Mike Tyson has built a reputation as one of the most ferocious and explosive punchers in boxing, but he was not invincible, and it was early on in his career he sought revenge on a man who beat him twice before.
Mike Tyson‘s first 19 fights all ended in stoppage victories, with Tyson building a reputation as one of the most feared forces in heavyweight boxing.
Tyson scored an 8-second KO in one of his amateur bouts, but it was also in the amateurs where Tyson was beaten twice by one man, a man he wouldn’t cross paths with again until years later.
Mike Tyson punishes amateur rival after losing out on his spot on the Olympic team
In 1984, years before his losses to Evander Holyfield, who fought Nikolai Valuev in the worst heavyweight fight of all time, Tyson faced Henry Tillman twice, with the second bout happening just one month after the first.
The fights were part of the US Olympic team’s process in selecting the team to represent them in the Olympic games, and it was in the finals of the Olympic trials that Tyson and Tillman first met.
Tillman defeated Tyson on a unanimous decision, and won again in their rematch in the Olympic Box-Offs, shattering Tyson’s dream of attending the Olympics.
The pair crossed paths six years later following Tyson’s upset loss to Buster Douglas.
Tillman had amassed a record of 20-4, whilst Tyson’s was now 37-1.
Tyson, who made a sparring partner cry, punished Tillman years after their amateur rivalry, stopping him with a savage first-round knockout to get back to winning ways in style.
The night Mike Tyson’s opponent was disqualified in his first fight in four years
Five years after his win over Tillman, Tyson faced 36-1 Peter McNeeley, who promised to be the man to defeat Tyson.
The fight was Tyson’s first in four years after serving a prison sentence, and ended in an unusual fashion.
Tyson dropped McNeeley twice, prompting his manager to enter the ring. Instead of simply calling it a stoppage win for Tyson, referee Mills Lane, who was also a boxer himself, ruled it a disqualification of McNeeley, as no member of a fighter’s team is allowed to enter the ring during a fight except in between rounds.
The fight lasted less than 90 seconds.