Mike Tyson biography

On July 21, 1989, Tyson defended his title again, knocking out Carl "The Truth" Williams in one round. Tyson's winning streak came to an end on February 11, 1990, however, when he lost his championship belt to boxer Buster Douglas in Tokyo, Japan. Tyson, the clear favorite, sent Douglas to the mat in the eighth round, but Douglas came back in the tenth, knocking Tyson out for the first time in his career.

Discouraged but not ready to give up,

Tyson recovered by knocking out Olympic Gold medalist—and former amateur boxing adversary—Henry Tillman later that year. He also defeated Alex Stewart in another bout by a knockout in the first round.

But Tyson lost his fight in court on November 1, 1990, when a New York City civil jury sided with Sandra Miller for the barroom incident of 1988. Then in July of 1991, Tyson was accused of raping Desiree Washington, a Miss Black American contestant. On March 26, 1992, after nearly a year of trial proceedings, Tyson was found guilty on one count of rape and two counts of deviant sexual conduct. Because of Indiana state laws, Tyson was ordered to serve six years in prison, effective immediately.

Tyson initially handled his stint in prison poorly, and was found guilty of threatening a guard while in prison, adding 15 days to his sentence. That same year, Tyson's father died. The boxer didn't request leave to attend the funeral. While imprisoned, Tyson converted to Islam, and adopted the name Malik Abdul Aziz.

On March 25, 1995, after serving three years of his sentence, Tyson was released from the Indiana Youth Center near Plainfield, Indiana. Already planning his comeback, Tyson arranged his next fight with Peter McNeeley in Las Vegas, Nevada. On Aug. 19, 1995, Tyson won the fight, knocking out McNeeley in only 89 seconds. Tyson also won his next match In December of 1995, knocking out Buster Mathis, Jr. in the third round.

Holyfield Fight

After his personal and professional setbacks, Tyson seemed to be making a positive change in his life. After several successful fights, Tyson came head-to-head with his next big challenger: Evander Holyfield. Holyfield had been promised a title shot against Tyson in 1990, but before that fight could occur Douglas defeated Tyson. Instead of fighting Tyson, Holyfield fought Douglas for the heavyweight title. Douglas lost by knockout on October 25, 1990, making Holyfield the new undefeated, undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.

On November 9, 1996, Tyson faced Holyfield for the heavyweight title. The evening would not end successfully for Tyson, who lost to Holyfield by a knockout in the 11th round. Instead of Tyson's anticipated victory, Holyfield made history by becoming the second person to win a heavyweight championship belt three times. Tyson claimed he was the victim of multiple illegal head butts by Holyfield, and vowed to avenge his loss.

Tyson trained heavily for a rematch with Holyfield, and in June 28, 1997, the two boxers faced off yet again. The fight was televised on pay-per-view and entered nearly 2 million households, setting a record at the time for the highest number of paid television viewers.