Ali vs. Tyson: Tyson Profile 1

Mike Tyson was born June 30th, 1966, in Brooklyn, New york. Brooklyn is a tough place and surviving can be difficult. Of course, we're talking about by today's standards, never mind the 60's and 70's. Those were trying times for everyone all around. And Tyson was no exception.

"When I was a kid, I knew how to fight, but I never wanted to. I had never been in any kind of physical altercation and I was afraid. A lot of kids made fun of me because I was a fat kid," said Tyson in an interview. "My first fight was with this bigger kid who found out where I was keeping my pet pigeons... He took one, popped the neck off, then threw it at me. I said 'okay, I've got to fight the guy now.'" While not yet having received any formal training, Tyson was victorious in this early fight. from this point on, the young Tyson soon found himself involved with criminal activities and was in and out of juvenile detention by age 13.

It was in one such center that Tyson met "Irish" Bobby Stewart, a former amateur boxing champion and counselor at the Tryon School for Boys. "I heard about these kids that [were boxing] to relieve tension. They got beaten up and beat each other up just to relieve the tension. So I went once... I got hit hard in the stomach and fell, but I got back up really quick just to show I was tough. But I was in a lot of pain, I couldn't breathe."

A little embarrassing, yes. But Tyson didn't stop. After his mother's passing, at age 16, Tyson was adopted by legendary trainer Cus D'Amato, whose illustrious career and boxing innovation made him both respected and feared. D'Amato trained Tyson in the unique, aggressive, and complicated peek-a-boo style of fighting, where a boxer's gloves are held very high to protect the face. It was D'Amato's tutelage that led to Tyson breaking the record for fastest knockout in amateur boxing history: 8 seconds.





Incredible, no? 4 years and 26 knockouts later, Tyson was ready to take on the reigning heavyweight champion of the world: Trevor Berbick.


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