life story of mike tyson

In another Memphis fight on February 22, 2003, Tyson beat fringe contender Clifford Etienne 49 seconds into round one. The pre-fight was marred by rumors of Tyson’s lack of fitness. Some said that he took time out from training to party in Las Vegas and get a new facial tattoo. This eventually proved to be tyson history‘s final professional victory in the ring.

Born in 1966 in New York, Tyson’s upbringing was filled with incredible adversity. He was raised in Brownsville, a neighborhood notorious for its high crime rates. His circumstances weren’t helped by his father, who abandoned the family. His mother, Lorna Smith Tyson, had to raise him and his siblings on her own. He grew up in a poverty-stricken environment and often got into trouble with the police.

– Life is a fight and a struggle just like boxing. Even though you are going to lose, you still got to fight. And you have to fight like you know you’re going to win. Ain’t that some bullshit? You know you’re going to lose but you have to fight like you know you’re going to win. And then what happens, sometimes you win. You remember what happened with me and Buster, right? And Ali and Leon Spinks, right?

The first and second rounds provided the typical crowd-pleasing action expected from the two champions. But the match took an unexpected turn in the third round. Tyson shocked fans and boxing officials when he grabbed Holyfield and bit both of the boxer’s ears, completely severing a piece of Holyfield’s right ear. Tyson claimed that the action was retaliation for Holyfield’s illegal head butts from their previous match. Judges didn’t agree with Tyson’s reasoning, however, and disqualified the boxer from the fight.

But Bruno, in a brave if ultimately futile stand, started to fight back when he got up. He held Tyson with his long arms and clubbed him around the back of the head. He had a point deducted for holding but it proved if nothing else that the big Londoner would not be intimidated and had been taught how to grapple in the gym. Before the first round was over, Tyson moved in close and was caught by right-hook and then a short left-hook. His legs did a funny dance for a second and he appeared to be wobbled but Bruno couldn’t land any follow up punches and the chance of a monumental upset faded. Tyson gradually took control of the fight thereafter, his handspeed too much for the challenger. Bruno was stopped in the fifth as Tyson punished him against the ropes with a vicious assault. It had been a somewhat shambling performance by Tyson and with his personal life in meltdown one could hardly blame him for being distracted.

Yet, unlike copyright clearances, life story deals do not involve the acquisition of known intellectual property rights. Life story “rights” are not rights at all. Instead, they bundle together a set of contractual commitments: the subject’s agreement to cooperate with the studio, not to work on a similar project, and to release the studio from claims of defamation and invasion of privacy.

Within a few years, it was gone, and he declared bankruptcy, mainly due to his many addictions and reckless spending. He had hit rock-bottom, sifting his way through a mountain of debt, when, seemingly out of nowhere, he started an acting career and the comeback began.

“The Baddest Man on the Planet” added the WBA and IBF to his WBC title with wins over James Smith and Tony Tucker before retaining his belts against heavyweight legend Larry Holmes and Olympic champion Michael Spinks.

While talking about the purpose of life, Tyson said, “That’s the purpose of life, just to enjoy what we have while we journey through it.” He further talked about the confusion one can have when it comes to one’s purpose in life. And why life just can’t be peaceful all the time? Tyson added, “We have to accept life on its terms. We have to live life on life’s terms.” Mike Tyson has been open about his take on life and the things we love.

Although Mike was never the same after the death of his surrogate father, he made sure he would not let this get in the way of his success. Tyson continued to fight and mustered up a 22-0 record. In November of 1986, the year after his professional debut, ‘Iron’ Mike won the world heavyweight championship after knocking out Trevor Berbick in the second round. He made many-storied defenses of his title after this bout and generally goes down as one of, if not the, greatest heavyweight boxer of all time.

In the ring the fighter was at the absolute pinnacle of his power, defeating former IBF champ Michael Spinks in 91 seconds. Outside the ring Tyson’s life was spinning out of control. He broke his hand in a street fight with a former opponent Mitch “Blood” Green. Then he crashed his BMW into a tree on D’Amato’s former estate. Some in the media reported that the crash was intentional and amounted to a failed suicide attempt. He was reported to have chased Givens and her mother through the streets of Moscow, where she was shooting a movie. And then there was the appearance with his wife on national television in a question-and-answer session with Barbara Walters. Tyson sat next to Givens looking half-awake as his wife talked about him as if he were not there. She said that he was a manic-depressive and claimed that he had abused her. Soon after the humiliating ordeal Givens and Tyson were divorced.