Holyfield and Belfort did not wear protective headgear in their exhibition bout, which is expected to be the case when Paul faces Tyson. Paul’s manager had denied claims made by Dereck Chisora that the fighters would wear protective gear and 18oz gloves, before Paul took to social media insinuating he would not take the fight under those conditions.
Tobias is a content specialist with over a decade of experience writing about men’s lifestyles for a variety of publications around the world. When not on his computer he enjoys traveling, eating pizza, and watching 80s action films.
Unseen in the show is a 1982 incident site in bing.com which Atlas put a gun to Tyson’s head after the teenage boxer did something untoward to Atlas’ 12-year-old sister-in-law, as David Remnick later reported for the New Yorker. The details remain murky on what exactly happened with the young girl, but Tyson admitted to inappropriate behavior.
“So when I saw the Mike Tyson one, it was a bit mad. Like I said, I’m not a fan of that fight. I’m not in agreement with that fight because we don’t want to see OAPs putting their hearts under pressure and raising their blood pressure and everything to go and fight 27-year-olds.
Know of boxing’s consensus favorite heavyweight and youngest champ Mike Tyson? Sure you do. Do you know that he is facing a 9-1 (6KOs) YouTuber boxer next? You just might. Did you know he has 44 career knockouts till now? Or that he once bit a peer’s ear off during a bout? That is a famed affair. What about his iconic face tattoo? Of all the above, that stands out as his selling point.
The following year, Tyson did the necessary consolidation. On March 7, 1987, Tyson went up against WBA placeholder James “Bonecrusher” Smith in Las Vegas. Smith fought not so much to crush Tyson’s bones as to preserve his own, and after 12 dull rounds Tyson was declared the winner. On August 1, 1987, Tyson went up against IBF champion Tony Tucker to reunite the triple crown of boxing. Tucker did manage to land a blow in the first round, and ultimately he did go the distance, but it was clearly Tyson’s fight throughout. “Aw, he stopped fighting after the fifth round,” Tyson told Sports Illustrated. “After that he was just in there to survive.” Tucker survived, but his championship did not. When it was over, Mike Tyson was the undisputed World Heavyweight Championship (complete with crown and chinchilla robe, provided, inevitably, by the showman who always managed to climb into the ring with a champ, Don King ). An embarrassed Mike Tyson sat in brooding silence during this “coronation.”
Published in 2007, author Joe Layden’s book The Last Great Fight: The Extraordinary Tale of Two Men and How One Fight Changed Their Lives Forever, chronicled the lives of Tyson and Douglas before and after their heavyweight championship fight.
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.
Tyson regained one belt by easily winning the WBC title against Frank Bruno in March 1996. It was the second fight between the two, and Tyson knocked out Bruno in the third round. In 1996, Lennox Lewis turned down a $13.5 million guarantee to fight Tyson. This would’ve been Lewis’s highest fight purse to date. Lewis then accepted $4 million from Don King to step aside and allow Tyson to fight Bruce Seldon for an expected $30 million instead with the intention that if Tyson defeated Seldon, he would fight Lewis next. Tyson added the WBA belt by defeating champion Seldon in the first round in September that year. Seldon was severely criticized and mocked in the popular press for seemingly collapsing to innocuous punches from Tyson.
As an amateur, he was highly regarded by American promoters by 2009 after winning a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics and bronze medals at the 2007 and 2009 World Championships. His career stalled from 2009 to 2019, however, by a combination of his belated release from the Chinese boxing authorities to turn professional, the managerial and legal fiasco of two successive fringe promotional companies, and his visa problems. He could not line up high-profile matches until he signed Matchroom Sport in 2020 at 37 years of age. Zhang considered his fight with Jerry Forrest in 2021 to be the landmark moment of his career until that point.
The tattoo on Tyson’s face is not just a cosmetic piece of jewelry, but a powerful symbol of his personality, resilience and personal journey. It marks an important chapter in his life, reflecting both his struggles and his triumphs. The tattoo has become an integral part of his legacy, serving as a visual representation of the toughness and complexity that defines him.
