Michael Gerard Tyson is a great American boxing star of his time. Before his boxing career started, Mike Tyson had to live a tough life within harsh and tough streets where crimes are rampant. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Jimmy Kirkpatrick and Lorna Smith. He has two siblings, Rodney and Denise. Their father abandoned the family when Mike Tyson was still 2 years old. His mother died when he was 16 years old. Mike Tyson did petty crimes when he was still a child. He was taken to Tyron School for Boys in New York. It was there that former boxer Bobby Stewart discovered Tyson’s boxing skills. Bobby Stewart introduced Mike Tyson to Cus D’Amato.
The boxing star was then left under the care of Cus D’Amato, a boxing trainer and manager of several famous boxers like Floyd Patterson, Vinnie Ferguson, Teddy Atlas and Joe Fariello. Cus D’Amato trained Tyson to become a skillful boxer, using the peek-a-boo style. His boxing skills developed when Kevin Rooney took over his training. It was Rooney who took Tyson to participate in heavyweight championship competitions after the death of Cus D’Amato. D’Amato died just before Tyson attained the heavyweight title at the young age of 20.
Cus D’Amato was considered by Tyson as the one who loved him as a son. It was D’Amato who introduced him to the boxing world that changed his life forever.
Mike Tyson started his amateur boxing career in the year 1981. He attained gold medals against Joe Cortez and Kelton Brown. He also fought against Henry Tillman in an amateur boxing match. In the Junior Olympic Games, Tyson won each of his matches by knockouts.
When he was 18, he entered the professional boxing career. His first contender was Hector Mercedes, in which he won by knockout in the first round. The young boxer fought matches frequently. He was able to challenge many great boxers gradually, such as Mitch Green, David Jaco and Marvis Frazier. It was this time when Mike Tyson became famous as a boxing star, and was branded as the next probable heavyweight champion of the world. Mike Tyson fought with Jesse Ferguson in the year 1986 and won by technical knockout. For his first WBC (World Boxing Council) heavyweight championship match, his opponent was Trevor Berbick. That was when Tyson attained the title as the youngest heavyweight champion.
The boxing star became an undisputed champion throughout his boxing career, but was also subjected to upsets and controversies. His famous fights after the controversies were against Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis and his last, against Kevin McBride.
