Mike Tyson

EARLY LIFE 

Michael Gerard Tyson was born on June 30, 1966 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York.

Mike Tyson 2011. By Brian Birzer http://www.brianbirzer.com,

He first snorted coke when he was 11 years old.

Mike Tyson had been arrested 38 times by the age of 13. He said he was bullied as a "pudgy kid" who spoke with a lisp, causing him to turn to crime and drugs. He learned boxing at reform school, and by 20 was the heavyweight champion.

BOXING CAREER 

Mike Tyson became a professional boxer in 1985.

On November 22, 1986 Mike Tyson knocked out Trevor Berbick in the second round to claim the heavyweight boxing championship of the World Boxing Council, and become the youngest boxing champion ever. (He was 20 years, 4 months old).

Tyson became recognized as the undisputed heavyweight champion when he knocked out Michael Spinks in 91 seconds of the first round in 1988. He lost his title to Buster Douglas in 1990.

Tyson won his first 19 professional bouts by knockout, 12 of them in the first round.

The quickest victory of Mike Tyson's career came in Glenn Falls, New York in 1986. He knocked out 16-1 Marvis Frazier (the son of former heavyweight champion Joe) in 25 seconds. 

Tyson's training regime involved getting up at 4am for a 5-mile jog. Then he would do (cumulatively) 2000 sit-ups, 500 push-ups, 500 dips, 500 shrugs and about 30 minutes of neck bridges daily. He repeated this six days a week.

When Tyson finally got around to auditing the notorious promoter Don King, he realized he'd been charging him $8,000 a week for towels alone.

He retired from professional boxing in 2006, after being knocked out in consecutive matches against Danny Williams and Kevin McBride.

Tyson in the ring at Las Vegas in October 2006. By Octal@Flickr

CONTROVERSY 

Mike Tyson bit off a piece of the ear of Evander Holyfield in the third round of their televised WBA Heavyweight title fight in 1997, getting disqualified by referee Mills Lane. He was suspended for at least a year and fined $3 million.

Mike Tyson was addicted to coke and alcohol, getting high before some of his major fights. He used a fake penis with another person's urine to avoid detection.

On July 19, 1991, Mike Tyson raped Desiree Washington, a Miss Black America pageant contestant, in Indianapolis. He was convicted of rape in 1992 and served three years in jail. The incident had a significant impact on Mike Tyson's career and public image. Despite his release from prison, he faced ongoing controversies and challenges in his personal and professional life.

While visiting a zoo in the late eighties, Mike Tyson offered the zookeeper $10,000 to open the gorilla cage so he could go in there and punch a gorilla who was bullying all of the other primates.

PRIVATE LIFE 

Tyson declared bankruptcy in 2003, despite having received over $30 million for several of his fights and $300 million during his career. Examples of reckless spending included $6.3 million on luxury cars and $580,000 on his 30th birthday party.

He has been married three times; Tyson's first wife was the actress Robin Givens, best known for her work on the sitcom Head of the Class. They were married from February 7, 1988 to February 14, 1989.

He has fathered seven children, one deceased, by three women; in addition to his biological children.

Mike Tyson has coped with negative emotions throughout his life by caring for pigeons. As a child he suffered bullying and depression (the first punch he ever threw was at a bully that killed one of his birds) and as an adult with his sunk career and death of his 4 year-old daughter.

Mike Tyson has a tattoo of Chairman Mao on his right bicep. While in prison he would deliberately get put in solitary confinement so he could read Mao's teachings in peace.

One of the most fearsome boxers to ever step into the ring, the former world heavyweight champion has revealed a gift for comedy in such movie hits as 2006's Scary Movie 4 and 2009's The Hangover.