Mike Tyson is the greatest boxer of our time, and today, almost ten years after "Iron Mike" left professional boxing, he has no worthy replacements that could perform as spectacularly and brightly.
The road to sports
Little Tyson grew up as a kind and non-aggressive child, whose favorite hobby was breeding pigeons. But when he was about ten years old, an incident occurred that changed everything. One of the older guys approached Mike, who was fiddling with a dove, took the bird from him and twisted its neck. Tyson got furious and beat the guy, but this, although it added respect to him among the older boys, soon pulled him into a series of petty crimes that Mike committed along with his new friends.
This led to the fact that the future "iron Mike" soon ended up in a correctional institution, but he was very lucky - there he met the great Mohammed Ali, who often visited such institutions and talked with the guys, trying to take them away from the criminal path.
A conversation with Ali changed Mike's life - he realized that he could become a professional boxer, and not make a living by petty theft, which will eventually lead him to jail. Mike Tyson began to engage in boxing diligently and even pulled up his studies. A goal appeared in his life - to become a professional athlete.
Amateur career
Tyson began his amateur career at the age of fifteen and spent six fights in a year, losing only one of them. The very next year, 1982, Mike participated in the Youth Olympic Games, where he won a gold medal, knocking out his rival, Joe Cortez, in the final in just a few seconds. After some time, having confirmed his class, young Tyson took part in the Golden Gloves tournament, but could not win it, losing to Craig Payne in the final.
1984 was approaching, and with it the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Mike Tyson, who decided to take part in this tournament by all means, got involved in the struggle for the Olympic ticket. His main rival was Henry Tillman, with whom, as part of the selection for the Olympics, Tyson had two fights. Alas, both times the judges gave preference to Tillman, who later became the Olympic champion, and Mike Tyson, after this failure, decided to go professional.
Professional career
In the professional ring, Tyson defeated rivals one after another and in 1986 entered the fight for the WBC world title, fighting with Trevor Bebrik and defeating him, becoming the youngest world heavyweight boxing champion.
After two defenses of his title, Iron Mike faced off against another undefeated champion, Tony Tucker, who was defeated only on points by unanimous decision.
Not stopping there, Tyson continued to forge victories, defeating the legendary Larry Holmes and Michael Spinks. However, a quarrel with his team, divorce and litigation did not go to Mike's favor - the fight with Buster Douglas ended in a sensational defeat for Tyson, who forgot what training and a sports regime were.
The rape charge forced Tyson to postpone his champion's ambitions - Mike was able to regain the title only in 1996, shortly after he served a prison term. In the championship fight against Bruce Seldon, Tyson won the WBA title, but lost a close friend - Tupac Shakur, immediately after this fight, was seriously injured and died soon after.
Perhaps the death of a friend influenced Mike Tyson too much - after this event, the career of "Iron Mike" began to decline. Having lost twice to Holyfield, Tyson was still trying to compete for the world title, but the defeat to Lennox Lewis in 2002 put an end to these plans.
