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Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966, New York
City, USA) is a former professional boxing|boxer
and List of heavyweight boxing champions|World
Heavyweight Champion and is considered by many to
be one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all
time. While in his prime, he routinely defeated
prominent opponents in devastating fashion and was
once one of the most feared boxers. His once
immensely promising career was undermined by
serious personal problems, lack of preparation and
two periods of imprisonment. Upon release, he
attempted a comeback but failed to win any bouts
against any noteworthy opponents. Finally on June
11, 2005, Tyson fought his last bout suffering a
defeat to journeyman Kevin McBride and decided to
retire from boxing permanently. His nickname is
"Iron" Mike Tyson.

==Early years==
Born in New York City, Tyson has a respect and
knowledge of his sport's history, and has been
called boxing's most vicious practitioner.  As a
youth, Tyson was passed in and out of juvenile
detention centers and was expelled from high
school.  He was later removed from reform school
by Cus D'Amato.  D'Amato had trained champions
Floyd Patterson and Jose Torres.  He saw Tyson's
potential and subsequently trained him.  D'Amato,
whom press accounts of the mid-1980's called a
father figure to Tyson, died in 1985.  Some
speculate that D'Amato's death was the genesis for
many of the troubles Tyson was to experience as
his life an career progressed.  Teddy Atlas is
another trainer who worked with Tyson in the
earlier stages of his career when he was with
D'Amato.  Atlas has called the legend of "Cus and
the kid" largely false.  He pointed out that
although Cus basically cared about the young
fighter, after a point it only had to do with him
being champion.

==Boxing career==

===The quick rise to superstardom===
Mike Tyson made his debut in the professional ring
on March 6, 1985 in Albany, New York. He won the
fight in a single round. He had a further fifteen
fights in 1985 winning them all by knockout, and
almost all in the first round. He fought twelve
times in 1986, cutting a dangerous path through
improving ranks of journeyman fighters and already
attracting attention and courting media
controversy (v. Jesse Ferguson). On November 22,
1986 Tyson was given his first title shot,
fighting Trevor Berbick for the World Boxing
Council|WBC heavyweight title. It took Tyson two
rounds to become, at age 20, the youngest
heavyweight champion ever. Tyson's ascent up to
this point of his career has been compared by many
boxing critics to that of a young Joe Louis.

In 1987, Tyson defended his title against James
'Bonecrusher' Smith on March 7 in Las Vegas,
Nevada. He won on a unanimous points decision and
added Smith's World Boxing Association|WBA title
to his existing belt. 'Tyson mania' in the media
was becoming rampant. He beat Pinklon Thomas in
May with a knock-out in the sixth round. On August
1 he took the International Boxing Federation|IBF
title from Tony Tucker, winning on points to
become "undisputed heavyweight champion of the
world". His only other fight in 1987 was in
October against the 1984 Olympic Games|Olympic
champion Tyrell Biggs, a workmanlike performance
from Tyson ending with a seventh round TKO.

Tyson had three fights in 1988. He faced an aged
and flabby Larry Holmes on January 22 which
finished with a fourth round TKO. He fought an
even flabbier Tony Tubbs in Tokyo in March,
fitting in an easy two round demolition amid
promotional and marketing work. His next opponent,
Michael Spinks, had been heavyweight champion but
was stripped of the title for not fighting the
next contender.  Many boxing fans considered
Tyson's championship "illegitimate" until he faced
and defeated Spinks.  On June 27 Tyson devastated
Spinks, defeating him in a mere 91 seconds.

===Controversy===
But Tyson's problems outside boxing were starting
to gain prominence too, his marriage to Robin
Givens was heading for divorce, and his future
contract was being clawed over by Don King and
Bill Cayton. In 1989, Tyson had only two fights
amid personal turmoil. He faced the popular
British boxer Frank Bruno in February in a
below-par fight over five rounds and managed a one
round knockout of Carl Williams (bozer)|Carl
Williams in July.

By 1990 Tyson had lost direction, his personal
life was in disarray and he was not training well.
In a fight on February 11 with the little regarded
James Buster Douglas|James 'Buster' Douglas he
lost to a tenth round KO and despite the protests
of his manager over a 'slow count' in the eighth
round Tyson lost all his belts to Douglas. Tyson's
two other fights in 1990 were confidence regaining
first round KOs.

In 1991 Tyson fought Donovan "Razor" Ruddock
twice, once in March and again in June. These
fights were notable because of Tyson's bizarre
"jailhouse" talk towards his opponent. He told
Ruddock, "Everyone knows you're a transvestite and
you love me. I'm gonna make you my girlfriend. I
can't wait to get my hands on a pretty thing like
you". There was some controversy over the first
fight which Tyson won in the seventh round but at
the second fight, which Tyson fought while waiting
for a match against the new champion Evander
Holyfield, Tyson won on points.

===Rape, prison and aftermath===
In 1992, Tyson went on trial in Indiana after
being arrested there in 1991 for the rape of Miss
Black America|Miss Black Rhode Island, Desiree
Washington in an Indianapolis,
Indiana|Indianapolis hotel room. Tyson was
convicted on the charge of rape on February 10,
1992 and imprisoned for 3 years of his 6 year
sentence. (Under Indiana law, a defendant
convicted of a felony must begin serving his
prison sentence immediately after the sentence is
imposed.) As a result, Tyson did not fight again
until 1995. Many of Tyson's supporters claimed
that he was innocent. They pointed out that Ms.
Washington had willingly gone into his motel room
where the rape supposedly took place. At trial,
the prosecutor pointed out that even though Ms.
Washington might have been naive for doing this,
it still didn't mean Tyson was any less guilty of
the crime of rape.

As he won within one round against Peter McNeeley
in August and beat Buster Mathis Jr. in three in
December, 1995. In March, 1996 Tyson regained one
belt, winning the WBC title from a lumbering Frank
Bruno in three rounds. In September, 1996 Tyson
won back the WBA in 93 seconds from Bruce Seldon,
having paid Lennox Lewis $4 million US
dollar|dollars to 'step-aside'. Tyson was
criticized by many for fighting such inferior
opposition. For example, it was pointed out that
McNeeleys "opponents" had lost almost three
fourths of their fights. Mathis was a mediocre,
light hitting puncher whose only claim to fame was
that his father had also been a boxer who fought
Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali. Seldon was subjected
to much ridicule for his first round loss to Tyson
because he seemed to go down and out from a very
light punch. Many accused him of being so scared
he just gave up.

===The Holyfield fights===
On November November 9|9, 1996 however he faced a
tougher challenge in Evander Holyfield, fighting
over eleven rounds. Holyfield won with a TKO to
become a three-time world champion.

Tyson did not fight again until June of 1997 when
there was a hugely anticipated rematch with
Holyfield on June 28 for the WBA title. Tyson was
disqualified in the third round, when, after
losing his temper over a head-butt from Holyfield
and coming out without his gum-shield, he bit a
chunk from Holyfield's ear. When the referee,
Mills Lane, warned him, Tyson went for Holyfield's
other ear. On July 9 Tyson was banned from boxing
for one year and fined $3 million.

===Decline===
In January 1999 Tyson fought the South African
Frans Botha and while Botha initially controlled
the fight, Tyson landed a straight right-hand in
round five that put Botha down. On February 5
Tyson was sentenced to a year's imprisonment,
fined $5,000, and ordered to serve 2 years
probation and perform 200 hours of community
service for the August 31, 1998 assault on two
people after a car accident. He served nine months
of that sentence.  After his release he fought
Orlin Norris on 23 October 1999.  Norris claimed
to have twisted his ankle in the first round and
refused to fight on.  The bout was ruled a No
contest (boxing)|no contest.

In 2000 Tyson had three fights. The first was
staged in England and against Julius Francis,
although some fans considered the pre-fight
arguments about whether Tyson should be allowed
into the country more entertaining than the second
round KO of Francis. He also fought Lou Savarese
in June 2000|June in Glasgow, winning in the first
round. The entire fight only lasted 38 seconds.
Tyson tried to attack the referee when he stopped
the fight and tried to pull him off Savarese. In
October Tyson fought the notoriously dirty Andrew
Golota, winning in round three, a result that was
changed to no-contest after Tyson failed a
fight-related drug test. Tyson fought only once in
2001 beating Brian Nielsen in Copenhagen with a
seventh round TKO.

Tyson sought to fight Lennox Lewis in 2002 in
Nevada, but the Nevada boxing commission refused
him a license to box as he was facing possible
sexual assault charges. Tyson's remarks to Lewis
were more vicious than anything he had ever said
before. "I want your heart, I wanna eat his
children" he screamed (though Lewis had no
children at the time.) A scuffle at a press
conference finally removed any chance of a Nevada
fight. The fight actually occurred in June in
Memphis, Tennessee. Tyson lost in the eighth round
by knockout.

On February 22, 2003, Tyson beat fringe contender
Clifford Etienne 49 seconds into round one, once
again in Memphis. The pre-fight was marred by
rumours of Tyson's lack of fitness and that he
took time out from training to party in Las Vegas
and have a new facial tattoo.

===Hitting rock bottom===
In August 2003, after years of financial
struggles, Tyson finally filed for bankruptcy. His
bank balance was said have been only $5,000. Amid
all his economic troubles, he was named by Ring
Magazine at number 16 among all time best hitters
in boxing history in 2003.

On July 31, 2004 Tyson faced the unregarded
Englishman Danny Williams (boxer)|Danny Williams
in another 'come-back' fight staged in Louisville,
Kentucky. Tyson dominated the opening two rounds.
The third round was more even, with Williams
getting in some clean blows and also a few illegal
ones, for which he was penalized. In the fourth
round Tyson was surprisingly knocked out. He was
trying to fight on one leg having torn a ligament
in his other knee in the first round. Williams put
in over twenty unanswered punches although Tyson
didn't seem to be hurt by any of them. He just
seemed to be off balance and when he was knocked
down, he didn't try to get back up. This was
Tyson's fifth career defeat. He underwent surgery
for the ligament four days after the fight. His
manager Shelly Finkel claimed that Tyson was
unable to throw meaningful right hands after the
knee injury.

On June 11, 2005, Tyson quit before the seventh
round in a close bout against so-called "tomato
can" Kevin McBride. After losing his third of the
last four of his fights, Tyson said he would quit
boxing because he hasn't "got the fighting guts or
the heart anymore."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/boxing/4084744.stm
(BBC SPORT). 

Tyson will continue paying the bills by promoting
web sites and companies. In April 2005, he joined
a group of strippers on the roof of strip club
Scores West in New York City to promote skill
gaming site FortuneFun.com. Tyson has also
endorsed online casino Casino Fortune and
previously lent his name to a popular Nintendo
game, Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!. In June 2004,
sportswriter Sam Kellerman suggested that Tyson
move out of boxing and into product endorsement,
which had worked quite well for boxer George
Foreman. In the past Tyson had shunned
endorsements, accusing other athletes of putting
on a false front to obtain them.

On the front page of the June 3, 2005 USA Today,
Tyson is quoted as saying: "My whole life has been
a waste - I've been a failure." The ex-boxing
champ has grossed an estimated $400 million in his
career, but filed bankruptcy a couple of years
ago. His transparent low self-esteem is displayed
in typical fashion with addictions, drugs, sex and
spending sprees. 

Mike continues, "I just want to escape. I'm really
embarrassed with myself and my life. I want to be
a missionary. I think I could do that while
keeping my dignity without letting people know
they chased me out of the country. I want to get
this part of my life over as soon as possible. In
this country nothing good is going to come of me.
People put me so high; I wanted to tear that image
down."

In 2005, Tyson acknowledged that he has had
discussions with associates of porn star Jenna
Jameson and is considering a career in the adult
entertainment industry. A defense lawyer of Mike
Tyson said that a victim of the alleged sexual
abuse claimed that Tyson had a penis 14 inches
long when erect. However, this was likely a huge
exaggeration due to Tyson's overwhelming physical
stature.

Tyson now spends his days tending to his pigeon
coop of around 400. Tyson has also recently been
quoted almost admitting guilt to his early 1990's
rape charges by saying he made a big mistake, but
has always insisted that he is completely
innocent, suggesting perhaps the mistake that he
made was having sex with the former Miss Black
America contestant in the first place rather than
committing the crime.

==Trivia==
*Tyson was the youngest world heavyweight champion
in history at age 20.
*Tyson's record stands at 50 wins, 6 losses and 2
No contest (boxing)|no contests, with 44 knockout
wins.
*In 1987, at a party, famous philosopher Alfred
Ayer|A.J. Ayer found Mike Tyson harassing Naomi
Campbell and demanded Tyson stop.  Tyson said "Do
you know who the fuck I am?  I'm the heavyweight
champion of the world."  Ayer replied "And I am
the former Wykeham Professor of Logic!  We are
both pre-eminent in our field; I suggest that we
talk about this like rational men."
*In 1989 Mike was awarded the BBC Sports
Personality of the Year Overseas Personality
Award.  
*Mike was the special enforcer for a World
Wrestling Entertainment|WWF match at WrestleMania
XIV on March 29, 1998 in which he pretended to be
a member of D-Generation X and ended up punching
out Shawn Michaels and making the 3 count for
Stone Cold Steve Austin to win the WWE
Championship|WWF Championship from Michaels.

==Cameos and parodies==

*Tyson's high-pitched voice and distinctive lisp
(speech)|lisp have made him one of the most
popular targets for comedians and impersonators
throughout his career.

* In The Simpsons, boxer (and convicted felon)
"Drederick Tatum" is clearly modeled on Mike
Tyson.

* In 1987, Nintendo released Mike Tyson's
Punch-Out!!, an Nintendo Entertainment System|NES
game based on the arcade game "Punch Out!!",
although there was later a version released in
1990 that replaced Mike Tyson with a fictional
character, "Mr. Dream" after Nintendo's license
with Mike Tyson expired.  It is considered to be
one of the best games released for the NES, and is
highly regarded to this day.

* In 1989 in music|1989, DJ Jazzy Jeff Will
Smith|& The Fresh Prince scored a #23 rhythm and
blues|R&B/#58 Billboard Hot 100|Pop hit with "I
Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson", in which the Will
Smith|Fresh Prince envisions himself taking on the
heavyweight champ (and taking a beating in the
process).  Tyson appears as himself in the song's
music video.

* In the Japanese version of Capcom's Street
Fighter II series, Balrog_(video game
character)|Balrog is called Mike Bison, as a
parody of Mike Tyson, possibly called with a full
name of "Michael Gerard Bison."  Capcom USA
switched the names of the Shadaloo Grandmasters
around for the American versions in order to avoid
a potential lawsuit from Mike Tyson.

==External link==
*http://www.boxrec.com/record000474.html Mike
Tyson's Career Record
*http://www.michaeltyson.com Mike Tyson Fan site
*http://jco.usfca.edu/ontyson.html Joyce Carol
Oates on Mike Tyson, 1986-1997
*http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo
_gallery/2005/06/13/tyson.history/content.1.html
June 2005 SI Tyson Retrospective Photo Gallery
*http://www.tysontalk.com Mike Tyson Fan site
including live chat room



start box
succession box three to one|
  before1= Trevor Berbick |
  title1=  List of heavyweight boxing
champions|Heavyweight boxing champion (WBC) |
  years1=  1986–1990 |
  before2= James 'Bonecrusher' Smith |
  title2=  List of heavyweight boxing
champions|Heavyweight boxing champion (WBA) |
  years2=  1987–1990 |
  before3= Tony Tucker |
  title3=  List of heavyweight boxing
champions|Heavyweight boxing champion (IBF) |
  years3=  1987–1990 |
  after=   James Buster Douglas|Buster Douglas

succession box |
  before= Frank Bruno |
  title= List of heavyweight boxing
champions|Heavyweight boxing champion (WBC) |
  years= 1996 |
  after= Lennox Lewis

succession box |
  before= Bruce Seldon |
  title= List of heavyweight boxing
champions|Heavyweight boxing champion (WBA) |
  years= 1996 |
  after= Evander Holyfield


end box