How old was Mike Tyson when he became the undisputed heavyweight champion?
Mike Tyson was 20 years, 4 months, and 22 days old when he first became the undisputed heavyweight champion in boxing.
'Iron Mike' stopped Trevor Berbick in the second round on November 22, 1986 to win the WBC title and become the youngest boxing champion in the history of the sport.
33-year-old Trevor Berbick lasted a total of 5 minutes and 35 seconds into the match before he was knocked out by Mike Tyson. After the win, Tyson made a bold statement which went on to become one his most famous quotes ever.
"I'm the youngest heavyweight boxing champion in history, and I'm going to be the oldest."
Post-fight, Mike Tyson had said that he was throwing every punch with "bad intentions" during the match.
The first round saw Berbick fight quite slow compared to Tyson's quick and vicious strikes. Soon into the second round, Tyson dropped Berbick with a left hook. The reigning champion tried to get up twice, but his legs gave up and he buckled to the mat both times.
After he picked himself up a third time, referee Mills Lane intervened and stopped the match.
He later explained his decision of stopping the fight with a simple answer.
"Berbick was up, but to allow somebody to get hit in that condition, that’s criminal."
After that win, Tyson unified the heavyweight titles in succession by winning the WBA and IBF straps, beating James Smith and Tony Tucker the year after.
After successfully defending his titles nine consecutive times, Mike Tyson lost to underdog 'Buster' Douglas in 1990, shocking the boxing world in his first ever defeat.Â
Mike Tyson made his boxing comeback after 15 years
After infamously quitting against Kevin McBride in 2005, Mike Tyson had fought once against Corey Sanders in an exhibition match. The rest of the tour was cancelled due to poor reception.
A decade and a half following that, Mike Tyson made a return to the boxing ring in the match against Roy Jones Jr. on November 28, 2020 at Staples Center, California.
The match was much hyped, but was officially pronounced a draw. It was already declared beforehand by CSAC that no official result of the fight would be announced, as it was an exhibition charity match.
However, Mike Tyson showed that he has still got it in him, impressing one and all with his power and the shape he showed up in.
Post-fight, Tyson said that he enjoyed having the match and would be interested in doing it again for the sake of humanitarian causes.
"This is better than fighting for championships. We’re humanitarians now. We can do something good for the world. We’ve got to do this again."