'Iron' Mike Tyson - Man or Machine? [Part 3]

The reign of ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson had begun. Kid Dynamite was at his peak but never really stopped developing, he continued to shock and amaze the world with his performance. Next would be a match against Tyrell Biggs.
Biggs and Tyson both hated each other and wanted to decide their problems in the squared circle. Tyrell went 7 rounds with Kid Dynamite, before suffering a TKO seconds before the bell.
‘Iron’ Mike continued crushing. Former champions Larry Holmes and Tony Tubbs both got knocked out by him, before he faced Michael Spinks, who was believed to be the only guy who could stop the winning spree of Kid Dynamite. Many predictions were made before the match and most predicted a 12-round majority decision for one of the two fighters.
‘Iron’ Mike Tyson shocked the world by knocking Spinks cold in 89 seconds.
After that only a few dared to fight for Mike’s undisputed heavyweight championship and they failed.
Frank Bruno was destroyed in the 5th, Carl Williams – in the 1st.
By that time, Tyson hadn’t made a single mistake, but his first was a big hit. In 1988 he fired long-time trainer Kevin Rooney and that changed his style of fighting. He was no longer using combinations and he was relying on one-punch-wonders.
It was 11th February, 1990, the day that every boxing fan remembers. Mike was squared off against James ‘Buster’ Douglas. Buster was a low-spirited boxer, who never really wanted to fight, but something changed him that night. His mother died of sudden massive stroke just days before the fight. Tyson on the other hand was underestimating Douglas, because even the bookmakers made bets for the record breaking 42:1 for Tyson. But Buster had another thing in mind.
As the fight began, Kid Dynamite and Douglas were all squared. Surprisingly Douglas was the more active fighter until round №8.
Mike ate a lot of jabs and his left eye wasn’t looking too pretty. Although ‘Iron’ Mike was hurt, he managed to drop Buster with a hard uppercut in the 8th. The referee made the most controversial counting in the history of boxing, effectively allowing Buster to get up from the hard knockdown.
Mike Tyson was crushed emotionally after that man got up the floor. He realized that he could not drop him again and gave up.
The inevitable happened in the 10th round. Buster caught Tyson with a 3-punch combination and the undisputed champ fell into a devastating knockdown. ‘Iron’ Mike did not beat the count (which was now normal!!!) and lost by the most controversial knock out in heavyweight history, leaving the whole world shocked.
The era of ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson was over, it has ended in shocking fashion.
That loss brought Mike to the bottom as he was sentenced to prison.

That was the end of his period of greatness and so the youngest man ever to win the heavyweight championship became the youngest man ever to lose the heavyweight championship…

'Iron' Mike Tyson - Man or Machine? [Part 2]

Mike Tyson made his official debut on 06.03.1985 versus Hector Mercedes. After an easy win, he continued with his outstanding performance against his other opponents, winning all 16 fights by KO, 12 in the first round alone! Tyson demonstrated various types of knockouts during these first fights but still needed something more challenging. This challenge was found in Jesse Ferguson. In this match Mike’s stamina was tested as he went 6 rounds, breaking Ferguson’s nose with one of his trademark combinations – right uppercut to the left side of the ribcage, followed by another one to the chin.
But on 4th November, 1985 his long-life mentor, trainer and adopter Cus D’Amato died, leaving hopes that Mike would become the youngest Heavyweight Champion of the world and saying his famous quote:

"The hero and the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero projects his fear onto his opponent while the coward runs. 'Fear'. It's the same thing, but it's what you do with it that matters".

Tyson went the full distance for the first time against James Tillis and Mitch ‘Blood’ Green, who were made to look ridiculous, overpowered and outclassed by a young 19 year-old boy. Marvis Frazier, son of Joe Frazier, didn’t stand a chance against Kid Dynamite and fell unconscious after a devastating combination by Mike. Tyson’s reputation grew and soon came the day of his entire life so far.
It was the night of 22nd November, 1986. Mike Tyson was squared off against the 32 year-old Trevor Berbick, hoping to become the youngest Heavyweight Champion ever at the age of just 20 years and 4 months.
Trevor made the fatal mistake to try and fight face to face against Kid Dynamite. After receiving some devastating combinations from Tyson, Berbick tried to change his tactic, but it was too late. Mike continued loading Trevor with lefts and rights and effectively rocked the champion at the end of the first round with a perfect combination. Berbick however didn’t go down in the first. What didn’t happen in round №1, happened seconds after the bell to start round №2. Mike Tyson brought the champion down with a hard combo to the head. Trevor got up relatively quick.
With 50 seconds remaining in round №2, Kid Dynamite hit Berbick with a light left hook, which was enough to drop the champ. Trevor wanted to get up but his legs wouldn’t let him, resulting him to stand up, stagger and fall 2 times until Mills Lane counted him out.
There it was – Michael Tyson became the youngest Heavyweight Champion of all times, an achievement that not even the great Ali, Foreman and Frazier have ever made!
But ‘Iron’ Mike wasn’t over. He wanted to be the first to unify all three titles – WBA, WBC and IBF. One down, two to go…
The date was 7th March, 1987. ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson continued his quest against James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith. Kid Dynamite not only was the faster fighter, but also completely overpowered and outclassed Smith, who looked slow and frustrated on the ring, as Mike hit him with several hard shots. Mike won the fight by a majority decision with a huge difference in points, proving his great level of stamina. Only one question needed an answer – his chin.
Tyson’s first defense was against former champion Pinklon Thomas. The WBA and WBC were on the line as Mike destroyed Pinklon in the first two rounds and continued to dominate him throughout the next four. In the 6th Kid Dynamite squashed Thomas like an annoying insect via a 15 punch combination.
In the final challenge of his goal, Michael Gerard Tyson was squared off against Tony Tucker for the IBF. Kid Dynamite not only won the fight but also proved that he could take as much punches as he wanted.
‘Iron’ Mike Tyson was almost at his peak. He had completed his goal and wrote his name with golden letters onto the boxing timeline.

'Iron' Mike Tyson - Man or Machine? [Part 1]

‘Iron’ Mike Tyson is considered by many as one of the most intimidating boxers of all time and by others as a poor and limited fighter. There’s just one thing you can be sure about him – when he steps into the squared circle, he doesn’t care who is he facing, he doesn’t know what is going to happen, he doesn’t know when it’s going to happen, he doesn’t know how it’s going to happen, but he knows who is going to win.

Mike was born on 30th June, 1966 in Brooklyn, New York, which is considered to be one of the reasons of his intimidating style of boxing. Tyson’s father abandoned his family when the young champ was only 2 years old. The rough streets of Brooklyn still tell frightening stories about Tyson’s brutal street brawls. If anyone dared to make fun of Tyson’s voice, the young brawler quickly turned him into a bloody mess. That unstoppable rage and hate were later redirected in boxing by his first coach Bobby Steward. But before he could reach Steward, Mike had to be arrested 38 times for various crimes and sent to Tryon School for Boys at the age of just 13. There he was discovered by Steward and trained for several months. There are still stories about Tyson training all night for weeks. Bobby Steward was a wise man and realized that Mike needs a better coach than him and fortunately he knew just the right guy.
A new episode of the young champion’s life began when he was introduced to Cus D’Amato – considered to be one of the best coaches worldwide and to have a great influence on Tyson’s life. Cus saw something in Tyson. By that time he was in his late years and had already trained such champions as Floyd Patterson and Jose Torres. But still he wasn’t finished with his mission. He saw a new champion in Tyson, who combined speed, outstanding power and was practically untouchable. He began to transform Mike from a street brawler into a boxing champion. He soon realized that Tyson, who by the time he was 15 weighed more than a 180 pounds, was too short for a heavyweight. So he created an ultimate formula so that his champion was not only the strongest puncher in the division, but also combined both the speed of a lightweight and that distinguished head movement of his.
When Mike arrived at the gym he was put to the test. In one corner was a 27 year-old, professional boxer and in the other was a 13 year-old kid. According to Teddy Atlas (Tyson’s first real trainer) - “Tyson didn’t know anything. He was raw, he was crude, but he was strong as hell…”So Tyson’s reputation grew bigger every day. Soon his amateur career began and what of a start it was. Even at the age of teenager, Tyson created fear in his opponent’s hearts. He is the holder of the fastest knockout in the Junior Olympics – 8 seconds via a tremendous right hand. Tyson’s aggression became his distinguished trade mark and his left hook is to be remembered forever.

Boxing - The Sweet Science

Boxing is also known as "The Sweet Science". Surely breaking noses and teeth isn't sweet but, believe it or not, boxing is more about thinking than fighting. Since I've made good investigations about this sport, I would say that boxing is some sort of a bloody ballet, mixed with non-stop action and adrenaline. It can be both exciting and boring. That depends entirely on the two boxers. With that sentence done, we finally come to the problem itself - what is today's boxing and what will tomorrow's be? Sadly, this is a question without a sure and confident answer... I'm ,unfortunately, too young to remember the so called "Golden Period" - the era of the unstoppable heavyweight champions, the era of the most anticipating and tense matches, which have created many champions, but I know one thing - today's boxing is more like a dirty, criminal affair than a sweet science. Today's heavyweight division is not what it was about twenty years ago and the undisputed, undefeated and once invincible Mohammed Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Mike Tyson are replaced by the so called "champions". These are nothing but a poor copy of the original and do nothing more than jabbing and running around the ring in bad rhythm. And these "champions" seem to have "styles" or at least that's what the media says. Today's "champions" are not even close to the elegance of boxing, in the face of Mohammed Ali, or to the agression and sports malice of 'Iron' Mike Tyson. Boxing is bleeding of poor athletes and is dying for a new "Golden Era". Help.