Michael Gerard Tyson - the Iron Mike - Research Paper Example

Michael Gerard Tyson was born June 30, 1966 in Brooklyn, New York. He was nick d "Iron Mike" and "The Baddest Man on the Planet”. Tyson was the undeniable heavyweight boxing champion and still keeps the record of the youngest boxer who won the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles. He won the WBC title when he was 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old. In just nine months he became the first heavyweight athlete who got all three major belts — WBA, WBC, and IBF — at the same time. He became famous for his ferocious and intimidating boxing technique as well as his controversial actions both inside and outside the ring. Born in Brooklyn and on the New York streets learned the pugilistic arts, Mike Tyson went on to be the youngest world boxing champion in the world’s history. Twice he won gold medal at the Junior Olympic Games in 1981 and 1982, Mike holds the Junior Olympic quickest knockout record with 8 seconds. Moreover, he won each bout at the Junior Olympic Games by knockout. As a professional, Michael debuted when he was 18 on March 6, 1985, New York. He had beaten Hector Mercedes by knock outing him at first round. During Mike’s first year among professionals Mike had 15 bouts. Tyson was boxing frequently, and won 26 of his first 28 fights - 16 of them in the first round. The class of his opponents was increasing steadily. His win flash got a lot of media attention. Fascinated, reporters started calling him the next great heavyweight champion. In his first title fight against Trevor Berbick on November 22, 1986, Tyson won by second round TKO and ­­gained the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight championship title. He became the youngest heavyweight champion in history. Tysons victory got plenty of great compliments. Due to rigorous training & discipline, Mike found himself living life that was very different from the lives of the majority of young people. He confessed that at his career start it was difficult for him. “I used the think I was missing out by not hanging out non parties. But I did all that stuff when I was younger, and others 20-year-olds are missing what I have now – the excitement, meeting people, being known all over the world, doing what you like to do and making a great deal of money doing it.” (EBONY, p.78) Tyson started big campaign to win all the best heavyweight boxers on the planet. On March 7, 1987 in Las Vegas he not only defended his belt in the fight against James Smith by undivided decision, but also added World Boxing Association (WBA) belt of Smith to his existing one. After his fight with Tony Tucker on August 1, 1987 Mike became the first heavyweight boxer to possess all three most important belts — WBA, WBC, and IBF — simultaneously. In October 1987 after knockout in the seventh round, Tyson got one more “scalp” of another big shot – Tyrell Biggs, 1984 Olympics Super Heavyweight Gold Medalist. Mike has an incredible strength, and many boxers were intimidated by him. He had terrific hand speed, coordination, accuracy, timing and power. He had excellent defensive abilities as well. Mike was holding his hands high in the Peek-a-Boo style; he was shortening the distance to deliver his punches and slipping and weaving out from the punches of the opponent. Tyson’s famous combination was to throw a right hook to the body of his opponent, and then a right uppercut to his chin. Very small number of boxers could remain standing when caught by this combination. Many great boxers, such as Jose Ribalta and Jesse Ferguson were knocked down with this combination. However, having such giant success did not prevent Mike from having problems outside of the boxing ring and. It looks like he has lost direction in his personal life and trainings by 1990. That had instant effect on his career. On February 11, 1990, in Tokyo he lost the undeniable championship to Buster Douglas. Mike Tyson was unquestionable favorite, but Douglas, who’s mother passed away just prior to the fight, was at his emotional climax, and fought the life’s fight. Though Tyson sent Douglas to the floor in the eighth round, Douglas recovered adequately and set an atrocious combination of hooks, sending Tyson for the first time in his career to the canvas. This victory by knockout happened because Tyson was not prepared mentally to meet Douglas, who was pretty stirred and charged. This fight has been recorded as one of the most shocking events in contemporary history of sports. After this terrible defeat, in his next two fights Tyson knocked out Olympic champion Henry Tillman and Alex Stewart in the first round. After these matches, he set up an elimination match against Evander Holyfield for the title of the undeniable world heavyweight championship. That title was snatched from Douglas in his first defense match. In Las Vegas On March 18, 1991, in Las Vegas, Tyson faced another contender – Donovan "Razor" Ruddock, which was considered as the most dangerous and one of the hardest punching heavyweight boxers. The match between Ruddock and Tyson went back and forth for most of the fight, until referee, arguably, stopped the fight in the seventh round in favor of Tyson. That made the fans really furious. On June 28, 1991, Ruddock and Tyson met once more, and Tyson knocked Ruddock down twice and won by undivided decision. This victory opened the road for Tyson to the fight with Holyfield for the undisputed championship. This fight was prearranged for the autumn of 1991 but it did not happen. Mike got injured in his rib cage and, to add to the matter, in July 1991 he was arrested being accused in rape of 18-year-old Desiree Washington. So the match with the champion had to be postponed. Michael did not leave the prison until 1995, therefore he did not have any fights for a time period. However, he easily won two comeback bouts with Peter McNeeley and Buster Mathis Jr. Tyson’s comeback matches since his imprisonment got high publicity and a lot attention. In March 1996 Tyson got one of his titles back by getting an easy victory for the WBC belt from Frank; Mike knocked him out in the third round. Then he added the WBA title by winning champion Bruce Seldon in one round in September of the same year. Michael tried to defend the WBA belt against Evander Holyfield. Evander had the fourth match after retiring in 1994. Finally, in Las Vegas on November 9, 1996, Michael met Holyfield in a title bout. As a shocker, the apparently "washed-up" Holyfield, who by majority of commentators had nearly no chance to succeed, won Tyson by knock out in round 11. Evander wrote the history with the sadden victory as person who ever won a heavyweight championship title three times, second only to Muhammad Ali. However, Holyfields success was spoiled by accusations coming from Tyson, so there would become a point of disagreement in the following rematch. On June 28, 1997 Michael and Evander fought again. Shortly to becoming one of the most contentious events in contemporary sports, the match was stopped close to the end of the third round. Tyson was disqualified for biting Holyfield on both ears. When he bit Evander the first time, the fight was temporarily stopped. Referee took two points from Tyson, and the match was resumed. Nevertheless, after the fight was resumed, Michael did it once more: only this time Tyson was disqualified completely and Holyfield won the fight. The bite was harsh enough for Holyfield to be missing a piece of his right ear, which was found on the ring floor after the match. Michael declared later that it was vengeance for Holyfield repetitively butting him with his head without any punishment. This was the worst fight Mike Tyson ever had, and the most scandalous. In the disorder that happened to be this fight, the ending of the bout and proclamation of the decision, something close to a revolt exploded in the arena, and a number of people was wounded in the resulting fight. Tyson’s former coach had foreseen that Michael will be disqualified. He planned this…Thats the only reason he went through with this fight. This was a charade so he could get out and live with himself as long as in his world he would be known as savage and brutal. In his world, he was the man who attacked like an animal and people would say he was trying to annihilate Holyfield, trying to kill him, when nothing could be further from the truth. ( Katz,1997) Two days later Tyson made an announcement, expressing regret and apologizing to Holyfield for his behavior. He requested this unpleasant incident not to be the reason of his disqualification for life because of the. Michael was condemned and judge in the news media. Tysons boxing license was revoked on July 9, 1997 by an unanimous voice vote of members of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. As a part of the ruling he was also to pay a fine of US$3 million cover the legal costs of the hearing. From then on Tyson was unable to box in the United States. However, a little over a year later on October 18, 1998, the same commission voted to restore Tysons boxing license. Mike Tyson is a modern day hero, although a little tragic. Though he started his very successful sport carrier fairly young and was rightfully crowned as a king of boxing, the end of his carried is the one of a looser. He was almost invincible heavyweight champion, feared by his opponent and adored by fans. But outside of the boxing ring he was pitied and feared because of his reckless behavior and arrogance. His pride brought him to actions that had grievous consequences for him – from being imprisoned, fined, condemned by the media to the biting off his opponent’s ear, which ended Mike’s carrier and left him in debt. But one thing is sure – Mike Tyson is living legend. References: Marshall, Marilyn. Mike Tyson: Youngest heavyweight champion ever. EBONY, February1987, Print. p.78 Katz, Michael, "Atlas Shrugged, He Knows Whats Eating Tyson", New York Daily News, 30 June 1997. Print Houston, Graham “Which fights will Tyson be remembered for?” ESPN.com. April 29, 2008. Web. 14 April 2011 SkyNews Exclusive: Mike Tyson Talks To Sky. Nov 3, 2009 Video : http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/video/Mike-Tyson-Interview-Former-Heavyweight-Champion-Talks-Politics-Racism-And-Boxing/Video/200911115431399?lid=VIDEO_15431399_MikeTysonInterview:FormerHeavyweightChampionTalksPolitics,RacismAndBoxing&lpos=searchresults Read More