Mike Tyson
Michael Gerard Tyson known as Mike Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005, and is scheduled to compete once again in 2024.
Nicknamed “Iron Mike” and “Kid Dynamite” in his early career, and later known as “the Baddest Man on the Planet”, Tyson is regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time.
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Mike Tyson
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Mike Tyson in 2023
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Michael Gerard Tyson
June 30, 1966 Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
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| Children | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Boxing career | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight(s) | Heavyweight | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Reach | 71 in (180 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Stance | Orthodox | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Boxing record | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Total fights | 58 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Wins | 50 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Wins by KO | 44 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Losses | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| No contests | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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| Website | miketyson |
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He reigned as the undisputed world heavyweight champion from 1987 to 1990. Tyson won his first 19 professional fights by knockout, 12 of them in the first round. Claiming his first belt at 20 years, 4 months, and 22 days old, Tyson holds the record as the youngest boxer ever to win a heavyweight title.
He was the first heavyweight boxer to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBC and IBF titles, as well as the only heavyweight to unify them in succession. The following year, Tyson became the lineal champion when he knocked out Michael Spinks in 91 seconds of the first round. In 1990, Tyson was knocked out by underdog Buster Douglas in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.
In 1992, Tyson was convicted of rape and sentenced to six years in prison. He was released on parole after three years. After his release in 1995, he engaged in a series of comeback fights, regaining the WBA and WBC titles in 1996 to join Floyd Patterson, Muhammad Ali, Tim Witherspoon, Evander Holyfield and George Foreman as the only men in boxing history to have regained the heavyweight championship after losing it. After being stripped of the WBC title in the same year, Tyson lost the WBA title to Evander Holyfield by an eleventh round stoppage. Their 1997 rematch ended when Tyson was disqualified for biting Holyfield’s ears, one bite notoriously being strong enough to remove a portion of his right ear. In 2002, Tyson fought for the world heavyweight title, losing by knockout to Lennox Lewis.
Tyson was known for his ferocious and intimidating boxing style as well as his controversial behavior inside and outside the ring, which he explained was inspired by Sonny Liston, a boxer who is widely regarded as the most intimidating man in the history of boxing. With a knockout-to-win percentage of 88%, he was ranked 16th on The Ring magazine’s list of 100 greatest punchers of all time, and first on ESPN’s list of “The Hardest Hitters in Heavyweight History”. Sky Sports described him as “perhaps the most ferocious fighter to step into a professional ring”. He has been inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame.
Early life
Mike Tyson was born in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, New York City, on June 30, 1966. He has an older brother named Rodney (born c. 1961) and had an older sister named Denise, who died of a heart attack at age 24 in February 1990. Tyson’s mother, born in Charlottesville, Virginia, was described as a promiscuous woman who might have been a prostitute. Tyson’s biological father is listed as “Purcell Tyson”, a “humble cab driver” (who was from Jamaica) on his birth certificate, but the man Tyson had known as his father was a pimp named Jimmy Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick was from Grier Town, North Carolina (a predominantly black neighborhood that was annexed by the city of Charlotte), where he was one of the neighborhood’s top baseball players. Kirkpatrick married and had a son, Tyson’s half-brother Jimmie Lee Kirkpatrick, who would help to integrate Charlotte high school football in 1965. In 1959, Jimmy Kirkpatrick left his family and moved to Brooklyn, where he met Tyson’s mother, Lorna Mae (Smith) Tyson. Kirkpatrick frequented pool halls, gambled and hung out on the streets. “My father was just a regular street guy caught up in the street world,” Tyson said. Kirkpatrick abandoned the Tyson family around the time Mike was born, leaving Tyson’s mother to care for the children on her own. Kirkpatrick died in 1992.
The family lived in Bedford-Stuyvesant until their financial burdens necessitated a move to Brownsville when Tyson was 10 years old. Throughout his childhood, Tyson lived in and around neighborhoods with a high rate of crime. According to an interview in Details, his first fight was with a bigger youth who had pulled the head off one of Tyson’s pigeons. Tyson was repeatedly caught committing petty crimes and fighting those who ridiculed his high-pitched voice and lisp. By the age of 13, he had been arrested 38 times. He ended up at the Tryon School for Boys in Johnstown, New York. Tyson’s emerging boxing ability was discovered there by Bobby Stewart, a juvenile detention center counselor and former boxer. Stewart considered Tyson to be an outstanding fighter and trained him for a few months before introducing him to boxing manager and trainer Cus D’Amato. Tyson dropped out of high school as a junior. He was later awarded an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Central State University in 1989. Kevin Rooney also trained Tyson, and he was occasionally assisted by Teddy Atlas, although Atlas was dismissed by D’Amato when Tyson was 15. Rooney eventually took over all training duties for the young fighter.
Tyson’s mother died when he was 16, leaving him in the care of D’Amato, who would become his legal guardian. Tyson later said, “I never saw my mother happy with me and proud of me for doing something: she only knew me as being a wild kid running the streets, coming home with new clothes that she knew I didn’t pay for. I never got a chance to talk to her or know about her. Professionally, it has no effect, but it’s crushing emotionally and personally.”
Amateur career
As an amateur, Mike Tyson won gold medals at the 1981 and 1982 Junior Olympic Games, defeating Joe Cortez in 1981 and beating Kelton Brown in 1982. Brown’s corner threw in the towel in the first round. In 1984 Tyson won the gold medal at the Nation Golden Gloves held in New York, beating Jonathan Littles. He fought Henry Tillman twice as an amateur, losing both bouts by decision. Tillman went on to win heavyweight gold at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Mike Tyson at the Boxing Hall of Fame, 2013
Professional career
Early career
Mike Tyson made his professional debut as an 18-year-old on March 6, 1985, in Albany, New York. He defeated Hector Mercedes via first-round TKO. He had 15 bouts in his first year as a professional. Fighting frequently, Tyson won 26 of his first 28 fights by KO or TKO; 16 of those came in the first round. The quality of his opponents gradually increased to journeyman fighters and borderline contenders, like James Tillis, David Jaco, Jesse Ferguson, Mitch Green, and Marvis Frazier. His win streak attracted media attention and Tyson was billed as the next great heavyweight champion. D’Amato died in November 1985, relatively early into Tyson’s professional career, and some speculate that his death was the catalyst to many of the troubles Tyson was to experience as his life and career progressed.
Rise up the ranks
Tyson’s first nationally televised bout took place on February 16, 1986, at Houston Field House in Troy, New York, against journeyman heavyweight Jesse Ferguson, and was carried by ABC Sports. Tyson knocked down Ferguson with an uppercut in the fifth round that broke Ferguson’s nose. During the sixth round, Ferguson began to hold and clinch Tyson in an apparent attempt to avoid further punishment. After admonishing Ferguson several times to obey his commands to box, the referee finally stopped the fight near the middle of the sixth round. The fight was initially ruled a win for Tyson by disqualification (DQ) of his opponent. The ruling was “adjusted” to a win by technical knockout (TKO) after Tyson’s corner protested that a DQ win would end Tyson’s string of knockout victories, and that a knockout would have been the inevitable result.
In July, after recording six more knockout victories, Tyson fought former world title challenger Marvis Frazier in Glens Falls, New York, on another ABC Sports broadcast. Tyson won easily, charging at Frazier at the opening bell and hitting him with two consecutive uppercuts, the second of which knocked Frazier unconscious thirty seconds into the fight.
After his win over Frazier, Tyson was booked to fight José Ribalta at the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1986. Ribalta would hit Tyson in the body throughout the fight. Tyson knocked down Ribalta three times in the 2nd, 8th, and 10th round when the referee called the fight off. Tyson would go on to say that Ribalta was his toughest fight commenting, “I hit Jose Ribalta with everything, and he took everything and kept coming back for more. Jose Ribalta stood toe to toe with me. He was very strong in the clinches,” and “Ribalta was a game fighter who actually engaged me. I felt nauseous from all Ribalta’s body blows, even hours after the fight. I never felt that much general pain again.”
Exhibition bouts
Mike Tyson’s World Tour
To help pay off his debts, Tyson announced he would be doing a series of exhibition bouts, calling it Tyson’s World Tour. For his first bout, Tyson returned to the ring in 2006 for a four-round exhibition against journeyman heavyweight Corey Sanders in Youngstown, Ohio. Tyson, without headgear at 5 ft 10 in and 216 pounds, was in quality shape, but far from his prime against Sanders, at 6 ft 6 in who wore headgear. Tyson appeared to be “holding back” in the exhibition to prevent an early end to the “show”. “If I don’t get out of this financial quagmire there’s a possibility I may have to be a punching bag for somebody. The money I make isn’t going to help my bills from a tremendous standpoint, but I’m going to feel better about myself. I’m not going to be depressed”, explained Tyson about the reasons for his “comeback”. After the bout was poorly received by fans the remainder of the tour was canceled.
Tyson vs. Jones
It was announced in July 2020 that Tyson had signed a contract to face former four-division world champion, Roy Jones Jr., in an eight-round exhibition fight. Mixed martial arts coach Rafael Cordeiro was selected to be Tyson’s trainer and cornerman. The bout—officially sanctioned by the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC)—was initially scheduled to take place on September 12 at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, however, the date was pushed back to November 28 in order to maximize revenue for the event. The fight went the full 8 rounds, and was declared a draw. The fight was a split draw and the three judges scored the fight as follows: Chad Dawson (76–76 draw), Christy Martin (79–73 for Tyson), and Vinny Pazienza (76–80 for Jones).
Mike Tyson’s Legends Only League
In July 2020, Mike Tyson announced the creation of Mike Tyson’s Legends Only League. Tyson formed the league in partnership with Sophie Watts and her company, Eros Innovations. The league provides retired professional athletes the opportunity to compete in their respective sport. On November 28, 2020, Mike Tyson fought Roy Jones Jr. at the Staples Center in the first event produced under Legends Only League. The event received largely positive reviews and was the highest selling PPV event of 2020, which ranks in the Top-10 for PPV purchased events all-time.
Life after boxing
In an interview with USA Today published on June 3, 2005, Tyson said, “My whole life has been a waste – I’ve been a failure.” He continued: “I just want to escape. I’m really embarrassed with myself and my life. I want to be a missionary. I think I could do that while keeping my dignity without letting people know they chased me out of the country. I want to get this part of my life over as soon as possible. In this country nothing good is going to come of me. People put me so high; I wanted to tear that image down.” Tyson began to spend much of his time tending to his 350 pigeons in Paradise Valley, an upscale enclave near Phoenix, Arizona.
Mike Tyson in 2006
Tyson has stayed in the limelight by promoting various websites and companies. In the past Tyson had shunned endorsements, accusing other athletes of putting on a false front to obtain them. Tyson has held entertainment boxing shows at a casino in Las Vegas and started a tour of exhibition bouts to pay off his numerous debts.
In October 2012, Tyson launched the Mike Tyson Cares Foundation. The mission of the Mike Tyson Cares Foundation is to “give kids a fighting chance” with innovative centers that provide for the comprehensive needs of kids from broken homes.
In August 2013, Tyson teamed up with Acquinity Sports to form Iron Mike Productions, a boxing promotions company.
In September 2013, Tyson was featured on a six-episode television series on Fox Sports 1 that documented his personal and private life entitled Being: Mike Tyson.
In November 2013, Tyson’s Undisputed Truth was published, which appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list. At the Golden Podium Awards Ceremony, Tyson received the Sportel Special Prize for the best autobiography.
In May 2017, Tyson published his second book, Iron Ambition, which details his time with trainer and surrogate father Cus D’Amato.
In February 2018, Tyson attended the international mixed martial arts (MMA) tournament in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. Tyson said: “As I have traveled all over the country of Russia I have realized that the people are very sensitive and kind. But most Americans do not have any experience of that.”
On May 12, 2020, Tyson posted a video on his Instagram of him training again. At the end of the video, Tyson hinted at a return to boxing by saying, “I’m back”.
On May 23, 2020, at All Elite Wrestling’s Double or Nothing, Tyson helped Cody defeat Lance Archer alongside Jake Roberts and presented him the inaugural AEW TNT Championship. Tyson alongside Henry Cejudo, Rashad Evans, and Vitor Belfort appeared on the May 27 episode of AEW Dynamite facing off against Chris Jericho and his stable The Inner Circle. Tyson returned to AEW on the April 7, 2021, episode of Dynamite and helped Jericho from being attacked by The Pinnacle, beating down Shawn Spears in the process. He was the special guest enforcer on the April 14 episode of Dynamite for a match between Jericho and Dax Harwood of The Pinnacle, a preview of the upcoming Inner Circle vs. Pinnacle match at Blood and Guts.
Tyson made an extended cameo appearance in the Telugu-Hindi movie Liger, which released on August 25, 2022.
Personal life
Marriages and children
Mike Tyson resides in Seven Hills, Nevada. He has been married three times, and has seven children, one deceased, with three women; in addition to his biological children, Tyson includes his second wife’s oldest daughter as one of his own.
Tyson married actress Robin Givens on February 7, 1988, at Holy Angels Catholic Church during a traditional ceremony in Chicago. Givens was known at the time for her role on the sitcom Head of the Class. Tyson’s marriage to Givens was especially tumultuous, with allegations of violence, spousal abuse, and mental instability on Tyson’s part.
The gates of Tyson’s mansion in Southington, Ohio, which he purchased and lived in during the 1980s
Matters came to a head when Tyson and Givens gave a joint interview with Barbara Walters on the ABC TV newsmagazine show 20/20 in September 1988, in which Givens described life with Tyson as “torture, pure hell, worse than anything I could possibly imagine.” Givens also described Tyson as “manic depressive” – which was later confirmed by doctors – on national television while Tyson looked on with an intent and calm expression. A month later, Givens announced that she was seeking a divorce from the allegedly abusive Tyson, with the two officially separating on February 14, 1989.
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According to the book Fire and Fear: The Inside Story of Mike Tyson, Tyson admitted that he punched Givens and stated, “that was the best punch I’ve ever thrown in my entire life.” Tyson claimed that the book was “filled with inaccuracies.” Tyson and Givens had no children, but she reported having had a miscarriage; Tyson claimed that she was never pregnant and only used that to get him to marry her. During their marriage, the couple lived in a mansion in Bernardsville, New Jersey.
Tyson’s second marriage was to Monica Turner from April 19, 1997, to January 14, 2003. At the time of the divorce filing, Turner worked as a pediatric resident at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. She is the sister of Michael Steele, the former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland and former Republican National Committee chairman. Turner filed for divorce from Tyson in January 2002, claiming that he committed adultery during their five-year marriage, an act that “has neither been forgiven nor condoned.” The couple had two children; son Amir and Ramsey who self-identifies as non-binary.
On May 25, 2009, Tyson’s four-year-old daughter Exodus was found by her seven-year-old brother Miguel unconscious and tangled in a cord, dangling from an exercise treadmill. The child’s mother, Sol Xochitl, untangled her, administered CPR and called for medical attention. Tyson, who was in Las Vegas at the time of the incident, traveled back to Phoenix to be with her. She died of her injuries on May 26, 2009.
Eleven days after his daughter’s death, Tyson wed for the third time, to longtime girlfriend Lakiha “Kiki” Spicer, age 32, exchanging vows on Saturday, June 6, 2009, in a short, private ceremony at the La Bella Wedding Chapel at the Las Vegas Hilton. They have two children; daughter Milan and son Morocco.
Religious beliefs
Raised as a Catholic, Tyson has stated that he converted to Islam before entering prison and that he made no efforts to correct what was reported in the media, although it was falsely reported that he converted to Islam during his time in prison and adopted the Muslim name Malik Abdul Aziz; some sources report it as Malik Shabazz. Tyson never changed his given name to an Islamic one, despite the rumors.
In November 2013, Tyson stated “the more I look into the churches and mosques for god, the more I start seeing the devil”. But, just a month later, in a December 2013 interview with Fox News, Tyson said that he is very grateful to be a Muslim and that he needs Allah in his life. In the same interview Tyson talked about his progress with sobriety and how being in the company of good people has made him want to be a better and more humble person.
He first completed the Islamic pilgrimage Umrah in July 2010 and more recently in December 2022 accompanied by DJ Khaled, a Palestinian American Muslim.
Diet
In March 2011, Tyson appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to discuss his new Animal Planet reality series Taking On Tyson. In the interview with DeGeneres, Tyson discussed some of the ways he had improved his life in the past two years, including sober living and a vegan diet. However, in August 2013 he admitted publicly that he had lied about his sobriety and was on the verge of death from alcoholism.
Tyson also revealed that he is no longer vegan, stating, “I was a vegan for four years but not anymore. I eat chicken every now and then. I should be a vegan. [No red meat] at all, no way! I would be very sick if I ate red meat. That’s probably why I was so crazy before.”
Political views
In 2015, Tyson announced that he was supporting Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy.
Controversies and legal challenges
On December 29, 2006, Tyson was arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona, on suspicion of DUI and felony drug possession; he nearly crashed into a police SUV shortly after leaving a nightclub. According to a police probable-cause statement, filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, “[Tyson] admitted to using [drugs] today and stated he is an addict and has a problem.” Tyson pleaded not guilty on January 22, 2007, in Maricopa County Superior Court to felony drug possession and paraphernalia possession counts and two misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of drugs. On February 8 he checked himself into an inpatient treatment program for “various addictions” while awaiting trial on the drug charges.
On September 24, 2007, Tyson pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine and driving under the influence. He was convicted of these charges in November 2007 and sentenced to 24 hours in jail. After his release, he was ordered to serve three years’ probation and complete 360 hours of community service. Prosecutors had requested a year-long jail sentence, but the judge praised Tyson for seeking help with his drug problems. On November 11, 2009, Tyson was arrested after getting into a scuffle at Los Angeles International airport with a photographer. No charges were filed.
In September 2011, Tyson gave an interview in which he made comments about former Alaska governor Sarah Palin including crude and violent descriptions of interracial sex. These comments were reprinted on The Daily Caller website. Journalist Greta van Susteren criticized Tyson and The Daily Caller over the comments, which she described as “smut” and “violence against women”.
On April 20, 2022, on a JetBlue flight from San Francisco to Florida, Tyson repeatedly punched a male passenger who was harassing him, including throwing water on Tyson; he did not face criminal charges.
In 2023, an unnamed woman filed a $5 million lawsuit against Tyson, accusing him of raping her in his limousine in the early 90s. She accused Tyson of kissing her several times before pulling off her pants and raping her, despite repeatedly telling him to stop. The woman claims to have experienced “guilt, loss of self-esteem, shame, embarrassment, sadness, anger, depression, anxiety, violent tendencies, drug and alcohol addiction and confusion”, as well as inability “to maintain and/or develop healthy relationships with men or other people in general”.
In November 2023, Tyson found himself amidst criticism and rumors regarding his alleged donation to the Israeli Defense Forces after he was photographed attending a November 13 event sponsored by Friends of the IDF (FIDF) to fundraise for the Israel–Hamas war, which seemed to clash with his previous statements about Palestinians. This led to a social media backlash, prompting Tyson to release the following statement on Instagram:
“I want to clarify the recent portrayal of an event I attended,” he wrote on Thursday. “Invited for a casual evening out by a friend, I was unaware of the arranged fundraiser and no donations were made by me or on my behalf. As a Muslim and human, I support peace. My prayers have been and continue to be with my brothers and sisters.”
