Michael
Gerard "Mike" Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional
boxer. He held the undisputed world heavyweight championship and holds
the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF heavyweight
titles at 20 years, 4 months, and 22 days old. Tyson won his first
19 professional bouts by knockout, 12 of them in the first round.
He won the WBC title in 1986 after defeating Trevor Berbick by a TKO
in the second round. In 1987, Tyson added the WBA and IBF titles after
defeating James Smith and Tony Tucker. This made him the first heavyweight
boxer to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBC and IBF titles, and the
only heavyweight to successively unify them.
In 1988, Tyson
became the lineal champion when he knocked out Michael Spinks in 91
seconds. Tyson successfully defended the world heavyweight championship
nine times, including vitories over Larry Holmes and Frank Bruno,
In 1990, he lost his titles to underdog James "Buster" Douglas,
by knockout in round 10. Attempting to regain the titles, he defeated
Donovan Ruddock twice in 1991, but pulled out of a fight with undisputed
heavyweight champion Evnader Holyfield due ot injury. In 1992 Tyson
was convicted of raping Desiree Washington and sentenced to six years
in prison but was released after serving three years. After his release,
he engaged in a series of comeback fights. In 1996, he won the WBC
and WBA titles after defeating Frank Bruno and Bruce Seldon by knockout.
With his defeat of Bruno, Tyson joined Floyd Patterson, Muhammad Ali,
Tim Witherspoon, Evander Holyfield, and George Foreman as the only
men in boxing history to that point to have regained a heavyweight
championship after having lost it. After being stripped of the WBC
title, Tyson lost his WBA crown to Evander Holyfield in November 1996
by an eleventh-round TKO. Their 1997 rematch ended when Tyson was
disqualified for biting Holyfield's ear.
In 2002, he fought for
the world heavyweight title at the age of 35, losing by knockout to
Lennox Lewis. Tyson retired from professional boxing in 2006, after
being knocked out in consecutive matches against Danny Williams and
Kevin McBride.
Early life
Tyson was born in Brooklyn, New York.
He has an elder brother named Rodney and had an elder sister named
Denise, who died of a heart attack at age 24 in February 1990.
