Mike Tyson: Age, weight, match date and stats
Mike Tyson is set to make his boxing return this weekend against former pound-for-pound king Roy Jones Jr.
Even though the California State Athletic Commission has declared the fight to be an 'exhibition' match in which there will be no official winner, it will be anything but for the fighters and fans alike.
Mike Tyson's last professional fight was against Kevin McBride in 2005, where he unceremoniously quit the match and then retired from the sport to stun the whole world. We would later learn in his 2008 documentary Tyson that it was neither a sudden nor an impulsive decision by the heavyweight.
Mike Tyson explained that he was only fighting for the payday and was not expecting to win. With the exception of his exhibition fights against Corey 'T-Rex' Sanders in 2006, that was the last outing of inarguably one of the greatest heavyweight boxers ever.
Ahead of his much-anticipated return, let's take a look at some Mike Tyson facts and figures.
Mike Tyson: Age
Mike Tyson is 54 years and 5 months old.
'Iron Mike' was born on June 30, 1966, in Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York.
He has an older brother named Rodney and had an older sister named Denise, who passed away in 1990.
Mike Tyson made his professional debut at the age of 18 in 1985 against Hector Mercedes via TKO in Albany, New York.
At the age of 20 years and 4 months, he became the youngest boxing heavyweight champion in the history of the sports. He still holds that record.
Mike Tyson: Weight
At 5 feet 10 inches height and with a reach of 71 inches, Mike Tyson was known to weigh approximately 240 pounds in his career as a heavyweight.
In a recent interview with Fighthype.com, Mike Tyson revealed that he had successfully cut down 69 pounds to come down to 220 pounds from 289 pounds. He revealed that he has been training at his partner's place, and the pair has been spending time training and boxing.
This interview was only couple of months before Mike Tyson shared on Twitter that he was going to be back.
The original date of the fight was September 12, but it was then postponed to this weekend.
Mike Tyson: Next match date
Mike Tyson is facing Roy Jones Jr. on November 28, 2020, Saturday at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California.
it is going to be an exhibition match as per CSAC officials, which means that there will be no scoring and therefore no winners by decision. The CSAC has made it clear they do expect either of the fighters to go for a knockdown attempt. Whether the two legends of the sport will abide by that remains to be seen.
The fight will be of 8 rounds instead of the usual 12 rounds, and each round will be of two minutes and not three. The WBC has put a Frontline Championship on the line for the match, but a CSAC official has said that both fighters will receive a belt at the end of the fight.
It has been reported by the digital broadcaster Triller that the match has broken records of PPV pre-sale to become the most anticipated PPV fight of the decade.
Mike Tyson: Stats and Knockouts
Debuting at 18, Mike Tyson went on to have 50 wins in his professional boxing career and only 6 losses. Out of the 50 wins, 44 came via knockout. Hardly any of his knockout win matches went beyond the first round - a few went to second and third, but almost never beyond that.
Mike Tyson has 22 first-round knockouts in his career, the second most among boxers who have been titleholders.
In one of those 50 wins, there was a disqualification as well, where Tyson's opponent Jesse Ferguson constantly resorted to hold and clinch despite several warnings from the referee. This happened after Tyson broke Ferguson's nose in the fifth round, and the latter was trying to avoid further damage. The ruling was initially a DQ, but was adjusted to a win for Tyson via TKO to maintain his streak.
As mentioned earlier, Mike Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history when he won the WBC title by beating Trevor Berbick 24 years ago on November 22, 1986.
Already holding the WBC title, he went on to beat James Smith and Tony Tucker for the WBA and IBF titles at the Heavyweight World Series to become the first heavyweight to win and hold all three major belts together.
Mike Tyson took only 91 seconds and 8 punches to put down Michael Spinks, which is the sixth-fastest fight in heavyweight title matches and also the fewest strikes landed in a title fight win. He also won against Carl Williams with only 8 punches.