Tyson, Mike 1966–

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Mike Tyson 1966–

Professional boxer

Professional Debut

Professional Glory, Personal Problems

Went to Prison

Infamy in the Desert

Cannibalistic Comments

Sources

Mike Tyson, the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history, is perhaps one of the sport’s most notorious figures. His talent is undeniable. As Sports Illustrated observed, “He is the purest of fighters: He hits people and they fall down.” While some ponder the kinetic energy behind each punch, Tyson reminds us of the sheer simplicity of the sport. There are no goal lines or plays to call—just two men standing in a ring of physicality, each trying to demolish the other. Yet Tyson also reminds us of the more primal aspect of the sport. From his imprisonment for rape to the cannibalistic comments directed toward Lennox Lewis and his biting of Evander Holyfield’s ear, Tyson’s persona has evolved into that of the brutal aggressor.

Michael Gerard Tyson was born in Brooklyn, New York on June 30, 1966 to Loma Tyson and Jimmy Kirk-patrick. Kirkpatrick left the family when his son was two years old. As a youth Tyson joined a street gang at a very early age and was in trouble with the law many times before he was 12 years old. After an arrest for armed robbery he was sent to the Tyron School in 1978, a correction center for juveniles in upstate New York. It was there that his life changed direction. The school’s physical education teacher saw potential in the young man and introduced him to legendary boxing trainer Cus D’Amato, who lived near the facility at the time. Tyson thrived under the new structure and discipline in his life. Tyson moved in with D’Amato and when the boxer’s mother died when he was 16. D’Amato became his legal guardian. Tyson was sent back to the Tyron school for a time after he was threatened with a gun by his then-trainer Teddy Atlas. The trainer had heard that Tyson sexually abused a 12-year-old girl and was trying to frighten him. Tyson made stunning progress as an amateur and decided to try out for the Olympic team at the age of 17. After failing to make the 1984 Olympic team, D’Amato decided that it was time for his fighter to turn professional.

Professional Debut

On March 4, 1985 Tyson stepped into the ring for his first professional fight. He had studied boxing history and watched old newsreel footage of the great fighters of the past and wanted to emulate them. He entered the ring without fanfare, without a robe, without socks, dressed in black with the most menacing and intimidating glare in boxing. Many of his opponents were

At a Glance…

Born Michael Gerard Tyson on June 30, 1966 in Brooklyn, New York; son of Lorna Tyson and Jimmy Kirkpatrick; married Robin Givens, 1988 (divorced 1988); married Monica Turner; children: four.

Career: Professional boxer, 1985-; first professional loss to James “Buster” Douglas, 1990; fined and suspended from boxing for one year, 1997.

Awards: WBC title, making him the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history, 1986; WBA title, 1987; IBF championship, August 1, 1987; regained WBC championship, 1996; regained WBA championship, 1996.

Addresses: Office—”] 0100 Santa Monica Blvd. #1300, Los Angeles, CA 90067.

beaten before Tyson even stepped through the ropes. Tyson went 15-0 in his first year as a professional boxer. Many boxing aficionados thought that D’Amato had created the perfect heavyweight fighter. But he would never live to see his man become champion. The 77-year-old trainer died in November of 1985.

Despite this loss, Tyson continued to storm through the heavyweight division. One year after D’Amato’s death, Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion ever when he gained the World Boxing Council (WBC) championship belt after a two-round knockout of Trevor Berbick. Co-Manager Jimmy Jacobs told Pat Putnam of Sports Illustrated that everything was going to plan: “Cus predicted that Mike would fight for the title before the end of 1986…Cus said the only way to prepare Mike for this was to give him a speed education by a multiple of four. So there has been no R and R for Mike. There couldn’t be. And he has held up beautifully.” The next year he united the heavyweight championship, defeating James “Bonecrusher” Smith for the World Boxing Association (WBA) belt in March and Tony Tucker for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) belt in August. Tyson was on top of the boxing world as the most ferocious boxer in the sport’s most glamorous division. But he soon learned that success often comes at a price.

Professional Glory, Personal Problems

In 1988 Jim Jacobs died. Jacobs had co-managed the young heavyweight from the beginning of his career. Into the vacuum in Tyson’s life created by the deaths of D’Amato and Jacobs came boxing’s most notorious promoter Don King and Tyson’s new wife, Robin Givens, whom he had married after a two-week courtship. In the ring the f ghter was at the absolute pinnacle of his power, defeating former IBF champ Michael Spinks in 91 seconds.

Outside the ring Tyson’s life was spinning out of control. He broke his hand in a street fight with a former opponent Mitch “Blood” Green. Then he crashed his BMW into a tree on D’Amato’s former estate. Some in the media reported that the crash was intentional and amounted to a failed suicide attempt. He was reported to have chased Givens and her mother through the streets of Moscow where she was shooting a movie. And then there was the appearance with his wife on national television in a question and answer session with Barbara Walters. Tyson sat next to Givens looking half-awake as his wife talked about him as if he were not there. She said that he was a manic-depressive and claimed that he had abused her. Soon after the humiliating ordeal Givens and Tyson were divorced after one year of marriage.

The exit of Givens ’eft Don King firmly in control of team Tyson. For five years Tyson had destroyed opponent after opponent, but that set of circumstances would also change. On February 11, 1990 Tyson fought James “Buster” Douglas, a 42-1 underdog. From the very beginning of the fight, there was a different atmosphere. Tyson was sluggish—some claim from anti-depressan: medication—and his journeyman opponent seemed to be different also, as if he were not afraid of the man so many others had feared to fight. Tyson knocked down Douglas, but the challenger recovered and ended up knocking out the champion in the tenth. At first King claimed the knock out was invalid because Tyson had actually won the fight when he put Douglas on the canvas earlier in the bout. The promoter even pressured WBC President Jose Su-laiman to declare the knockout invalid before succumbing to overwhelming public outrage over King’s chicanery.

Tyson recovered from his loss to win two more bouts in 1990. The next year he defeated Donovan “Razor” Ruddock twice. His next fight was for the heavyweight championship against Evander Holyfield, but that scheduled fight never happened.

Went to Prison

While attending the Miss Black America contest, Tyson met 18-year-old Desiree Washington. On July 19, 1991 Tyson took her back to his hotel room and allegedly raped the young pageant contestant. He was tried and convicted of rape, and in March of 1992, Tyson was sentenced to six years in prison. He spent three years of his six-year sentence in jail. Word leaked out that Tyson was a different man after spending time behind bars. He was said to be reading communist literature, Malcom X, and had even converted to Islam.

At age 28, Tyson was released from prison on March 25, 1995. He emerged from prison with tattoos of Arthur Ashe and Mao Zedong on his arms. He went to a nearby mosque and met with Muhammed Ali immediately after he left the prison grounds. Though many boxing promoters and managers had courted the fighter in prison, it was Don King who was part of Tyson’s entourage and negotiated a deal with Showtime on his fighter’s first day out from behind bars.

Tyson’s first post-prison opponent was Boston-based journeyman Peter McNeely. McNeely’s record was 36-1. On paper he seemed good enough, but his opponents’ combined records were 148-436. His only loss came against an opponent with a winning record. Despite his own shaky record, McNeely maintained his brave face throughout the pre-fight pomp and circumstance though everyone knew the fight would go to Tyson. Tyson knocked down McNeely twice and then McNeely’s manager threw in the towel after 89 seconds of the first round.

King scheduled Tyson’s next fight to air on the FOX Network. Not only would Tyson be on free television, his fight was scheduled on the same night in the same city (Las Vegas) as the pay-per-view event Riddick Bowe vs. Evander Holyfield III. King and Tyson caused an uproar among boxing circles and casino executives, but Tyson broke his thumb during practice and was forced to postpone the bout. The fight was rescheduled for December 16th in Philadelphia and Tyson knocked out Buster Mathis in the third round.

On March 16, 1996 Tyson fought the formidable but weak-chinned Englishman Frank Bruno. Bruno talked a great deal before the fight, but in the ring he was clearly frightened. In the first round he clinched 15 times and received two warnings. In the second round he clinched 15 more times and received a one-point penalty. Tyson battered Bruno in the third round sending him sliding incoherently down the ropes 50 seconds into the third. One year out of prison Tyson had scored three easy victories and had earned $65 million.

On September 7, 1996 Tyson knocked out Bruce Seldon in 109 seconds. Many spectators and fans watching the pay-per-view event thought the fight was fixed because few saw Tyson punch Seldon, but Sel-don’s trainer said that his man was so scared that he may have had a nervous breakdown. Seldon would never box again and Tyson had won back one of his championship belts: the WBA.

Next up for Tyson was Evander Holyfield, who he had been scheduled to fight in 1991. Holyfield was seen as a washed-up fighter, in danger even of being killed in the ring by Tyson. Holyfield was a 25-1 underdog, but he would make $11 million to Tyson’s $30 million. Despite the long odds, Holyfield was the first man whom Tyson faced since he was released from prison who would fight back. For the first time since Buster Douglas, Tyson faced a worthy opponent. In the sixth round, Holyfield opened a cut over Tyson’s left eye with a head butt and then dropped Tyson with a left hook. It was only the second time Tyson was knocked down in his whole career. At that point Holyfield said that he knew he had beaten Tyson and for the rest of the fight, he jabbed Tyson and stayed out of his rival’s reach. Tyson lost, but the fight grossed $100 million and a rematch was assured.

Infamy in the Desert

Anticipation for the Tyson-Holyfield rematch was so great that the MGM sold out its 16, 000 tickets on the first day. The spectators and the millions viewing on pay-per-view expected to be part of another unforgettable moment in Tyson’s career, but it would be unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. The first round seemed to pick up where the first match left off. Holyfield was the aggressor, sometimes leading with his head. In the second, Holyfield head butted Tyson and cut him above his right eye. The fight became more brutal with both fighters seeming to abandon the rules.

Then, in the third round, Tyson and Holyfield clinched in the middle of the ring. Tyson seemed to search for his opponent’s ear, find it, and then purposely chomp down on it. Holyfield propelled himself into the air and Tyson spit out his mouthpiece and a piece of Holy-field’s ear. Tyson then followed Holyfield back to his corner and pushed him with both hands. There was a two-minute delay after it was decided the fight could continue. Tyson had two points deducted and the two met again in the center of the ring in a clinch and Tyson reached over and bit Holyfield’s other ear. The ring immediately filled with people and chaos ensued. As he left the arena with empty beer cups raining down on him, it seemed that the youngest and most-feared heavyweight champion ever was perhaps out of boxing.

The Nevada State Commission withheld Tyson’s paycheck and suspended his license. Tyson appeared before the press on Monday after the fight and apologized for his behavior, but the public was outragedper-haps more so than when he was convicted for rape. “He wasn’t up for another beating,” Holyfield explained to Time magazine’s Richard Lacayo. “He realized he couldn’t whup me, and he got frustrated.” Reaction poured in from all over the world and Tyson quickly became a punch line on the late night comedy shows. At the Hollywood Wax Museum his likeness was moved from the sports section to the Chamber of Horrors next to Hannibal Lector, the cannibal from the movie Silence of the Lambs. In the end Tyson was banned from boxing for one year and fined $3 million.

During his year away from the sport, Tyson made some changes. After earning an estimated $200 million in the ring, he found that he was cash poor and $13 million in debt from back taxes. He pointed the finger at King and the two parted ways in a flurry of lawsuits. He married again, this time to a pediatrician. His training regimen became steadier and he returned to the ring again making mountains of cash against opponents who offered little opposition.

Cannibalistic Comments

But if people thought that he had slowed down or shrugged off his capacity for the outrageous, they were wrong. In March of 1999 he spent a short time in jail after pleading no contest to two misdemeanor assault charges stemming from a road rage incident. Then, after defeating Lou Savarese in 38 seconds in the summer of 2000, his post-fight behavior and remarks again drew worldwide attention. After the referee stopped the bout, Tyson continued to pound Savarese and even hit the referee with a wild shot. Then outside the ring immediately after the fight he told the assembled media, according to the ESPN website, “I am the most ruthless, brutal champion ever.” Tyson continued, “I am Sonny Liston and Jack Dempsey. There is no one who can match me.” But he saved his most bizarre remarks for a possible future opponent, heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis. According to the ESPN website, Tyson’s message for Lewis was this: “I want your heart. I want to eat your children.” Tyson then added that when he fought Lewis, “I will rip out his heart and feed it to him.” Ironically, he admitted later that he was not ready for Lewis yet.

Tyson has survived a highly publicized series of personal and professionell highs and lows. While known for his ferocity both inside and outside of the ring, Tyson has also contributed to community and charity causes through his various business organizations, including Mike Tyson Enterprises and Tyson Gear. Ever the enigma, perhaps not even Tyson can say where the next chapter in his tumultuous life will take him.