Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson Born June 30, 1966 in Brooklyn (New York, USA). American professional boxer who competed in the heavyweight weight class, one of the most famous boxers in the history of world boxing.

Olympic champion among juniors in the first heavyweight (1982).

Absolute world champion in the heavy weight category (1987-1990).

WBC champion (1986-1990, 1996), WBA (1987-1990, 1996), IBF (1987-1990), The Ring (1988-1990). Lineal champion (1988-1990).

"The most promising boxer" in 1985 according to the magazine "Ring". Best boxer regardless of the weight category (1987-1989) according to the Ring magazine. "Boxer of the Year" according to the magazine "Ring" (1986, 1988). "Boxer of the Year" according to the BWAA (1986,1988). BBC Sports Personality of the Year (1989).

BBC Foreign Athlete of the Year (1989).

Best Athlete abroad (1987-1989) according to the BBC. Included in the International Boxing Hall of Fame (2011), the World Boxing Hall of Fame (2010), the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame (2013), the WWE Hall of Fame (2012).

At the 49th annual WBC convention in Las Vegas, Mike Tyson was entered into the Guinness Book of Records and in a solemn ceremony received two certificates: for the most fastest knockouts and for becoming the youngest world heavyweight champion.

Record holder for the number of awards "event of the year according to the magazine" Ring ": 4 times received the award: 1995 - Tyson's return, 1997 - Bite during the fight with Evander Holyfield, 1998 - Tyson's recovery, 2002 - Tyson - Lewis scandalous press conference. "The most brutal man in the history of sports" according to ESPN. "The strongest puncher in history" according to ESPN.

Mike Tyson - best knockouts

He is the owner of several world records that have not been broken to this day:

the youngest world heavyweight champion (at 20 years 144 days);
the youngest absolute world heavyweight champion (at 21);
the boxer who has spent the shortest time since his debut to win champion titles and absolute champion world heavyweight (1 year 8.5 months and 2 years 5 months, respectively);
the first and only undisputed champion to win three major titles in succession;
the highest paid heavyweight in history;
of the ten most expensive fights in the history of boxing, Mike Tyson took part in six;
the only one who defended the title of absolute champion (WBC, WBA, IBF) 6 times in a row;
most fastest knockouts (9 knockouts in less than 1 minute);
fastest knockout at the Youth Olympic Games (8 seconds).

Has three convictions. In 1992 (for rape he was sentenced to 6 years in prison, of which he served 3), in 1998 (for beating people who collided with his car - he was sentenced to 3.5 months in prison) and 2008 (a day in prison for drug use and driving car under the influence of drugs). At a young age, he also served sentences in children's colonies.

He professes Islam and bears the Arabic name Malik Abdul Aziz (Eng. Malik Abdul Aziz). Is a vegan.

Founder of the promotional company Iron Mike Promotions. In addition to boxing, Mike is known for his acting career. He took part in writing the script for the autobiographical film "Tyson" (1995), and also starred in two documentaries "Beyond Glory" (2003) and "Mike Tyson" (2009).

Mike Tyson. Documentary

Mike Tyson was born in New York, in Brooklyn, in the Brownsville area. His parents were Lorna Smith and Jimmy Kirkpatrick. However, Mike inherited his last name from his mother's first husband. His father left the family before Mike was born. Mike has an older brother, Rodney, and an older sister, Denise.

He had a very gentle nature and did not know how to stand up for himself. Mike was constantly bullied by his older brother Rodney and the neighborhood boys and classmates. Until the age of 10, he was pathologically unable to defend himself.

At the age of seven, he became a victim of sexual abuse. However, as later, he did not allow that traumatic experience to ruin his life, on the contrary, rage and unwillingness to ever allow him to be offended subsequently helped him in the ring.

“Just because it happened to me doesn’t make me any less of a man. I never told anyone about it. this is in my boxing days," he said of the rape in a 2017 interview.

Around the age of 9-11, a fracture occurred in Mike. One day, one of the members of a local street gang snatched his beloved pigeon from his hands and tore off his head. An enraged Mike attacked his offender and severely beat him. From that moment on, Mike was respected among the local juvenile bandits, who accepted him into their company and taught him how to climb pockets, steal and rob stores. Activities of this kind led to arrests, visits to correctional institutions for juvenile delinquents, during one of which Tyson managed to see who came there to talk with difficult teenagers. It was after meeting with Ali that he first thought about the career of a boxer.

At the age of 13, Tyson was sent to a special school for juvenile delinquents, located in upstate New York. By this time, he was considered incorrigible and was distinguished by great physical strength for his age. At the school Tyson was assigned to, former boxer Bobby Stewart worked as a physical education teacher. Once in a punishment cell, Mike said that he wanted to become a boxer. Stewart agreed to train him on the condition that Mike would not break discipline. Some time later, Stuart entered into another contract with him: the better Mike does at school, the more Stuart is engaged in boxing with him. Tyson, who was previously considered mentally retarded, managed to noticeably improve his academic performance. Already at the age of 13, Mike could lift a 100 kg barbell in the bench press. After a while, Stewart realized that his student had already outgrown him, and introduced Mike to the legendary coach and manager Cus D'Amato. Cus created around Tyson professional team: coaches, seconds, masseurs and others.

Tyson made his debut in May 1981 at the age of 15, in the Holyoke club the boy was nicknamed "Tank". In the same year, he had a total of six fights, in which only the last one was lost, before the fight with Ernie Bennett in November.

All free time was devoted to training, which immediately led to amazing results. Already in 1982, Mike performs at the Youth Olympic Games. He defeats his first opponent in the ring in just 8 seconds. The rest were met with no less brutal reprisals.

In 1982, Mike Tyson participated in the Youth Olympic Games. In the final, he went up against Joe Cortez. Tyson immediately went on the attack and knocked out his opponent in a few seconds.

The following year, he lost only to Al Evans, which allowed him to enter the Golden Gloves tournament in 1983. There he received a silver medal after the fight with Craig Payne, although when the score was announced in favor of Payne, the hall buzzed with displeasure. Before the end of the year, he was disqualified until the fight with Kimmuel Odum in Colorado Springs.

In 1984, Tyson began to win all his matches. The logical conclusion of his amateur career was to be the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. On the way to the finals of the Olympic selection, Tyson defeated Kelton Brown by TKO in the 1st round, defeated Avery Rawls on points and knocked out Henry Milligan in the second round, won the Golden Gloves in the heavyweight division, had a record (24-3) before the start of the qualifying round of the Olympic Games and was considered the clear favorite to win a seat to defend the United States at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

In the qualifying fight, Tyson met with Henry Tillman, who then became Olympic champion. In the first round, Tyson managed to knock down Tillman so that he flew out of the ring, but failed to finish him off. In the second round, Tillman ran from Tyson, working mainly with a jab. Tyson often overtook him and inflicted precise strikes. At the end of the third round, Tillman simply ran away from Tyson, who managed to break through several hard punches. At the end of the fight, the judges awarded the victory to Tillman with a score of 3: 2 by a close decision. When the assessment in favor of Tillman was announced, the hall buzzed with displeasure and booed this decision.

Then Tyson again met with Tillman in a qualifying fight. Again, Tillman won by close decision. Many felt that Tyson simply did not want to be allowed into the Olympics for his aggressive style, already reminiscent of a professional style. However, Tyson will take revenge for this loss a little later - on June 16, 1990, already in the professional ring, when he knocks out his offender in the first round.

On September 16, 1984, Tyson won the Tammer tournament in Tampere after defeating Hakkan Brock.

Be that as it may, Cus D’Amato did not let Mike get upset for a long time because of the unfortunate defeat in the qualifying round of the Olympic Games and came to grips with preparing the boxer for professional career. He invited two famous managers and organizers of boxing fights to work - Bill Caton and Jim Jacobs. Kevin Rooney and Teddy Atlas helped the old teacher in combat training of the boxer.

On March 5, 1985, Mike Tyson entered the professional ring for the first time. Tyson's first professional rival was Hector Mercedes. In total, in 1985, Tyson spent 15 fights, defeating all opponents by knockouts.

In January 1986, Tyson met with Mike Jameson. Tyson knocked down Jameson in rounds 4 and 5 and won by TKO in round 5. Jameson became the first who managed to hold out until the 5th round, although he did not manage to win a single minute of a single round. Perhaps the result was also affected by the fact that Tyson fought the previous fight only 13 days ago.

In February 1986, Tyson entered the ring against Jesse Ferguson. Toward the end of the 5th round, Tyson cornered the opponent. Tyson made a right hook to the body, but the blow fell on the defense, and immediately a right uppercut, which broke Fergusson's nose. Ferguson fell to the canvas. He got up at the expense of 8. Tyson rushed to finish him off. There were 30 seconds left until the end of the round. Tyson carried out a spurt attack, but Ferguson managed to hold out until the gong. In the 6th round, Ferguson began to constantly clinch. In the middle of the round, he squeezed Tyson's hands and did not let him go. The referee tried to separate the fighters, but Ferguson did not let Tyson go. Then the referee stopped the fight and disqualified Ferguson. Later, in order not to spoil Tyson's track record, the New York Athletic Commission changed the wording of the result from disqualification to technical knockout.

In March 1986, Tyson met with Steve Zouski. Zouski managed to hold out until the 3rd round, which for a boxer who suffered 9 defeats in 34 fights seems to be a very good result. And once again it is worth recalling that he was opposed by Mike Tyson of the 1986 model.

In May 1986, Tyson faced former title challenger James Tillis. Tillis, before the fight with Tyson, lost the last three fights on points, but at the same time gave his opponents very big problems. Nevertheless, all experts believed that he would face a defeat by knockout. Interesting fact was that Tillis spent most of the fights suffering from allergies, which caused him to have premature fatigue in the middle of the fight, but just before the fight with Tyson, Tillis recovered and entered the fight in the best form of his career. Tillis, despite skeptical opinions about himself, showed incredible resilience, missing several strong blows in the early rounds. The climax of the fight seemed to be brewing - in the fifth round, when Tillis missed a Tyson side kick, lost his balance and fell, but got up and held out until the end of the round. Tillis tried to attack and threw a lot of jabs, which mostly hit Tyson's defense. Tyson for the first time went the entire distance of the battle, demonstrating the class of his defense in this battle; Tillis became the first opponent who managed to hold out against Tyson until the end of the fight. Tyson won by unanimous decision and looked great in this fight, but failed to knock out the opponent, winning by unanimous decision.

In May 1986, Tyson went into battle against Mitch Green. Tyson fought this fight just 17 days after the fight with Tillis. Mitch Green, before the fight with Tyson, had only one defeat and was considered a fairly promising boxer, and the nervous atmosphere in the ring was also aggravated by the fact that Green, like Tyson, grew up in Brownsville and, as a child, was part of a gang opposing the gang he was a member of. Tyson. Tyson dominated the entire fight, breaking series and defending superbly, while Tyson constantly teased the enemy, dancing in front of him with his hands down. Among the highlights was Tyson's jab-knocked-out cap by Green and his gold tooth knocked out of him, which landed in front of writer Phil Berger. According to the rules, 1 point was given for a victory in a round. Tyson won by unanimous decision. Most experts, comparing this fight with the Tyson-Tillis fight, felt that if Tillis was trying to win, then Green was simply surviving in the ring, managing to run away from Tyson. After this fight, Green did not enter the ring for 7 years.

After two ten-round fights against Tillis and Green, Mike refuted the skeptical talk about him, scoring a number of knockout victories and once again confirmed his status as the most dangerous heavyweight.

In July 1986, Tyson met with Reggie Gross. At the end of the round, Gross managed to contain Tyson's attack by throwing a huge amount of punches. Tyson demonstrated the skill of defense, dodging almost all the blows, and on the jump he hit the left hook. Gross collapsed onto the canvas. Gross got up. Tyson struck another series of blows and again knocked down his opponent. Gross got up but was unable to continue and the referee stopped the fight.

In July 1986, the fight between the two most promising boxers, the undefeated Mike Tyson and the son of the famous heavyweight champion Joe Frazier Marvis Frazier, took place. At that time, Marvis was considered the most dangerous opponent of Tyson, he had 16 victories in his asset, among which were victories over James Broad, James Tillis, Bernard Benton, Joe Bugner, Jose Ribalta, James "Bonkrusher" Smith and only one defeat, which he suffered from Larry Holmes. However, in the fight with Tyson, he suffered the most humiliating defeat of those opponents whom Tyson beat. At the beginning of the 1st round, Tyson cornered the enemy and delivered a right uppercut. Fraser was shocked. Tyson immediately carried out another series of strong blows. The enemy fell. The referee began to count, but seeing that Fraser was lying unconscious, he stopped counting. It was a tough knockout. Fraser came to his senses in a few minutes. It took Tyson just 30 seconds to knock out Frazier. This fight turned out to be the shortest in Tyson's professional career. After this fight, Marvis Frazier had three more fights with little-known boxers and retired from boxing in 1988.

In the next fight, Tyson met with Jose Ribalta. Ribalta had excellent physical training and was able to make it to the 10th round. Tyson in the fight sent the opponent to the floor three times in rounds 2, 8 and 10 and won by technical knockout in the 10th round.

In November 1986, Mike Tyson entered the ring against WBC world champion Trevor Berbick. Berbick only won the title in February 1986 and made only the first defense. In the 1st round, Berbick went into an open fight with Tyson, but missed a few hard punches and stopped attacking. 20 seconds before the end of the round, Tyson hit a left hook, Berbick struggled to stay on his feet, on last seconds Berbick was on the verge of being knocked out. Already in the first seconds of the 2nd round, Tyson carried out a series of blows, knocking Berbick down, Berbick got up. 40 seconds before the end of the round, Tyson landed a right uppercut to the jaw, and then hit Berbick in the head with a left hook. Berbick pressed against Tyson for a moment, and then fell. Berbick tried to get up twice, but each time he lost his balance. On the third attempt, he got up, but he staggered a lot. The referee stopped the fight. After this fight, Tyson set 2 world records, becoming the youngest heavyweight champion and becoming the first person whose blow made an opponent rise and fall three times in a row. At the same time, Kevin Rooney set the record (he was 27 years old at that time), becoming the youngest coach to lead a ward to the championship title.

In March 1987, Tyson faced WBA world champion spoiler James "Bonkrusher" Smith. Smith, in order to save himself from Tyson's attacks, constantly clinched, as a result of which the referee deducted 2 points from him for excessive holding. Tyson dominated the entire fight, only at the end of the 12th round did Smith manage to hit Tyson for the first time with a strong blow, but this did not affect the outcome of the battle. Tyson won on points with a crushing score.

In May 1987, Tyson entered the ring against former champion Pinklon Thomas. At the time of the Iron Mike fight, Thomas had a solid track record that included three wins over former world champions (Mike Weaver, Tim Witherspoon and Alphonso Ratliff) and other ranked heavyweights. In the 6th round, Tyson carried out a series of uppercuts and hooks from both hands, some of which went exactly to the applicant's jaw. Thomas staggered. After another left hook, the challenger fell to the canvas. He did not have time to stand at the expense of "10". The referee stopped the fight. It is worth noting that before the fight with Tyson, Thomas had never even been knocked down.

In August 1987, a unique fight for the title of absolute world heavyweight champion took place between the undefeated WBC and WBA champion Mike Tyson and the undefeated IBF champion Tony Tucker. For the first time in heavyweight history, two reigning undefeated champions met. In the first round, Tucker succeeded in something that no other opponent of Tyson had succeeded in, with the strongest uppercut he hit Tyson's chin, thus forcing him to take a couple of steps back, but he could not build on his success. In the future, Tucker avoided the fight with Tyson, running from him around the ring and clinching. In the 2nd half of the fight, Tyson began to work mainly with his left hand as a jabist, but this did not stop him from winning rounds. At the end of the last round, Tyson shook Tucker with a left hook, but Tucker managed to get out of trouble by tying his hands. Tyson won by unanimous decision and became the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Tucker suffered the first defeat of his career and set a kind of record: he held the IBF title for only 64 days. In turn, Tyson set a world record: he became the youngest undisputed heavyweight champion. At the end of the match, Tony Tucker spread a rumor that he broke his right hand in the 3rd round, however, during the fight, Tyson's right hand injury also made itself felt, because of which he had to spend the second half of the fight as a jabist, yielding to his opponent in arm span almost 30 cm

In October 1987, a fight took place between two undefeated boxers - the absolute world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and Olympic champion Tyrell Biggs. Biggs was considered the strongest amateur boxer who turned pro. It was Tyson's first 15-round fight and his last 15-round heavyweight title fight. The fight against Tyrell Biggs is Tyson's dream come true in 1987. Mike wanted to prove to everyone that he, too, could represent America at Olympic Games and decided to punish Tyrell Biggs. Tyrell Biggs was looking to beat Tyson with his quick moves and jab, which Tyson blocked more than once in this fight. Tyson dominated the entire fight, punching a series of punches to the face and body. In the third round, it became clear that Iron Mike could knock him out whenever he wanted, but he didn't want to yet. He wanted only in the 7th round and knocked out Biggs with a left hook. Immediately after the fight, Tyson said: "I could beat Tyrell Biggs in the third round, but I wanted him to remember my punch for a long time this evening."

In January 1988, a fight took place for the title of absolute world champion between two legends - Mike Tyson and the world famous Larry Holmes. Before the fight, Holmes humiliated Tyson, for which he paid. Tyson dominated the entire fight. In the 4th round, Tyson sent the opponent to the canvas three times and knocked out Holmes. Holmes lost by knockout for the first time. Larry Holmes spent the last five seconds of the fight in shock, he did not understand what was happening in the ring. After the fight, Holmes apologized to Tyson. The significance of Tyson's victory is confirmed by the fact that Holmes was never knocked out before or after this fight, and later had many big fights, including title fights and even at the age of 42-45 boxed against Ray Mercer and Oliver McCall much better than Lennox Lewis.

In March 1988, Tyson defended the title of the absolute world champion against the very strong former champion Tony Tubbs. This was Tyson's first fight outside the United States. Tubbs held out well in round 1, but Tyson hit a left hook in the second round. Tubbs staggered back and fell before he could get up before the end of the count.

In June 1988, a fight took place between two undefeated boxers - the absolute world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and the former absolute world champion in light heavyweight, as well as former IBF heavyweight world champion Michael Spinks. For the first time since the first duel between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, two undefeated world champions - the former and the current one - met in the ring. It was the most important event in boxing at that time, with the undisputed world heavyweight title, the vacant The Ring title, the Lineal Champion title, the WBC name belt and the title of the strongest heavyweight boxer at stake. One of the commentators compared the importance of this fight with Rumble in the Jungle. Tyson was the favorite in this fight (bets on him were calculated 3.5 to 1). In the middle of the 1st round, Tyson landed a left uppercut to the chin, and then added a right hook to the body. Spinks dropped to one knee. He got up on the count of "3". Immediately after the resumption of the fight, Tyson again sent the enemy to the canvas with a right uppercut to the head. Spinks was still on the floor at 10 and the referee stopped the fight. The only round of this fight received the status of the round of the year according to the magazine R. In this fight, Tyson set a kind of record: He earned at that time the largest fee in boxing history ($ 22 million) in the shortest time (91 seconds), and Spinks earned 13.5 million dollars.

On August 23, 1988, there was a conflict between Mike Tyson and Mitch Green in Harlem, during which Mike broke the bridge of Mitch's nose. As a result of a bare fist strike, Tyson injured his hand, due to which his scheduled first fight with Frank Bruno was postponed.

In 1989, Tyson disbanded the entire team that forged his success and hired some crooks instead. He hardly trained and for the time being he got away with it. However, even such a Tyson was hardy and hungry enough to make it to the last rounds. After the fight with Douglas, Tyson returned to training, which was about half of his norm. The combinations began to include fewer strikes, Mike became more open and straightforward.

In February 1989, Tyson met with the strongest British heavyweight Frank Bruno. Mike Tyson at this time began a lawsuit with promoters and divorce proceedings. Tyson literally from the registry office arrived in the ring with less than two weeks of normal training. Already in the first seconds of the fight, Tyson sent Bruno to the floor. The referee counted the knockdown. But Bruno got up and fought well throughout the fight, resisted quite well. In the fifth round, Tyson shocked the Briton, who retreated to the ropes, where he passively accepted blows until the referee stopped the fight. According to experts, Bruno gave Tyson the best resistance.

In July 1989, Tyson entered the ring against US champion Carl Williams. In the middle of the 1st round, Williams hit the jab, Tyson dodged and sent the challenger to the floor with a left uppercut to the jaw. Williams got up on the count of "8", but referee Randy Neumann looked at him and stopped the fight. The decision was controversial. The referee in a post-match interview stated that Williams did not answer the question of his readiness to continue the fight. Williams also gave a post-match interview in which he stated that he was knocked down, not knocked out, that he was ready to continue the fight, and when asked by the referee about his readiness to continue the fight, he raised his hands, and does not understand why the referee stopped the fight.

On November 18, 1989, the title fight between Mike Tyson and Donovan Ruddock was to take place in Edmonton. However, this fight was canceled due to Tyson's chondrite.

In 1990, Tyson, after a divorce and litigation, was in a disgusting physical and psychological state. On February 11, 1990, Mike Tyson defended against a frankly weak for title fight James "Buster" Douglas. Douglas took only 7th place in the world ranking, at the time of the fight he had 29 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses, two of which were from Tyson's former rivals and one from debutant David Bay and was considered the weakest in Tyson's champion opposition. After the fight with Tony Tucker, James Douglas had a reputation as a boxer who could “break down”. Some of the sports journalists who flew to Tokyo to cover the fight did not know Douglas' name and approached him with this question. The odds were 40 to 1 in favor of Tyson. Tyson did not see the threat in his opponent at all and almost did not prepare for the fight. This is confirmed by a demonstrative sparring with former world champion Greg Page, during which Page managed to knock Tyson down. Before that, Tyson had never fallen, either during fights or during training. In addition, there was no eye iron in his corner, so during the battle they used a rubber glove filled with cold water. Douglas, on the other hand, was in great shape and with the best psychological attitude in his career. The champion in this fight was slow, with little head movement and dodge (his usual effective strategy), and instead of short and numerous substeps, there were big falls with attempts to beat Douglas with single punches. At the end of the 8th round, Tyson delivered a right uppercut to the jaw, knocking Douglas down. He was on the floor for more than 10 seconds, the referee did not immediately start the count, and at the count of 7 he stopped counting, turned around and continued again. At 10, Douglas was still on the floor, but the referee allowed him to continue the fight. The usual count would be 16 seconds. In the 9th round, Mike's severe fatigue became noticeable. In the middle of the 10th round, Douglas landed a right uppercut to the jaw, and then a combination - a left cross, a right cross and a left cross again. Tyson fell. His cap flew off. Tyson almost immediately got up, but the referee counted to eight and stopped the fight, seeing that Tyson was unsteady on his feet. At the time the fight was stopped, the score of the judges was a draw: Larry Rosadilla (82-88 Douglas), Ken Morita (87-86 Tyson), Masakazu Uchida (86-86). After the fight, Tyson's promoter Don King stated that the referee considered the knockdown for Douglas too long, and in fact there was a knockout. Fight got status "Apset of the Year" according to The Ring magazine and still considered the greatest sensation in boxing history.

After the fight, Tyson underwent treatment for alcoholism. Tyson himself before this fight showed indiscipline in training, abused alcohol, he later commented: “I didn’t train at all.”

After an unsuccessful protest over the outcome of the fight with Douglas, Tyson's promoter Don King and Douglas' refusal of a rematch, forced Tyson to fight again for the place of the mandatory challenger. Tyson's team made an offer to Thomas Hearns, but he made impossible conditions, saying that he would meet Tyson only if he dropped the weight to 90 kg and trained in the same way as before the fight with Douglas. The final opponent in the end was the Olympic champion Henry Tillman.

In June 1990, Tyson entered the ring against Tillman. At the end of the 1st round, Tyson with a right hook to upper part head sent the enemy to the floor. At the count of 10, Tillman was still on the floor. Tyson took revenge for the defeats received in the qualifying round of the Olympic Games.

In December 1990, Tyson entered the ring against prospect Alex Stewart. This fight was called the Hard Back Door. Tyson originally wanted to face former title contender Renaldo Snipes, however Snipes broke his right arm in a fight with rugged journeyman Jamie Howe and was replaced by Stewart. At the beginning of the 1st round with a right hook to the top of the head, he sent Stewart to the floor. Stewart rose to the score of 5. A minute later, with the same blow, Tyson again sent the enemy to the canvas. Stewart got up on the count of 10 and the referee allowed the fight to continue. A minute later, Tyson sent Stewart to the floor again with a right hook in the jaw. This time Stuart didn't even try to get up. Tyson wins by clear knockout.

Tyson did not like criticism from the well-known HBO commentator Larry Merchant. He delivered an ultimatum to the management of the channel: "Either Merchant, or me." Management chose Merchant. Tyson left HBO for Showtime.

In March 1991, Tyson met with Donovan Ruddock. Ruddock was by that time considered one of the strongest heavyweights, their fight was planned back in 1990, but Tyson then refused, citing illness. This fight was considered as a meeting of the 2 best heavyweights. Don King staged a super show, inviting Roberto Duran and Julio Cesar Chavez to fight. Tyson and Ruddock fought for the right to meet the winner of the Evander Holyfield - George Foreman match. Ruddock was knocked down twice: in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. In the 7th round, Tyson hit Ruddock in the jaw with a left hook. Ruddock staggered and leaned on the ropes. Referee Richard Steele unexpectedly stopped the fight. The decision was controversial. After the fight stopped in the ring, a brawl of two corners began. After the intervention of the guards, the fight was suspended.

Due to the controversial stoppage of the 1st Tyson-Ruddock fight, a re-fight was scheduled. It took place in June 1991. Boxers in this fight did not disappoint the fans. The fight was stubborn and tough. Mike Tyson worked hard on the body and sometimes smeared, because of which referee Mills Lane deducted points from him for violations in rounds 4, 9 and 10, and from Ruddock in the 8th. This time Tyson won on points. Ruddock was knocked down in the 2nd and 4th rounds. Ruddock showed in this fight the courage and desire to win, later it turned out that he boxed for 8 rounds with a broken jaw. After that, Ruddock's career began to decline, much later he said that he had spent all his physical and mental strength on fights with Tyson, that after these fights both Ruddock himself and Tyson had ended.

In 1995, Tyson returned to boxing. His return to the ring received the status of "event of the year". However, after the prison, Tyson's style has changed significantly. His Peek-a-boo counterattacking style has changed to a Rescher style. The impact force increased and the attack improved, but the endurance and defense decreased significantly. The training system has also changed: now so much time has not been devoted to physical training, the main thing was just to support physical form. Few could resist this onslaught, but Mike's stamina in the second half of the battle fell significantly. Nevertheless, now Tyson won all his victories ahead of schedule.

In August 1995, Tyson entered the ring against Peter McNeely. At the very beginning of the 1st round, Tyson sent the opponent to the floor with a right hook to the head. McNeely jumped up and suddenly ran around the ring. The referee grabbed his hand and started counting the knockdown. The fight continued. In the middle of the round, Tyson carried out a successful attack and knocked down McNeely with a right uppercut. Referee Mills Lane started the count. People from McNeely's corner entered the ring. The referee asked them to leave, but they refused, after which Lane decided to disqualify McNeely, but Peter shouted into the camera that he would return and show everyone what he was really capable of. The Tyson-McNeely fight grossed over $96 million worldwide, including a record $63 million in the US. McNeely became the sixth boxer who lost to Tyson not by knockout, although the rest held out to the end, losing on points.

In December 1995, Tyson entered the ring against the undefeated Buster Mathis Jr. In the 3rd round, Tyson sent Mathis to the floor with a right uppercut. Mathis did not have time to rise to the count of 10. The referee recorded a knockout.

In March 1996, a rematch took place between Mike Tyson and Frank Bruno. Everything became clear from the 1st round, when Tyson kissed Bruno's head on the right in the first seconds. Bruno began to clinch at the first opportunity and did not want to let Tyson out of his arms. This helped him get through the first round, but it was already starting to piss off referee Mills Lane. But Iron Mike looked much better in this round than in his last fights before prison. In the third round, Tyson landed a right to the body, a left hook to the jaw, and then a long series with both hands, ending with several right uppercuts. Bruno fell into the ropes that kept him on his feet, and the referee saved him from further beating, and the WBC title passed to Mike Tyson. However, then the WBC leadership refused to sanction Tyson's unified fight with Bruce Seldon, and Tyson was stripped of the title.

In September 1996, Tyson met with WBA world champion Bruce Seldon. Tyson immediately went on the attack. Seldon, fleeing Tyson's attacks, tried to keep him at a distance, but when Tyson pressed him to the ropes, Seldon clinched. In the middle of the round, Tyson attacked with a left jab to the opponent's head, from which he quickly bowed his head, and a right swing that slid over Seldon's head. But the left jab was enough: Seldon fell to the canvas. At the count of 4, he was already on his feet. Immediately after the resumption of the fight, Tyson again sent the enemy to the canvas with a left hook to the head. Seldon stood up at 5. At the count of 7, he shook his head, and he began to shake, he leaned his back against the corner of the ring. The referee then stopped the fight. It should be noted that immediately after the battle he was seriously wounded, and later his close friend Tupac Shakur died. Tyson won the WBA title and became a three-time world champion. Tyson earned $25 million for this fight.

In November 1996, a fight took place between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, preparation for which began even before Tyson went to prison. Tyson was the favorite in this fight (bets on him were taken at the rate of 22 to 1). The first 5 rounds were uneventful, but there was a slight advantage for Tyson.

In the fifth round, Tyson brought down fierce combinations on Holyfield, but Holyfield was not shocked. In the sixth round, Holyfield hit Tyson with his head, and Tyson opened a cut over his left eye. In the same round, Tyson threw out a side kick and stood on straight legs. Holyfield landed a counter left hook to the body. The blow did not hit the jaw, and Tyson was not shocked, only lost his balance. He rose to a count of 5. 15 seconds before the end of the seventh round, Tyson rushed to Holyfield, Holyfield went head first; As a result of a hard collision with Tyson's heads, a cut opened under his right eye. Tyson cried out in pain, and his knees gave out, but again the referee counted the headbutt as unintentional. Tyson was examined by a doctor.

At the end of the 10th round, Holyfield held an oncoming right cross to the jaw. Tyson staggered. Holyfield threw out a few more crosses. Tyson tried to enter the clinch, but could not. Holyfield hit an oncoming right cross exactly in the chin. Tyson was led back. He leaned on the ropes. Holyfield unleashed a hail of blows on the enemy. At this time, the gong sounded. Showtime commentators said the gong saved Tyson.

At the beginning of the 11th round, Holyfield hit the series in the head. Tyson didn't answer. Then the applicant spent two hooks - left and right - past. Tyson got away from the blows, moving away to the ropes. Holyfield rushed after him and landed a long left cross to the chin. The referee intervened and stopped the fight. Tyson did not dispute the decision. The fight received the status of "fight of the year" according to Ring magazine. Tyson received $30 million for this fight, while Holyfield received $5 million.

Mike Tyson vs Evander Holyfield (1 fight)

In July 1997, the second fight took place between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. Tyson again approached the rematch as a favorite. At first, the same referee was appointed as in the previous fight, but Tyson's team protested, and in the end, Mills Lane was appointed to referee for the fight called "The Sound and the Fury", which received even more attention than the previous one. It was the most expensive fight at that time. He was surrounded by a huge excitement: all 16 thousand tickets for it were sold out on the first day.

The 1st round was in an even fight, however Holyfield won the ending and the round. Holyfield constantly broke the rules in battle. At the beginning of the 2nd round, Holyfield hit Tyson with his head in a big way, Tyson had a cut, Tyson writhed in pain, and the referee separated them. Tyson turned to the referee, but he did not react. The whole round, Holyfield tied Tyson's hands and did not let him escape, and in the middle of the round he simply fell on him at the ropes so that both boxers almost fell. With 45 seconds left in the round, Holyfield hit Tyson in the back of the head and tried to do it again. The referee pulled the boxers apart. Tyson again turned to the referee, but he again did not react. Enraged Tyson went on the attack, but the round ended and remained with Holyfield. The third round began with Tyson's furious attack, most of whose punches hit the target. Holyfield pushed him away. The whole round took place with the advantage of Tyson, who almost never missed a beat and more and more hit.

40 seconds before the end of the round, Tyson attacked Holyfield, but Holyfield began to tie his hands and hit him with his head. In response, Tyson bit off the back-upper part of the right auricle (Darwin's tubercle) to the enemy. Holyfield jumped in pain. Tyson pushed him in the back. Referee Mills Lane suspended the fight. The doctor examined Holyfield and said that he could continue the fight. The referee penalized Tyson two points (for a bite and a push in the back).

The fight resumed and added 30 seconds to the third round. Tyson immediately carried out a series of blows to the body. With 20 seconds left in the round, Holyfield headbutted Tyson in the eyebrow. Tyson's face twisted in pain, and he bit Holyfield on the left ear. Holyfield started to jump, but the fight was not stopped. Tyson hit a deuce, Holyfield tried to answer, but Tyson hit a powerful straight forward, and Holyfield stepped back, Tyson rushed to finish him off, but the round ended. Holyfield did not advance to the 4th round. A fight began. The guards and the police held Tyson, who beat everyone in an attempt to approach Holyfield. Security stopped the riots in the ring. Tyson was disqualified. Tyson received $20 million for this fight and Holyfield $15 million.

Mike Tyson vs Evander Holyfield (2 fight)

As a result of the bite, Tyson's boxing license was revoked by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and he was fined $3 million plus legal fees, but on October 18, 1998, the commission voted to reinstate Tyson's boxing license. The fight received the status of "event of the year" according to the magazine "Ring". Writer and columnist Katherine Dunn wrote an article criticizing Holyfield in the controversial Tyson fight and accused the media of being biased against Tyson. AT documentary"Tyson" Mike claimed he did it in retaliation for headbutting an opponent. On October 16, 2009, on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Tyson apologized to Holyfield. Holyfield accepted the apology and forgave Tyson.

In 1999, Tyson's boxing license was restored. Tyson's recovery in boxing received the status of "event of the year". However, Tyson was no longer the same as before. Now he trained for a maximum of a month and a half before the fights, which he held twice a year against not the strongest, but still highly rated boxers. This is a regular one-hit slugger, but still has the most unrivaled punching power.

In January 1999, Tyson met with South African Francois Botha. Tyson underestimated the opponent and poorly prepared for the fight. The fight took place mainly at close range with an abundance of clinches. The beginning was nervous, Tyson at the end of the round tried to twist Bothe's arms. The boxers had to be bred after the first round by their teams. In the second round, the referee deducted a point from Mike. Yet Tyson won the fight. At the end of the 5th round, with a right cross to the chin, Tyson sent the opponent to the canvas. Botha got up at the count of 10, but immediately fell to the ropes. The referee scored a knockout.

On February 6, 1999, Tyson got into trouble again with the law. He was sentenced to pay $5,000 in addition to two years of probation and 200 hours of community service for hitting motorists twice after a traffic accident that occurred on August 31, 1998.

In January 2000, Tyson met with British champion Julius Francis. Francis fell 5 times. After the 5th fall, the referee stopped the fight. Tyson won by knockout in the 2nd round.

An interesting fact: the public was sure in advance that the first one would win. The English newspaper The Mirror even paid for advertising on the soles of Francis' shoes so that she would be captured by cameras and video cameras during knockdowns.

In October 1999, Tyson met with Orlin Norris. In the 1st round, Tyson sent the opponent to the canvas with a short left hook to the jaw after the gong. Norris got up. The referee took 2 points off Tyson. Norris did not advance to the 2nd round. The doctor examined him, but did not reveal anything and said that Noris simply did not want to enter the ring. Noris, claimed to have injured his knee in the fall. The fight was declared invalid. After the fight, Tyson said: "Norris went to his corner, without any problems, he probably injured his knee when he was sitting in a chair." Even Evander Holyfield supported Tyson, saying that the crowd is so noisy that it is difficult to hear the call. It was an easy way for Norris to get out of the fight. He received his fee and was not (officially) beaten by Tyson.

Due to problems with the law, Tyson spent the next two fights outside the United States.

In June 2000, Tyson met with Lou Savarese. Savarese defeated James Douglas in his last fight. At the beginning of the 1st round, Tyson knocked down Savarese with a left hook on the jump. When the enemy got up, intending to continue the fight, Tyson pounced on him to finish off. Referee John Coyle, trying to put an end to the beating of the helpless Savarese, tried to separate the boxers, but Tyson, ignoring the judge, continued to strike. Forgetting about caution, the dispersed boxer accidentally hit the referee with his fist and he fell into the ring. Coyle got up and again categorically demanded to stop the duel. This time, Tyson complied. There was a hitch, no one knew what the verdict would be. In the end, the victory by technical knockout, despite the incident, was awarded to Tyson. Savarese, however, spread his arms for a long time, as if not understanding why the referee did not allow him to continue the fight.

In October 2000, Tyson got together with Andrzej Golota. Tyson immediately went on the attack. At the end of the 1st round, he knocked down Golota with a right hook to the jaw. Golota got up and was able to continue the fight, reaching the end of the round, but he began to bleed from a wound above his left eye. Hoping to get a knockout victory, Tyson continued his aggressive attack for almost the entire second round, causing Golota to tie Tyson's hands several times to try to reduce his effectiveness. powerful blows. Although Golota tried to resist, Tyson easily won the round and led on points on the scores of all 3 judges. In the interval between the 2nd and 3rd rounds, Golota refused to continue the fight. Golota's corner tried to persuade him to continue the fight, but to no avail. Golota fled the ring. Golota's decision to pull out of the fight angered Tyson, who felt he had lost the opportunity to get a traditional knockout victory. Tyson had to be held in his corner to prevent his attack on Golota. While Golota left the hall, the audience threw various objects at him, mostly drinking glasses. Near the exit, a jar of ketchup hit him, which spilled over the boxer's body. Later, representatives of the Showtime television channel said that Golota is a coward, and they will never show him on their channel again. Shortly after the fight, Tyson's doping test showed traces of marijuana in his blood, and the fight was declared invalid. After the fight, Golota was taken to the hospital. There, it was revealed that Golota suffered a concussion, a broken left cheekbone, and a herniated disc between the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae during the fight, which forced him to retire from boxing for nearly 3 years before returning on August 14, 2003. However, Golota then had two championship fights with Chris Byrd for the IBF title and with John Ruiz for the WBA title. The fight with Byrd ended in a controversial draw, and the fight with Ruiz was controversially lost, but many experts and spectators felt that Golota was robbed by the judges in those fights. Most likely, it was the fight with Tyson that influenced the opinion of the judges.

In October 2001, Tyson went to Denmark to fight a local fighter - former IBO champion Brian Nielsen. It was a big fight: 25,000 spectators filled the stands of Parken Stadium without sparing a lot of money for entrance tickets. A break for a year affected Mike's form, he entered the ring with a career-high weight, weighing 10 kilograms. Tyson dominated the entire fight, showering the enemy with blows from the first round. Already in the 2nd round, the Dane's eye began to swim. At the end of the 3rd round, Tyson carried out a series of blows to the opponent's head, after which he collapsed to the floor. Nielsen got up at the expense of "7". Tyson rushed to finish him off. A few seconds later, Tyson hit the Dane in the groin with a left hook. Nielsen writhed in pain. He was given time to rest. Tyson continued his attack on the Dane, who offered less and less resistance. In the sixth round, Iron Mike was just finishing off his victim. Just before the gong, he awarded the opponent with a left uppercut. After the 6th round, Nielsen refused to continue the fight. Tyson received $13 million for this fight and Nielsen $800,000.

In June 2002, the duel between Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis took place. The fight was the highest-grossing event in boxing history, grossing $106.9 million from 1.95 million pay-per-views. Tyson had drug problems at the time and overweight, in recent battles he neglected protection and was very far from his model of the 80s. Despite the fact that this fight was very important, Tyson devoted more time not to training, but to nightclubs, so he approached the fight in much worse shape than in 2000, nevertheless, the bookmakers made him a favorite. In the 1st round, Tyson managed to surprise the fans, he went into close combat and delivered accurate blows to Lewis. Lewis tried in every possible way to evade the fight, tying Tyson's hands and leaning on him in close combat, for which he repeatedly received a warning from the referee. From the 3rd round, Mike's stamina began to wane, and he dodged, not trying to get into close combat. At the end of the 4th round, Lewis fell on Tyson, and Tyson fell. The referee did not consider it a knockdown. In the 5th round, Lewis hit Tyson during the breeding of the boxers from the clinch. Lewis received another warning. After the 5th round, Mike's endurance finally sat down and he almost stopped defending himself. In the middle of the 8th round, Lewis hit Tyson in the jaw with a left uppercut. Tyson squatted down, the referee counted the knockdown. Toward the end of the round, Lewis sent Tyson to the canvas with a right hook. At the expense of 10, Tyson just knelt down. The referee scored a knockout. Each boxer received $35 million.

In February 2003, Tyson met with Clifford Etienne. At the beginning of the 1st round, he sent Etienne to the canvas with a right hook. At the count of 10, Etienne was still on the canvas. The referee scored a knockout.

On July 30, 2004, after a 17-month break, Mike Tyson entered the ring against the rather famous British boxer Danny Williams. The favorite in this fight was Tyson (bets on him were taken at the rate of 9 to 1). The first round of this fight was one of the best rounds Mike has had in recent years, at the end of the round Williams was very shocked, after which he fell into a state of groggy and began to clinch, which helped him to hold out for 1 round. But then Tyson abruptly surrendered and in the second round his advantage was minimal. In the third round, referee Dennis Alfred deducted two points from Williams for hitting after stopping the fight and “butting”, and in the fourth round, after a long series of Williams, Tyson was on the floor and could not get up before the end of the referee countdown. The explanation for this unexpected defeat followed immediately: it turned out that in the first round Mike received a serious knee injury, which made it impossible for him to move normally around the ring and invest in punches. A few days later, Tyson underwent surgery, and he spent several weeks in a cast.

June 11, 2005 Tyson met with the little-known Irishman Kevin McBride. Spectators furiously supported Tyson. Before the fight, Tyson's dressing room was visited by Muhammad Ali to cheer him up. His daughter Layla Ali participated in one of the preliminary fights. Tyson won the first 4 rounds, in the fourth round he managed to carry out several successful attacks to the opponent's head and body, but Mike could not build on his success. In the 5th round, Mike's noticeable fatigue began to appear and the round was left for McBride. In the 6th round, Tyson again attacked his opponent, in one of the attacks there was a clash of heads, as a result of which McBride had a cut. Referee Joe Cortes deducted 2 points from Tyson. At the end of the 6th round, McBride fell on Tyson, and he fell. Tyson sat on the floor. The referee did not consider it a knockdown. Despite this, the round remained with Tyson. "Iron Mike" refused to hold the seventh round of the fight. After the fight, Tyson announced the end of his career, saying that he did not want to embarrass boxing by losing to boxers like McBride.

In 2006, Mike announced that he was going to do a world tour. This time he will take part in 12 demonstration fights, which have already received the loud name "Mike Tyson's World Tour". His first opponent was American veteran Corey Sanders, nicknamed T-Rex (not to be confused with South African Corrie Sanders). Sanders boxed in a helmet. In the first round, Tyson knocked Sanders down and then confidently outplayed him in the rest of the rounds. The fight was not included in track records boxers. It was the first and last Stand tour, although the list of his rivals included: Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, Hasim Rahman, Shannon Briggs.

Mike Tyson scandals and convictions:

Mike Tyson never finished high school.

Living with Cus D'Amato, Mike watched a lot of videos with old fights of professionals and, being impressed by what he saw, chose an image that was quite unusual for those times: he entered the ring without music, without a bathrobe, in simple black shorts and boxers on bare foot.

On June 22, 1987, Tyson was arrested on charges of assault and mutilation. He molested an employee of a paid parking lot, and then hit a colleague who stood up for her. The case was closed after paying them $105,000.

1988 was a turning point for Mike: he fired his coach Kevin Rooney and disbanded the entire team, after which his career began to decline.

In 1989, along with Don King, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio by university president Arthur E. Thomas.

On July 19, 1991, he was accused of raping 18-year-old Miss Black America Desiree Washington. There were many controversial points in the criminal case that spoke in favor of the fact that everything happened "by consent", but on September 9, 1991, the Grand Jury of Indiana voted to indict Tyson on three counts, including rape. Tyson was convicted on February 10, 1992.

Desiree Washington - Mike Tyson rape victim

In 1990, Mike abandoned training and began to abuse alcohol. The consequence of this was his defeat by "Buster" Douglas on February 11, 1990. in Japan, which is still considered the greatest sensation in the history of boxing: the bets on Douglas's victory were 42 to 1. In an interview with the American cable channel YES Network, Mike Tyson admitted that that he considers his 1990 fight against Douglas the best fight of his career: "I will always say that, in my opinion, it was my most best fight I always put it first. It's strange, but Cus [D'Amato] always told me: 'You have to beat everyone, you can do it, but what happens when you get beaten, can you handle it?' And this fight proved that I can Deal with it". After this fight, Tyson returned to training and signed up for treatment.

On March 5, 1998, Tyson sued his former promoter Don King. demanding to pay him $ 100 million as compensation for material damage caused during their joint work. The case did not go to court and was settled for $14 million.

In 1989, Mike began to have problems with alcohol due to divorce and other problems, so Mike soon abandoned training, but after the fight with Douglas, he signed up for treatment.

From mid-1990 to 2010, Mike had drug problems, and this greatly affected his career, mentality and problems with the law. For example, the fight with Andrzej Golota, when Tyson won, the doping test showed traces of marijuana in Tyson's blood and the fight was declared invalid. In the second fight with Holyfield, after another headbutt, Tyson could not stand it and bit the enemy by the ear, and then in the clinch, after 2 hits, he bit him again. After stopping the fight, Tyson rushed to Holyfield and began to beat everyone who prevented him from getting close to Holyfield. Tyson later made a statement that he was crazy because of violations by Holyfield and the fact that the judge did nothing, and that he had one thought on his mind - to kill Holyfield, but 15 years later, Tyson made a statement that in addition to the rage from -for headbutting Holyfield, bit him while under the influence of drugs. On December 29, 2008, Mike Tyson was arrested for using cocaine while driving, but was released the next day.

Because of the drugs, Mike began to have problems with being overweight. In the best shape, as Mike himself said, he weighed no more than 98 kilograms. In the late 90s, Mike's weight fluctuated between 101-102 kg. In a fight with Brian Nielsen, he weighed 108 kilograms, but this did not stop him from winning. In the fight with Lewis, he already weighed 106 kilograms and the excess weight was clearly visible on the body. From 2007 to 2010, Mike weighed 150-160 kilograms, but in 2008 he became a vegan, began to play sports again and lost more than 40 kilograms.

In 2013, Mike Tyson made a statement that he used marijuana and cocaine in the last years of his boxing career. He used an artificial penis and someone else's urine in order to successfully pass doping tests after fights, in particular in the fight against Lou Savarese. This explains his uncontrollable aggression during and after the fight.

In the documentary, Tyson said that before the fight with Berbick, he contracted gonorrhea, which made him unable to concentrate on the fight.

Mike Tyson Height: 181 centimeters. Although unofficially those who know the athlete assure that his height is 178 cm.

Mike Tyson's personal life:

Was married three times: The first time on February 9, 1988, he married actress Robin Givens. The following year, on February 14, they divorced in the Dominican Republic.

The second wife is Monica Turner, a pediatrician at the Georgetown University Medical Center.

Children: Reina (born February 14, 1996), Amir (born August 5, 1997), Deamata Kilrain (born 1990), Miki Lorna (born 1990), Miguel Leon (born 2002), Exodus (died in an accident case in 2009).

Tyson's brother Rodney Tyson is a Physician Assistant at the Los Angeles Trauma Center at USC Medical Center.

Converted to Islam. When changing religion, he received the name Malik Abdul Aziz.

Has been a vegan since 2009.

New York's Brownsville is known for its high crime rate. At first, Mike was soft-spoken and incapable of standing up for himself, but then he succeeded in street fights and became a member of a criminal group, often had trouble with the police - at the age of 13 he was detained more than 30 times. For his behavior, Tyson was transferred to a school for juvenile delinquents in upstate New York, where he was attracted to boxing classes led by amateur champion Bob Stewart. In order for Stuart to devote more time to training with him, Mike pulled up his studies and discipline.

In March 1985, in his first fight, Mike Tyson defeated Hector Mercedes by technical knockout.

On November 22, 1986, he won the WBC title by defeating Trevor Berbick. Mike Tyson became the youngest world heavyweight champion.

On March 7, 1987, he was able to defend his title against James Smith. In August, Mike Tyson became the undisputed WBC, WBA and IBF heavyweight champion by defeating Tony Tucker.

Victories over Pinklon Thomas, Tony Tubbs, Larry Holmes, Tyrell Biggs and Michael Spinks confirmed his status as the best boxer in the world.
Mike successfully defended his boxing title until 1990 when he was knocked out for the first time in his career by Buster Douglas in the tenth round.

Tyson's professional career has been one of several convictions. In 1992, he was convicted of raping Miss Black America Desiree Washington and spent three years in prison.

Mike Tyson is a professional heavyweight boxer whose name remains the most recognizable among his colleagues to this day. For the force of impact and aggressive behavior in the ring at one time he was nicknamed the "killer boxer". Olympic champion among juniors, absolute world champion, repeatedly recognized champion according to WBC, WBA, IBF, The Ring. The master of a quick knockout, many of whose records have not been broken so far.

Childhood and youth

Michael Gerard Tyson was born in June 1966 in the New York area - Brownsville. His father was Purcell Tyson, but he left the family when his son was not yet born. Michael was youngest child: the eldest daughter Denise and son Rodney grew up in the family. AT early childhood Tyson was very vulnerable. He was offended by peers, yard boys and even his older brother. He could not stand up for himself and often suffered because of this, coming home with bruises and no pocket money.

In June 2005, Mike met in the ring with the little-known Irish boxer Kevin McBride. Of course, the fans bet on Tyson. But in the 5th round, the champion's fatigue began to appear, and in the 6th he sat on the floor and refused to participate in the 7th round. After this fight, Mike announced that he had decided to end his career.

Movies and books

The life story of a popular heavyweight has been taken as the basis for several documentaries. This is the mid-90s film Fallen Champion: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson and the 2000s films Beyond Glory and Tyson.

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Biography, life story of Mike Tyson

Michael Gerard Tyson (Mike Tyson) is an American professional boxer.

short information

Date of birth: 06/30/1966.

Birthplace: New York, USA.

Height: 180 cm.

Attack distance: 180 cm.

Track record: 50 wins (44 knockouts), 5 losses, 2 fights without an announcement of the result.

Titles: WBC heavyweight champion (1986-90, 1996), WBA heavyweight champion (1986-90, 1996), IBF heavyweight champion (1987-90), The Ring champion (1988-1990), undisputed champion world in the heavyweight category among professionals (1987-1990).

Childhood and youth

Michael Gerard Tyson was born on June 30, 1966 in New York City to Lorna Kirkpatrick (née Smith) and Jimmy Kirkpatrick. The surname Tyson came to Mike from his mother's first husband, Percel Tyson. Jimmy Kirkpatrick left the family before Mike was born, and Lorna and her children (Mike had an older brother Rodney and an older sister Denise) moved to Brownsville, one of the most disadvantaged areas of New York, populated predominantly by blacks. Due to the difficult financial situation, their family had to huddle for several years in a house where there was neither heating nor hot water.

As a child, Mike was distinguished by an extremely gentle character and inability to stand up for himself. His older brother Rodney and the neighborhood boys, and later classmates, constantly mocked him, beat him, took away the change and sweets that his mother gave him. However, at the age of either 9 or 11 years old, a fracture occurred in Mike. As he himself tells, once one of the members of the local street gang, who was several years older, snatched his beloved pigeon from his hands (breeding pigeons was Mike's favorite pastime since childhood and remained his main hobby in adulthood) and tore off his head. An enraged Mike attacked his offender and severely beat him. This episode earned Mike the respect of local juvenile thugs, who took him into their company and taught him how to pick pockets, steal and rob stores. All these activities, of course, turned into repeated visits to correctional facilities for juvenile delinquents. During one of these visits, Tyson managed to see who came to the correctional center to talk with difficult teenagers and try to set them on the right path. Tyson himself later recalled that it was after meeting with him that he first thought about a career as a boxer.

CONTINUED BELOW

At the age of 13, Tyson was sent to a special school for juvenile delinquents, located in the northern part of New York. By this time, he was considered incorrigible and was distinguished by great physical strength for his age: when Mike lost his temper, he could only be calmed down by the joint efforts of several adult men. At the school that Tyson was assigned to, he worked as a physical education teacher former boxer Bobby Stewart. Once in a punishment cell for another violation of the regime, Mike suddenly asked for the opportunity to talk to him. Stewart came to him, and Mike announced that he wanted to become a boxer. Stewart agreed to train him on the condition that Mike would not break discipline.

After that, Mike's behavior really changed for the better, and after a while Stewart entered into another contract with him: the better Mike does at school, the more Stewart does boxing with him. And it worked: Tyson, who was previously considered mentally retarded, managed to noticeably increase his academic performance. He was so engrossed in boxing that school staff sometimes caught him training at 3-4 in the morning when he shadowboxed or worked out his muscles in his room. In a later interview, Stewart recalled that Tyson, who was then 13 years old, literally knocked him down with his jab, but Bobby himself was a good amateur boxer and just five years earlier, speaking in light heavyweight, he won the prestigious Tournament "Golden Gloves".

After some time, Stuart realized that his student had already outgrown him, and brought Mike to the legendary coach and manager Cas D "Amato, who raised two world champions - heavyweight and light heavyweight Jose Torres, as well as a number of strong boxers. When he first saw Mike, D “Amato asked Stewart what they feed juvenile delinquents at their school: 13-year-old Mike weighed 80 kilograms at the time and had perfectly developed muscles. And when Tyson and Stewart entered the ring, Cus was convinced that this teenager had all the makings of a future world champion.

By this time, D'Amato had already almost completely moved away from big boxing and was mainly working with difficult teenagers. After some time, Mike moved into his house, joining the motley company that lived there, and after the death of Tyson D'Amato's mother, he took legal guardianship over him.

amateur boxing

At the age of 15, Tyson began his amateur career, which was not at all as successful as one might expect: according to various sources, Mike fought from twenty-five to thirty fights in the amateur ring, suffered at least six defeats (he lost two fights ahead of schedule, and once even got knocked out; a certain Tibius Flowers knocked him out, for whom this was the only more or less noticeable achievement in boxing). In 1984, Tyson nevertheless became one of the candidates for the US Olympic team, but he did not get to the Olympics, because qualifying competitions twice lost to Henry Tillman, who later became the Olympic champion (as a professional, Tyson took a convincing revenge from Tillman by knocking him out in the first round).

Professional boxing

4 (according to other sources - 6) March 1985, Mike Tyson first entered the professional ring. Living at Cus D'Amato, Mike watched a lot of videos with old fights of professionals and, being impressed by what he saw, chose an image that was quite unusual for those times: he entered the ring without music, without a bathrobe, in simple black shorts and boxers on bare foot. Tyson's first professional opponent was a certain Hector Mercedes, who was knocked out in the first round. During the first year of performances in the professional ring, Tyson had 15 fights and won early victories in all of them. Experts began to say that Cus D "Amato managed to raise an ideal heavyweight who would definitely become a world champion. However, Cus himself did not live to see this: in November 1985, the 77-year-old coach died of pneumonia.

The death of D "Amato was a heavy loss for Mike, but around him there was still the best boxing team in the world, consisting of trainer Kevin Rooney, as well as managers Jim Jacobs and Bill Caton, and he continued his way to the top. Among the fights held Tyson in 1986, there were only two in which his opponents managed to leave the ring on their own feet: at first, the fragile (for a heavyweight) James Tillis ran away from him for ten rounds (at the end, Mike began to catch up with him and managed to knock down, however Tillis still reached the final gong), and in the next fight this "achievement" was repeated by Mitch Green. Since neither Tillis nor Green were considered particularly strong boxers, these results gave a number of journalists a reason to say that Tyson had stopped progressing and in general having serious problems in meetings with high opponents.However, several skeptics could not influence the general euphoria about the future champion, and Tyson was quickly found excuses, the fact that Tillis is a rather technical boxer who could have done better if he had better physical training, and Green, who came to the boxing ring literally from the street, was once a member of a gang that competed with the one that included Tyson, and therefore had just a crazy motivation to fight.

After six more fights and defeating, among others, Marvis Frazier, the son of former world heavyweight champion Joe Frazier, on November 22, 1986, at the age of twenty years and five months, Tyson entered his first championship fight. His opponent was Jamaican-Canadian boxer Trevor Berbick, who won the WBC title a few months earlier in a duel with Pinklon Thomas. Berbick, in principle, was considered a good, albeit very unstable boxer, but in a duel with Tyson, he was assigned the role of a victim in advance. And so it happened: having hardly survived the first round, in the second Berbick twice visited the floor (more precisely, even four times, because after the second knockdown he tried to rise twice, but fell again), and referee Mills Lane stopped the meeting. “I am a world champion and I am ready to fight anyone in the world”, - Tyson said in a post-match interview.

Three months later, it was the turn of the WBA champion, James "Bonebreaker" Smith. Despite such an intimidating nickname, "Bonebreaker" was a very ordinary boxer, who went down in history only by becoming the first world heavyweight champion who had a college education. Smith turned pro when he was already under 30, and by the time of the fight with Tyson, he had only 24 fights, winning 19 of them and losing five of them. Nevertheless, it was not at all easy for Mike to defeat him: Smith constantly tied his hands, never allowing him to deliver a single clean blow for the entire fight, and at the end he exploded himself and almost became the author of a sensation, having managed to put Tyson on the brink of a knockdown. As he recalled a few years later, it was this fight that he most often watched in preparation for his meeting with Tyson, since many of the shortcomings of Mike's technique became very clearly visible in it, in particular, the poor effectiveness of his actions in close combat. But be that as it may, Tyson won by unanimous decision and added a second championship belt to his collection.

Mike's next fight was less than three months later. His opponent was ex-world champion Pinklon Thomas, who managed to hold out for less than six rounds. On the same day, Tony Tucker and James "Buster" Douglas found out which of them would become the new IBF champion and Tyson's next opponent. Tucker won by TKO in the tenth round. It is worth noting that the fight was fairly equal, but Douglas either ran out of steam, or psychologically broke down, and at some point simply stopped responding to blows.

The fight between Mike Tyson and Tony Tucker took place on August 1, 1987 and began with a little surprise: at the beginning of the first round, Tucker seriously shocked Tyson with a left uppercut and nearly knocked him down. Only by the end of the round did Mike manage to recover and level the course of the fight. In the second round, Tucker injured his hand, but nevertheless, up to the middle of the fight, he fought quite an equal fight and by the sixth round lost very little on the scorecards. However, then the IBF champion went into deep defense and only in the twelfth round unsuccessfully tried to spurt. As a result, Tyson won this fight by unanimous decision and became the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.

Over the next two years, Tyson fought six fights, alternately defeating Olympic champion Tyrell Biggs, ex-world champions Tony Tubbs and Michael Spinks, future world champion Frank Bruno, and rather strong heavyweight Carl Williams.

At the same time, an event occurred in Tyson's life, which, as many believe, had an extremely negative impact on his psychological state and boxing career: Mike married aspiring actress Robin Givens. Their marriage lasted only about a year, but it was a very turbulent year: Mike had to go through high-profile scandals, public humiliation and even fights (the fragile Robin did not hesitate to slap her husband on occasion). All this put Tyson on the brink of a nervous breakdown and, apparently, seriously undermined his mental health. Starting in 1987, he began to neglect training, and then completely dispersed his team, which consisted of managers and coaches who had worked with him since the time of Cus D'Amato, and came under the patronage of the infamous promoter Don King. In 1988, Tyson suffered a concussion after crashing his car into a tree. According to one version, it was a suicide attempt.

In February 1990, Mike Tyson came to Japan to defend his titles again against James Douglas, who at that time was considered nothing more than a decent second-tier boxer. The same Douglas who in 1987 missed his chance to win the championship title by surrendering the fight to Tony Tucker. Few then doubted the victory of Tyson. Bets on the fight were at the rate of 45 to 1 in his favor. However, on February 11, 1990, in front of the thousands of spectators who filled the Tokyo Dome hall, and the millions who watched this fight live, the most sensational event in the history of boxing took place. A hopeless outsider, Douglas boxed like never before in his life, and in all respects defeated the absolute champion, winning almost every episode, and then knocking out Tyson in the tenth round.

So Mike again found himself in the role of applicant. In 1990, he had two more fights, winning both by knockout in the first round, and in 1991 he fought twice with the popular Canadian heavyweight Donovan Ruddock. Ruddock, a physically strong but very limited boxer, lost both fights, but nevertheless managed to demonstrate to everyone how much Tyson really did not live up to the image of the “ideal boxer” that journalists and the public had created for him by that time. Almost not inferior to Tyson in physical strength, Ruddock simply did not let himself be crushed, as happened with Mike's other rivals. Unexpectedly, it turned out that if the opponent manages to withstand a brute force "bulk", Tyson cannot rebuild and beat him.

In the summer of 1991, another episode occurred in Tyson's life that radically changed his fate. Mike attended the Miss Black America beauty pageant, where he met one of the contestants, a certain Desiree Washington. Miss Washington favorably accepted the courtship of the ex-champion, they rode together in his car, hugged near the hotel where Mike lived, and then went up to his room. A day later, Washington stated that Tyson had raped her. Despite a lot of circumstantial evidence and testimonies confirming that everything happened by mutual consent, the court sided with the victim, and Mike was sentenced to six years in prison, of which he served about three. He was released only in March 1995, having managed to convert to Islam in prison and get acquainted with the works of Voltaire, Mao Zedong and.

Tyson held his first fight after returning from prison on August 19, 1995 against hereditary boxer Peter McNeely. Already in the first round, McNeely twice visited the floor and was disqualified for the fact that his seconds jumped into the ring. After another warm-up fight after that, in March 1996, Tyson went to the WBC champion Frank Bruno and defeated him by technical knockout in the third round.

According to the rules of the WBC, Tyson had to defend his title against the mandatory challenger, who at that time was before September 2, 1996, before September 2, 1996. Mike's team, however, didn't want the fight, and offered $4 million in compensation for him to pull it out himself. agreed, but the WBC stripped Tyson of the title anyway, not wanting to sanction his unification bout with WBA champion Bruce Seldon. However, Tyson did not stay without a title for long: the fight with Seldon nevertheless took place on September 7, 1996, and it took Mike less than two minutes to break the resistance of a completely demoralized champion.

In November 1996, the long-awaited fight between Mike Tyson and Mike Tyson finally took place, preparation for which began even before Mike ended up in prison. Tyson was the favorite in this fight (bets on him were taken at the rate of 22 to 1), however, who was considered by that time an old and “broken” fighter, managed to surprise all boxing experts and fans by winning a difficult but indisputable victory. The first five rounds of the fight were held with varying success, in the sixth Tyson was knocked down, and starting from the ninth, the advantage became overwhelming. In the tenth round, he simply beat Tyson, who miraculously kept on his feet, and in the eleventh, the referee stopped the fight, fixing Mike's defeat by technical knockout.

Despite the fact that the victory was very confident, Tyson again approached the rematch, which took place on June 28, as a favorite. The fight was surrounded by unprecedented excitement: suffice it to say that all 16,000 tickets for it were sold out on the first day. However, instead of an exciting boxing match, the audience this time saw something completely unexpected: in the third round, Mike, offended by hitting his head several times, bit off a piece of his right ear, and then pushed him in the back. Referee Mills Lane called the doctor, who, after examining the ear, ruled that he could continue the fight. Lane deducted two points from Tyson (one each for biting and pushing) and the fight continued. After some time, Tyson again bit the opponent's ear, this time on the left, and was disqualified. When Tyson left the ring, frustrated spectators shouted insults at him and threw garbage at him. After that, the label of a cannibal stuck to Tyson forever, and even at Madame Tussauds, his wax figure was rearranged from sports hall in the hall of horrors, placing next to the figure of the cinematic cannibal Hannibal Lecter.

The next time Mike had a chance to enter the ring only a year and a half later. In principle, he was disqualified for life for the incident with him, however, Tyson's popularity and the income generated by his fights could not leave boxing officials indifferent, who, having endured the pause required by decency, nevertheless allowed him to speak. Meanwhile, over the past year and a half, Mike managed to prove himself from the worst side. He became completely out of control and had several extremely unpleasant incidents, ranging from the beating of two elderly men with whom he had a conflict over a small traffic accident, to an outburst of aggression at a meeting of the boxing commission considering the removal of his suspension. . In 1998, psychiatrists who examined Tyson determined that he suffered from low self-esteem and was experiencing severe bouts of depression.

Unfortunately, the fight with Francois Botha, which took place in January 1999, only confirmed the fact that Mike's mentality was not all right. The first round ended just at the moment when Mike frankly tried to break his opponent's arm, and the seconds had to pull him away from Bota with the help of local security officers. Despite Tyson's victory by knockout in the fifth round, his boxing reputation suffered greatly after this fight. Mike's shots lost their accuracy, he missed a lot, his winnings did not look natural at all.

Tyson fought his next fight in October 1999, after being released from prison, where he served three and a half months for a fight. His rival was former champion world cruiserweight champion Orlin Norris. This meeting ended without a result being announced, as Norris was unable to get out of the corner after Tyson hit him after the signal for the end of the round. The fight with Norris was followed by quick victories over Julius Francis, Lou Savarese and Andrzej Golota (the result of this fight was annulled after traces of marijuana were found in Tyson's analyzes). Following this, Mike again took a year-long pause and the next time he entered the ring only in October 2001 against the Dane Brian Nielsen. The fight was won by technical knockout in the seventh round (Nielsen refused to leave the corner after the break), but Mike looked rather pale in it.

Nevertheless, Tyson's next opponent was supposed to be the universally recognized world heavyweight champion, with whom there had been talk of a meeting for several years. The fight was supposed to take place on April 6, 2002 in Las Vegas. However, the joint press conference of the boxers on January 22 of the same year turned into a fight, during which Tyson attacked the bodyguard, and then, in the ensuing scuffle, he grabbed his teeth in the leg and the champion himself. At the same time, the Las Vegas police announced their intention to charge Tyson with another rape, allegedly occurring in September 2001 (the charge was never filed). As a result, the Nevada State Boxing Commission refused to return Tyson's boxing license, and the organizers of the match had to look for a new venue.

As a result, Tyson's fight took place on June 8, 2002 in Memphis. Journalists who were present at Tyson's training before the fight noted that he was in very good shape, and, to the surprise of many, the bookmakers also made Tyson a favorite in this meeting. However, soon after the start of the fight, it became clear that Tyson could do little to oppose the champion. If the first round was even more or less equal, then the fight began to take on a completely one-sided character. Even the obvious bias of the referee, who made comments at every opportunity and tried in every possible way to help Mike, could not seriously change the pattern of the fight. struck dozens of unanswered blows, and Tyson only managed to reach his tall opponent a few times. The denouement came in the eighth round, when Tyson was first knocked down, and then ran into a strong oncoming blow, after which he could no longer get up. At the post-match press conference, Tyson told reporters that he was very glad that he managed to leave the ring alive that evening.

Immediately after the fight, talk of a rematch began, and, having received the biggest fee in his life for the first fight, he was not at all averse to meeting Mike again. However, Tyson frankly admitted that he did not want to be beaten again and would like to preliminarily hold a couple of fights against weaker opponents in order to get in shape.

Tyson held his next fight in March 2003 against Clifford Etienne, who was considered quite promising at the time. The fight lasted only 49 seconds and ended with Etienne, who was on the floor after the first serious blow, could not (or did not want to) get up. During the preparation for this fight and after it, many noticed that Mike had changed. He seemed to have lost much of his aggressiveness, becoming, in his own words, "domesticated animal".

Mike promised that he would return to the gym immediately after the fight with Etienne, but the pause that followed turned out to be one of the longest in his career. At one time, it seemed that Mike would never enter the ring again, but the difficult financial situation (in August 2003, Tyson declared himself bankrupt), as well as the emergence of a certain "vacuum" in heavyweight, stimulated his return to boxing.

On July 31, 2004, Mike Tyson entered the ring against the rather famous British boxer Danny Williams. The first round of this fight was one of the best rounds held by Mike in recent years, but then Tyson abruptly surrendered, began to miss blows and go into the clinch on his own initiative, and in the fourth round, after a long series of Williams, he was on the floor and could not get up until the end referee count. The explanation for this unexpected defeat followed immediately: it turned out that in the first round Mike received a serious knee injury, which made it impossible for him to move normally around the ring and invest in punches. A few days later, Tyson underwent surgery, and he spent several weeks in a cast.

Mike returned to the professional ring on June 11, 2005. As opponents, he was chosen as an overall, but rather weak Irishman Kevin McBride, who did not have a single victory over a boxer of a decent level. Nevertheless, even such an opponent turned out to be too tough for the 38-year-old Tyson: from the very beginning of the fight he looked slow and allowed McBride to keep a favorable distance for him, and by the sixth round he was completely exhausted and refused to continue the fight.

In a post-match interview, Mike Tyson stated that he did not want to embarrass his favorite sport by losing to opponents like Mikebride, and therefore retired from boxing. It is impossible to say right away whether this decision was final or whether the multimillion-dollar debts hanging over him will still push the most popular boxer of all time to another return. But some time later, boxing fans realized that Mike was not joking. Although in 2006 Tyson launched a world tour with exhibition fights with the most eminent boxers -

Full of dramatic moments with dizzying highs and crushing lows. This post will introduce you to those and other events from the life of a famous heavyweight.

Michael Gerard Tyson was born on June 30, 1966 in New York City to Lorna Kirkpatrick (née Smith) and Jimmy Kirkpatrick. His father left the family before Mike was born.

Mike's mother with children (older brother Rodney and older sister Denise) moved to Brownsville - one of the most disadvantaged areas of New York. Due to the difficult financial situation, their family had to live for several years in a house where there was neither heating nor hot water.

As a child, Mike was noted for his softness and inability to stand up for himself. His older brother and neighbor boys, and later classmates, often taunted him, beat him, took away money and food.

At the age of 10, Mike suffered a fracture. From childhood to this day, pigeons have been Mike's favorites. One day, one of the members of a street gang snatched his beloved pigeon from his hands and tore off his head.

Enraged, Mike attacked his offender and severely beat him. After that, the bandits took him into their company and taught him to steal and rob shops. For this, Mike was often a client of correctional institutions.

Mohammed Ali once came to one of them to talk with difficult teenagers and try to set them on the right path. Tyson himself later recalled that for the first time after meeting with Ali, he thought about the career of a professional boxer.

At the age of 13, Tyson was sent to a special school for juvenile delinquents, located in upstate New York, where former boxer Bobby Stewart worked as a physical education teacher, whom Mike told that he wanted to become a professional boxer.

Stewart agreed to train him on the condition that Mike would not break discipline. He fell in love with boxing so much that the school staff sometimes caught him training at 2-3 in the morning when he boxed with a shadow or pumped muscles in his room.

After a while, Stewart realized that his student had already outgrown him, and brought Mike to the legendary coach and manager Cas D "Amato, who raised two world champions.

By this time, D'Amato had already almost completely moved away from big boxing and was mainly working with difficult teenagers. After some time, Mike moved into his house, and after the death of Tyson's mother, D "Amato issued official guardianship over him.

At the age of 15, Tyson began an amateur career, which did not work out as well for him as expected, and on March 6, 1985, he entered the professional ring for the first time.

His first opponent was Hector Mercedes, who was knocked out in the first round.

During the first year of performances in the professional ring, Tyson had 15 fights and won early victories in all of them. Experts began to call him the ideal heavyweight and future world champion.

Mike's coach did not live to see his championship: in November 1985, 77-year-old Cus died of pneumonia. The death of D "Amato was a heavy loss for Tyson, but he still had the best boxing team in the world around him.

Among the fights held by Tyson in 1986, there were only two in which his opponents managed to leave the ring on their feet. After spending six more fights, Tyson entered his first championship fight.

His opponent was Jamaican-Canadian boxer Trevor Berbick, who won the WBC title a few months earlier. Having hardly survived the first round, in the second Berbick twice visited the floor and the referee stopped the meeting.

"I'm a world champion and I'm ready to fight anyone in the world," Tyson said in a post-match interview.

Over the next two years, Tyson had a series of fights, alternately defeating the 84 Olympic champion Tyrell Biggs, ex-world champions Larry Holmes, Tony Tubbs and Michael Spinks, future world champion Frank Bruno, and also quite a strong heavyweight Carl Williams.

At the same time, an event occurred in Tyson's life that, according to many, had an extremely negative impact on his psychological state and boxing career: Mike married aspiring actress Robin Givens.

Their marriage lasted only about a year, during which Mike had to go through high-profile scandals, public humiliation and even fights (the fragile Robin did not hesitate to slap her husband on occasion).

All this put Tyson on the brink of a nervous breakdown and, apparently, seriously undermined his mental health.

Starting in 1987, he began to neglect training, and then completely disbanded his team, which consisted of managers and coaches who had worked with him since the time of Cus D'Amato, and came under the patronage of the infamous promoter Don King.

In 1988, Tyson suffered a concussion after crashing his car into a tree. According to one version, it was a suicide attempt.

Not surprisingly, in 1990, Mike Tyson was defeated by outsider James Douglas. So Mike again found himself in the role of applicant.

In the summer of 1991, another episode occurred in Tyson's life that radically changed his fate. Mike attended the Miss Black America beauty pageant, where he met one of the contestants, a certain Desiree Washington.

Miss Washington favorably accepted the courtship of the ex-champion, they rode together in his car, hugged near the hotel where Mike lived, and then went up to his room.

A day later, Washington stated that Tyson had raped her. Despite a lot of circumstantial evidence and testimonies confirming that everything happened by mutual agreement, the court sided with the victim.

Mike was sentenced to six years in prison, of which he served about three.

He was released only in March 1995, having managed to convert to Islam in prison (he took the name Malik Abdul Aziz) and get acquainted with the works of Voltaire, Mao Zedong and Che Guevara.

Tyson held his first fight after returning from prison on August 19, 1995 against hereditary boxer Peter McNeely. Already in the first round, McNeely was twice on the floor, and was disqualified for the fact that his seconds jumped into the ring.

In November 1996, the long-awaited fight between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield finally took place, preparations for which began even before Mike landed in prison. Tyson was the favorite in this fight, but Holyfield managed to surprise all boxing experts and fans by winning a difficult but undeniable victory.

The rematch was surrounded by unprecedented excitement: all 16,000 tickets for it were sold out on the first day.

Instead of an exciting boxing match, the audience this time saw something completely unexpected: in the third round, Mike, offended by the fact that Holyfield hit him several times with his head, bit off a piece of Evander's right ear, and then pushed him in the back.

Referee Mills Lane called the doctor, who, after examining Holyfield's ear, ruled that he could continue the fight. After some time, Tyson again bit the opponent's ear, this time on the left, and was disqualified.

When Tyson left the ring, frustrated spectators shouted insults at him and threw garbage at him.

After that, the label of a cannibal stuck to Tyson forever, and even at Madame Tussauds, his wax figure was moved from the gym to the hall of horrors, placing it next to the figure of the cinematic cannibal Hannibal Lecter.

The next time Mike had a chance to enter the ring only a year and a half later. Although he was initially banned for life for the incident with Holyfield, Tyson's popularity and the revenue generated by his fights forced officials to change their mind.

Meanwhile, over the past year and a half, Mike managed to prove himself from the worst side. He became completely out of control and had several extremely unpleasant incidents.

So, he beat up two elderly men with whom he had a conflict due to a small traffic accident. This case again brought him to court.

He demonstrated an outburst of aggression at a meeting of the boxing commission, which considered the issue of removing disqualification from him.

In 1998, psychiatrists who examined Tyson determined that he suffered from low self-esteem and was experiencing severe bouts of depression.

Unfortunately, the fight with Francois Botha, which took place in January 1999, only confirmed the fact that Mike's mentality was not all right. The first round ended just at the moment when Mike frankly tried to break his opponent's arm.

Despite Tyson's victory by knockout in the fifth round, his boxing reputation suffered greatly after this fight. Mike's shots lost their accuracy, he missed a lot, and his winnings did not look natural at all.

Result next fight was canceled after Tyson's tests found traces of marijuana. Then Mike married a second time to nurse Monica Turner.

Following this, Mike took a year-long pause and the next time he entered the ring only in October 2001 against the Dane Brian Nielsen. The fight was won by technical knockout in the seventh round, but Mike looked rather pale in it.

Tyson's next opponent was supposed to be the universally recognized world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis. However, on January 22 of the same year, a joint press conference of the boxers turned into a fight.

During it, Tyson attacked Lewis's bodyguard, and then, in the ensuing scuffle, he grabbed his teeth in the leg and the champion himself.

In the fight that did take place, Mike suffered a crushing defeat. At the post-match press conference, Tyson told reporters that he was very glad that he managed to leave the ring alive that evening.

Later, the difficult financial situation forced him to spend a couple more fights. But after losing to mediocre boxer Kevin McBride in 2005, Tyson said he did not want to shame his favorite sport by losing to such opponents, and therefore retired from boxing.

In 2006, the ex-world heavyweight champion got a job at a casino in Las Vegas, where, together with his coach Jeff Fenech, he conducted demonstration training sessions that gathered several hundred people.

In the same year, Mike began a world tour, starting with a knockdown, but never finished.

Later, "Iron Mike", who by this time was already divorced, agreed to work as a "call boy" in the famous Heidi Fleiss brothel, but he did not stay at this job for a long time either.

12/29/2006 Mike Tyson was arrested for cocaine use, released from prison the next day, after which he admitted to being a drug addict at the trial and underwent a course of treatment.

Now Tyson has eight children from different wives. Reina, Amir, Deamata, Mikey, Miguel, D "Amato (named after teacher Casa D" Amato), Milan, Morocco. In 2009, tangled in the wires from the treadmill, his daughter Exodus died.

Just two weeks after the tragic death of his daughter, Mike Tyson married Lakia Spicer for the third time.

Now he is a decent family man. He is a vegan and animal advocate and promotes his views in every possible way.

Tyson is often invited to act in films. He has about 40 roles in films and TV series. Some of the most popular are roles in the films Crocodile Dundee, Rocky Balboa, Scary Movie, The Hangover and Downhole Revenge.