Tyson, Mike

June 30, 1966

In 1986 Mike Tyson became the youngest boxer ever to win a world heavyweight championship title. Dubbed "Iron Mike" by the press because his physique made him seem invincible, he was hailed as the long-awaited successor to Muhammad Ali. He was later demonized in the same media after a series of personal and legal problems made headlines. Though he was considered one of boxing's most promising talents, mastering the fortune and fame that came with success proved to be Tyson's toughest challenge in life.

Born in the summer of 1966 in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, Tyson later moved

with his mother to the Brownsville section of the borough during his early years. He knew who his father was but had little contact with him. By fifth grade, the future icon was a habitual truant and could barely read. He was also large and powerful for his age and became known for being able to knock down full-fledged teenagers in street fights. He fell into a bad crowd and compiled a lengthy juvenile record for armed robbery and other transgressions.

The turning point in Tyson's life came around 1980, after he had spent two years at a facility for juvenile offenders in upstate New York. A teacher there introduced him to a local septuagenarian and legendary boxing manager, Constantine "Cus" D'Amato. D'Amato recognized Tyson's promise, and the teen began training in earnest for the ring. D'Amato also became a father figure for the teen, and even his official legal guardian after his mother died. When Tyson failed to win a spot on the 1984 U.S. Olympic boxing team, he decided to turn professional in early 1985. Over the next year, he knocked out seven other fighters in the first round. He became boxing's youngest heavyweight champion when he won a World Boxing Council (WBC) match against Trevor Berbick in November 1986. Four months later, he won the World Boxing Association (WBA) belt, and later in 1987 took an International Boxing Federation (IBF) title.

Tyson successfully defended his title as the world heavyweight champion in 1988 and 1989. The celebrity that came with his new life, however, seemed to prove a deadlier adversary for him. After a whirlwind courtship, he wed actress Robin Givens in 1988, who later that year told television personality Barbara Walters that her husband suffered from manic depression and could sometimes frighten her and become physically violent. The couple filed for divorce two weeks later. The deaths of D'Amato and a subsequent manager left Tyson adrift professionally, and he fell into the orbit of boxing promoter Don King. His first serious professional loss came in February 1990 in a match with James "Buster" Douglas, to whom he ceded the world heavyweight title. Tyson seemed sluggish in the ring, and rumors arose that he was taking mood-stabilizing medication.

Tyson's fortunes continued to sink, and rapidly. In early 1992, he was convicted of the sexual assault of a Miss Black America contestant in a case that seemed shaky at best, and served three years in an Indiana prison. During his incarceration, Tyson took remedial math classes and converted to Islam. He returned to the ring in 1996, handily beating a string of lesser opponents, and won back his WBA championship belt in September of that year. He lost it two months later to Evander Holyfield, who had not been favored to beat Tyson. In June 1997 the two met again in a massively hyped event, and Tyson bit off a part of Holyfield's ear. Boxing authorities initially banned him from the sport for life because of the transgression, but he was later reinstated.

Tyson made his third comeback in 1999 after he broke professional ties with Don King, but was deeply mired in financial troubles and more than one lawsuit by then. In January 2002, before a press conference to announce a bout with heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, Tyson rushed at the British boxer and the two brawled for nearly five minutes. Tyson lost their June fight and filed for bankruptcy the following year. He claimed to have racked up thirty-eight million dollars in debt. In July 2004 he lost to another British boxer, Danny Williams, in the fourth round. Sportswriters and boxing fans predicted Tyson's career was over, for at age thirty-eight he was considered well past his athletic prime.

See also Boxing

Bibliography

Hoffer, Richard. "Bottomed Out: Mike Tyson's Latest Comeback—and Most Likely His Career—Ended in a Stunning Knockout by a Handpicked Opponent." Sports Illustrated (August 9, 2004): 72.

O'Connor, Daniel, ed. Iron Mike: A Mike Tyson Reader. NewYork: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2002.

carol brennan (2005)