Mike Tysons Career - Research Paper Example

Mike Tyson’s Career Introduction Mike Tyson’s full name was Michael Gerard Tyson. He was also called Iron Mike by his fans. He was given the title of ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’. He was born on 30th June 1966 in Cumberland Hospital Catskill in Brooklyn, New York. Percel Tyson was the father of Mike Tyson. His mother Lorna Kirkpatrick was born in 1930. After World War II, she moved to New York in search of better life where Mike Tyson was born (Tyson Talk, “Mike Tyson - The Baddest Man on the Planet”). Early Days of Mike Mike was a huge and tough boy. The early days of Mike was poverty stricken with care of only one parent. Lorna shifted to Brownsville, which is one of the roughest cities of America. The environment of that place molded Tyson accordingly. Tyson used to fight in the streets and get into every sort of trouble. He kept pigeons to ward of his loneliness. The incident which changed Tyson’s life was, when he got into fight with a 15 year old who was trying to escape with one of his pigeons. Mike threw showers of heavy punches upon him. This entire incident was witnessed by the local people who made Mike famous in the whole locality and he came to be known as Mike Tyson, a name which in the coming years won the World Heavyweight Championship. In the year 1978, Tyson was sent to Tyron School of boys in New York where he met Bobby Stewart, a social worker and a professional heavyweight. Stewart saw the boxing potential of Tyson and decided to teach him boxing. At the age of only 13, he weighted 200lbs and was stronger than any other 13 year old child. Tyson, despite his hard work was not good with his academic skills, but at that instant Tyson had a choice. He began to admire his boxing classes and used to practice really hard. He used to study books of great fighters, practice different moves and techniques and trained very hard. Stewart later guided Tyson to a renowned trainer Cus D'Amato, a trainer of champions, who after looking at the moves of Tyson thought that he could be the next heavyweight champion of the world. Tyson trained with Cus and compiled an amazing 24-3 record despite of just being 14 year old (Tyson Talk, “Mike Tyson - The Baddest Man on the Planet”). Mike Tyson’s Career After getting a good start and guidance from Stewart and training under one of the finest trainers Cus, Tyson was ready to spring into the ring to grab his victory and make the world aware that they are soon going to witness a new heavyweight champion. It began on 6th March 1985 when Mike made his first pro debut by knocking out Hector Mercedes in the first round. After this victory Tyson was dedicated towards achieving world championship. After the first year of fighting with a record of 15-0 and every one by knockout, he was closer to the world heavyweight championship. Within less than two years, he won 27 consecutive fights and with an aim to become the world champion, signed a fight with Trevor Berbick. On 22 November, 1986 Mike became the youngest heavy weight champion till date by knocking out Trevor Berbick at second round. Tyson did not stop with only one victory. His second victory soon kissed his feet when he defeated James Smith also known as ‘Bonecrusher’ in a 12 round victory on March 7, 1997. This victory gave him the World Boxing Association belt. Finally, the moment came for which Tyson had been waiting anxiously. It was on 1 August, 1987 when Tyson was given the title of world heavyweight champion by all three sanctioning authorities WBC, WBA and IBF, after he defeated Tony Tucker for the International Boxing Federation belt (Tyson Talk, “Mike Tyson - The Baddest Man on the Planet”). After the death of Cus and manager Jimmy Jacobs, Mike aligned with promoter Don King and defeated all those who came in his path. Even former world champion Larry Holmes and the undefeated Michael Spinks were defeated. He made ten successful defense of his title (Encyclopædia Britannica, “Mike Tyson”). Tyson became the first athlete to be paid a huge amount of $20 million for his 91-second fight against Spinks. With his increasing victories over Frank Bruno and Carl Williams, Tyson became the most dominating figure in boxing world. Tyson married Robin Givens, an actress in the year 1988 but they were soon divorced on the ground of physical torture by Tyson. Till 1990 Tyson had a record of 37-0 out of which 33 wins were through knockouts (Tyson Talk, “Mike Tyson - The Baddest Man on the Planet”). Downfall of Tyson’s Career February 1990, was one of the tragic months for Tyson when he lost his championship fight with James Douglas, also called by the name of Buster. Immediately after that Tyson came into form with four straight win. However, in year 1991, he was sent into prison after proving guilty for raping a pageant contestant. Tyson remained behind bars and was released in 1995. After a long break of around four years, Tyson returned to boxing world and quickly gained his two championship belts back by defeating Frank Bruno and Bruce Seldon with ease. Tyson’s second professional loss was against Evander Holyfield, a two time heavy weight champion. Tyson lost his boxing license when he did bite Evander Holyfield’s ears twice during a rematch in June 1997. After regaining his license in January 16, 1999 he knocked down Frans Botha in fifth round. Eventually he was accused for assaulting two elderly men followed by an automobile accident in 1998 and was sentenced to jail for one year in addition to probation of two years, $2,500 as fine and community service of 200 hours. Problems created by Tyson continued to hurdle his career. He continuously punched his opponent, eventually injured referee in a fight in June 2000 even after the fight was stopped. Again after the fight, Tyson passed bad remarks about Lennox Lewis, who was the British Heavy Weight Champion. A fight between Andrew Golota and Tyson was declared no contest as the medical test proved Tyson positive for marijuana. Tyson’s activities made it difficult of the contracting parties to organize a fight. Tyson also attacked and placed a bet to Lennox Lewis in a press conference which also had a negative effect on his career. His boxing license was also refused by the sanctioning body of U.S. Tyson won his final professional match in the year 2003, in which he knocked out his opponent in 49 seconds during first round. Tyson retired from boxing in the year 2005 after he lost a fight (Encyclopædia Britannica, “Mike Tyson”). Mike Tyson-Career Chronology 1979 — A boxing trainer at a New York State correction facility for boys helped Tyson to gain consideration from Cus D'Amato. March 6, 1985 — Tyson defeated Hector Mercedes in his professional debut, in one round. Nov. 22, 1986 — Tyson won WBC heavyweight title and became the youngest heavyweight champion at the age of 20 by knocking out Trevor Berbick. March 3, 1987 — Tyson won WBA heavyweight title by defeating James Smith in Las Vegas. Aug. 1, 1987 — Tyson retained the WBA-WBC heavyweight title and won the IBF heavyweight title by defeating Tony Tucker. Feb. 11, 1990 —Tyson was defeated by James "Buster" Douglas and he lost the world heavyweight title. August 19, 1995 — Tyson again entered into boxing world with 89-second victory over Peter McNeeley. Nov. 9, 1996 —Tyson was stopped by Evander Holyfield in the 11th round for the WBA title. June 28, 1997 — Tyson was disqualified because he did bite the ear of Holyfield. Jan. 16, 1999 —Francois Botha was knocked out by Tyson with 1 second left in the fifth round in his first fight in 19 months. June 8, 2002 — Tyson was knocked out by Lennox Lewis in the fight for the heavyweight title bout in Memphis. July 30, 2004 — British heavyweight champion stops Tyson in the fourth round. June 11, 2005 —Tyson retires from boxing career by quitting after the sixth round against Kevin McBride (The Associated Press, “Year by Year with Mike Tyson”). References Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. “Mike Tyson”. November 04, 2010. Black History, 2010. The Associated Press. “Year By Year with Mike Tyson”. November 04, 2010. USA Today, 2005. Tyson Talk. “Mike Tyson - The Baddest Man on the Planet”. November 04, 2010. Mike Tyson - The Life Story, 2006. Bibliography BBC. “Mike Tyson”. November 04, 2010. Boxing, 2003. Canadastar Boxing Inc. “Mike Tyson Profile and Bio”. November 04, 2010. Fighters, 2010. Read More