Mike Tyson

MIKE TYSON. American former professional boxer who competed primarily between 1985 and 2005. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career and later known as "the Baddest Man on the Planet", he is regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. He reigned as the undisputed world heavyweight champion from 1987 to 1990. Career record ; 59 fights / 50 wins / 44 by KO with 7 losses. He 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, he holds the record as the youngest boxer ever to win a heavyweight title. He was the first heavyweight boxer to simultaneously hold the World Boxing Association (WBA) / World Boxing Council (WBC) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) titles, as well as the only heavyweight to unify them in succession. The following year, he became the lineal champion when he knocked out Michael Spinks in 91 seconds of the first round. In 1990, he lost the undisputed heavyweight championship when he was knocked out by underdog Buster Douglas, making it one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. In 1992, he 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 a heavyweight championship after losing it. After being stripped of the WBC title in the same year, he lost the WBA title to Evander Holyfield by an eleventh round stoppage. Their 1997 rematch ended when he was disqualified for biting Holyfield's ears. In 2002, he fought for the world heavyweight title, losing by knockout to Lennox Lewis. In November 2024, his bout against Jake Paul (which he lost via unanimous decision) became the biggest boxing gate in US history outside of Las Vegas