Boxing Legends: Mike Tyson

Widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, and with good reason, “Iron” Mike Tyson won multiple world titles over the course of a controversial career.

Away from the ring, Tyson was never far from the news headlines, but when he stepped inside the ropes, his quality was evident for all to see. For a period during the 1990s, when he was at his peak, the Brooklyn-born fighter was pure box office.

There were epic battles with the likes of Frank Bruno, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis along the way, while Tyson was on the wrong end of one of the sport’s biggest upsets when he was defeated by James “Buster” Douglas in 1990.

Having won gold medals at the Junior Olympic Games in 1981 and 1982, it was clear from the outset that Tyson possessed the qualities required to succeed at the highest level, and he made the move into the professional ranks in 1985, making his debut at the age of 18 with a knockout victory over Hector Mercedes in New York. 

During the early part of his career, Tyson made light work of his opponents, winning the majority of fights via knockout or TKO, with his brutal power simply too hot to handle.

His biggest fight at that point arrived in November 1986 when he fought Trevor Berbick for the WBC heavyweight title. If there had been any questions about his ability, he answered them emphatically, winning the fight courtesy of a second-round TKO and becoming, at the age of 20, the youngest heavyweight champion in history.

After defeating James Smith and Tony Tucker a year later, he became the first man to hold the WBC, WBA and IBF titles at the same time, sending out a serious statement of intent to the rest of the heavyweight division. Tyson was undoubtedly the man of the moment.

In 1988, he became the only man to defeat Larry Holmes via knockout, and later the same year his bout with Michael Spinks, which was expected to be a closely fought battle between two greats, proved disappointingly one-sided as Tyson landed a knockout blow after just 91 seconds. The victory saw him claim the lineal heavyweight championship.

After seeing off Frank Bruno and Carl Williams, both via knockout, Tyson was at the peak of his powers and seemingly unstoppable. The boxing world was in a state of disbelief, though, when he lost the world heavyweight title after suffering a shock defeat to James “Buster” Douglas in Tokyo.

It was a result nobody saw coming, least of all Tyson, who had knocked his opponent down in the eighth round, only for Douglas to regroup and finish the job emphatically.

Tyson was jailed in 1992 for events away from the ring, and although some struggled to believe he would return to boxing, he made his comeback in 1995, before regaining the WBC and WBA belts soon after with victories over Bruno and Bruce Seldon respectively, setting up a titanic clash with Evander Holyfield.

It was Holyfield who came out on top with an 11th-round stoppage, but Tyson’s camp believed his opponent had continually – and unfairly - used headbutts throughout the bout. Regardless of the fallout, a rematch was scheduled for June 1997. 

What followed was one of the most dramatic and controversial sporting events in living memory, with Tyson disqualified for biting Holyfield’s ear on two separate occasions. The referee ended the contest in the third round and such was the ferocity of Tyson’s actions, parts of his opponent’s ear were found in the ring. Tyson had his boxing license taken away for a year and landed a hefty fine.

Tyson was handed another opportunity to fight for a world title in 2002 when he faced Lennox Lewis, who was holder of the WBC, IBF, IBO and lineal titles at the time, but it proved a bout to forget for the American who caused a brawl in the pre-fight press conference, before being comfortably beaten, suffering a knockout in the eighth round.

In truth, Tyson should probably have called time on his career after the Lewis defeat. However, he fought three more times, losing the final two bouts of his career to Danny Williams and Kevin McBride.

It was an unfortunate ending to what had been an outstanding career, but despite the disappointing climax, Tyson will always be regarded as a boxing legend.