![]() ![]() In December, Tyson dumped longtime trainer Kevin Rooney just two months before his February 1989 title defense against Frank Bruno. In October, after less than eight months of marriage, Givens filed for divorce. The turmoil and chaos in his personal life continued.Ī street fight with Mitch Green left Tyson with a broken hand, although Green ended up looking much worse. Cayton was served legal papers at ringside as Tyson looked to break his contract with him and move to Don King. On June 28, in just 91 seconds, Tyson blew away what was supposed to be his toughest opponent, Michael Spinks. The following month, his co-manager and confidant Jim Jacobs passed away leaving co-manager Bill Cayton to steer Tyson’s career. “Iron” Mike married actress Robin Givins in February. The axis, however, began to shift slightly in 1988 as Tyson’s life began to read like a soap opera. He was widely recognized as “the baddest man on the planet” and remained undefeated. The following year Tyson added the WBA and IBF belts to unify the title. At just 20 years of age, Tyson brutalized Trevor Berbick inside of six minutes to win the WBC crown. In November of 1986 he became the youngest Heavyweight champion in history. Tyson, fromĬatskill, New York, had steamrolled through the division. On February 10 stateside, February 11 in Tokyo, all hell broke loose as the boxing world was turned upside down by Douglas. If you could locate a casino that was taking action on this bout you would find that Douglas was installed as a 42-1 underdog. Like Joe Namath and the New York Jets facing impossible odds against the Baltimore Colts, or the United States men’s hockey team facing the unbeatable Soviet machine, public perception was that Douglas didn’t have a prayer against Tyson. Douglas was considered to be a safe opponent before facing Evander Holyfield in June. ![]() As we entered 1990, Tyson had signed to meet James “Buster” Douglas. Then, 15 years later, Mike Tyson defended his undisputed titles against Tony Tubbs and also won via a second round knockout. In 1973, George Foreman defended his crown against Joe Roman winning by knockout in the second round. In fairness, Tokyo had hosted a pair of previous Heavyweight title fights. It seemed as if it were light years away from the neon lights of Atlantic City and Las Vegas. Tokyo, Japan didn’t appear like the normal venue to hold a Heavyweight championship fight. ![]()
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