Sports Articles: Boxing Legends Part 1 - Mike Tyson page 3

Image from: thefightcity.com

Article page 3 of 13

Tyson's 'peek-a-boo' style, with hands up and close to his cheek, while he continually bobbed around, made him defensively solid and very difficult to hit. He, on the other hand, was a very accurate puncher with incredibly fast hands for a heavyweight and power to match. Lennox Lewis called him one-dimensional, which is probably fair, but that one-dimension, added to his sheer intimidating presence, made him unstoppable for a while. As the heavyweight division was about to find out.

It was 6th March 1985 when Mike Tyson made his professional debut aged 18 years old. Albany, New York was to witness his first round KO of Hector Mercedes. He fought twice more in Albany that year, beating Trent Singleton in April via a TKO in the first round and Don Halpern in May with a 4th round knockout. Gradually the level of the opponents were increased, though Cus was careful to keep Tyson clear of any involvement with Don King, who he did not want Mike to have any dealings with.

Atlantic City was his next stop, a win over Rick Spain (TKO in the 2nd) on 20th June was swiftly followed by an 11th July victory over John Alderson, also a second round TKO. Just over a week later on 19th July the Tyson juggernaut was back in New York State as Larry Sims was KO'ed in the third round. Tyson was on a roll and showing no signs of slowing down, returning to Atlantic City to dispose of Lorenzo Canady, Michael Johnson, Donnie Long and Robert Colay all in the first round, Canady by TKO, the rest by KO. Latham was host on 1st November 1985 as Sterling Benjamin lost by TKO in the first round to become the final victim to a Tyson guided by D'Amato. Cus sadly died on the 4th of the month due to pneumonia.

Even the death of the closest thing Mike had to a father in his life failed to slow his momentum and he fought twice more in November, winning both by KO. Eddie Richardson in the first round, while Conroy Nelson made it as far as the second. December saw him get two first round KOs, against Sammy Scaff and Mark Young, as people really sat up and took notice of Tyson and his no-nonsense approach, the black shorts and boots with no glitzy razzmatazz or even socks. The way he paced before fights, like a caged animal just waiting to be unleashed, was unnerving his opponents and putting them on the back foot before a punch was even thrown.

However the quality of Tyson's opposition was improving and, after disposing of Dave Jaco with a first round TKO on the 10th January 1986, he fought Mike Jamison two weeks later, this time needing a fifth round to get the TKO. Mike Tyson had come to the attention of the TV networks and the 16th February 1986 saw his first ever nationally televised bout against a journeyman heavyweight called Jesse Ferguson. Ferguson was knocked down in the 5th round, suffering a broken nose, and then spent the rest of his time just holding on for dear life. Eventually, after repeated warnings, the referee stopped it in the 6th round, with Tyson awarded a win by disqualification (DQ). Tyson's corner protested, as it would ruin his perfect record of wins via KO and TKO, which saw the result adjusted to award a win via TKO.

That record would not last much longer, when, after disposing of Steve Zouski in March with a third round KO, Tyson was taken the distance by both James Tillis and Mitch Green in his next two fights in May. Both times Tyson was awarded the win after ten rounds. June was back to business as usual as neither Reggie Gross nor William Hosea lasted a round, Gross losing by way of TKO and Hosea was a KO. Two knockouts followed in July, Lorenzo Boyd in the second round and Marvis Frazier in the first as Tyson closed in on a title shot. A tenth round TKO victory over Jose Ribalta and a second round KO of Alfonso Ratliff, his first fight in Las Vegas, saw Tyson handed the chance to become the youngest world heavyweight champion in history.

→

Mike Tyson page 4 of 13

Written by Ed001 - June 04 2018 10:30:52