fool N Final
• 2008: Tyson (documentary by James Toback )
• 2009: Hangover (The Hangover)
• 2011: The Knockout 2
• 2011: Hangover 2 (The Hangover: Part II)
• 2012–2013: The Roots of Fight (TV series, 4 episodes)
• 2013: How I Met Your Mother (TV series, episode 8x16)
• 2013: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV series, episode 14x13)
• 2013: Scary Movie 5
• 2013: Signal Lost
• 2013: Two from the old school (Grudge Match)
• 2014: Franklin & Bash (TV series, episode 4x03)
• 2014: Mike Tyson Mysteries (cartoon series)
• 2015: Entourage
• 2015: Ip Man 3
• 2017: China Salesman
• 2018: Kickboxer: The Reckoning (Kickboxer: Retaliation)

Others

Tyson and Ahmed Salim in April 2012

Since 2009, Tyson, who has bred pigeons as a child, has been breeding pigeons in Hoboken , New Jersey . In 2011 there was a report on Tyson and his pigeons, Mike Tyson - Decision in the Sky , on the television channel DMAX .

In 2009, Tyson officially apologized to Holyfield on The Oprah Winfrey Show for his past bite attack.

On March 31, 2012, Mike Tyson was officially inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. His laudators were Triple H and Shawn Michaels .

On his right upper arm, Tyson wears a tattoo of a portrait of Mao Zedong , the former Chinese president whom he has admired since reading some of his books.

In August 2013, Tyson stated that he had severe drinking problems and was "on the verge of death."

Tyson has emerged as an advocate for a vegan diet.

In 2015, he declared his support for Donald Trump's candidacy for President of the United States .

literature

• Mike Tyson with Larry Sloman: Undeniable Truth - The Autobiography . Hannibal Verlag, Höfen 2013, ISBN 978-3-85445-441-0 (Original edition: Undisputed Truth )
• Ernest Cashmore: Mike Tyson: Nurture of the Beast (Celebrities). Blackwell Publ 2005, ISBN 0-7456-3070-7 (English).
• Marshall Cavendish International Ltd .: Box-Champions , Marshall Cavendish Video Collection 1997, Issue No. 3 (German edition) .
• José Torres: Knock out: the Mike Tyson story , transl. From the American: Rus Tulburg, Berlin: Sportverlag, 1992, ISBN 3-328-00529-3 .
• José Torres: Fire & fear: the inside story of Mike Tyson , New York, NY: Warner Books, 1989, ISBN 0-446-51485-3 .
• Joyce Carol Oates: The Powerful Allure of Mike Tyson , The New York Times, October 25, 1987
• Mike Tyson in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

Web links

Commons : Mike Tyson  - collection of images

• Mike Tyson in the BoxRec database
• Literature by and about Mike Tyson in the catalog of the German National Library
• Mike Tyson's personal website
• Mike Tyson in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Footnotes

1. ↑ 1956 Floyd Patterson was 21 years old world heavyweight champion. Since the division of the then world association did not begin until the early sixties, Patterson was therefore the only champion in his weight class at the time. Tyson, on the other hand, initially only won one of the three recognized world titles, but has already been classified as the strongest of the reigning world champions by the renowned Ring Magazine .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Some sources such as BoxRec speak of 5 '10 "corresponding to 1.78 m, while in competition data ( memento of the original from May 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. is usually indicated with 5 '11 "or 5' 11.5" corresponding to 1.80 to 1.82 m. Differences in size can also arise during a boxing career of almost 20 years due to age (id R. downwards), in the order of up to 3 cm also due to the time of day of the measurement. 
2. ↑ Berliner Zeitung: Tyson has to pay
3. ↑ https://www.welt.de/sport/boxen/article194578411/Anthony-Joshua-Welche-Runde-ist-das-fragt-der-Weltmeister.html
4. ^ Berliner Zeitung: From perpetrator to hero
5. ↑ Berliner Zeitung: You pounce on him like vultures
6. ↑ Boxing Monthly: "The oddsmakers installed Tyson as a 25-1 on favorite but money coming in for Holyfield brought the odds down to 16-1 by the day of the fight."
7. ↑ Berliner Zeitung: Another Tyson contract canceled
8. ↑ Berliner Zeitung: Mike Tyson is released early
9. ↑ Berliner Zeitung: New curls, new insight
10. ↑ Berliner Zeitung: A left hook after the gong
11. ↑ http://www.spox.com/de/sport/fussball/international/1404/News/will-van-megen-marihuana-von-der-dopingliste-fifa-doping-wada-cannabis-ibrahim-tanko.html
12. ↑ Irmintraud Jost: Mike Tyson smoked marijuana: drug use does not extend boxing ban - request for Lewis fight. In: The world . January 19, 2011, accessed February 12, 2014 . 
13. ↑ Lennox Lewis beats Tyson Ko In: Der Spiegel . June 9, 2002, accessed February 12, 2014 . 
14. ↑ "I hate myself" . Der Spiegel, January 2, 2012. Retrieved May 15, 2020
15. ↑ Mike Tyson returns to the ring for show fight - at age 54. Der Spiegel , July 23, 2020, accessed on July 24, 2020 . 
16. ↑ Welt am Sonntag, Hamburg, March 13, 2011, No. 11, page 74.
17. ↑ Mike Tyson Apologizes Video.
18. ↑ Tyson visits Mao Tse-tung's mausoleum. In: Focus Online . April 3, 2006, accessed February 12, 2014 . 
19. ↑ Die Welt: Mike Tyson - "I'm on the doorstep of death"
20. ↑ Achim Dreis, Michael Wittershagen: Successful without meat. In: FAZ.net . November 3, 2017, accessed October 13, 2018 . 
21. ^ Luke Kerr-Dineen: Mike Tyson just endorsed Donald Trump for president. In: USA Today . October 17, 2015, accessed April 5, 2020 . 
22. ^ Joyce Carol Oates: The Powerful Allure of Mike Tyson. In: The New York Times. October 25, 1987, accessed June 8, 2020 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
Trevor Berbick	Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) November 22, 1986-11. February 1990	James "Buster" Douglas
James "Bonecrusher" Smith	Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( WBA ) March 7, 1987-11. February 1990	James "Buster" Douglas
Tony Tucker	Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( IBF ) August 1, 1987-11. February 1990	James "Buster" Douglas
Frank Bruno	Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) March 16, 1996–24. September 1996	Lennox Lewis
Bruce Seldon	Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( WBA ) September 7, 1996–9. November 1996	Evander Holyfield