By Ken Hissner: Coming from a detention center juvenile Mike Tyson arrived in Catskill, New York, thanks to Bob Stewart to the home of Camile Ewald and Cus D’Amato in 1981 at the age of 15 if my history serves me right.
In April of 1984, I met Cus D’Amato and he wanted his boxer Kevin Rooney in a rematch. “I want him back in with Terry Crawley who he lost to in November of 1982 due to a gash over his left eye after six rounds in Scranton so I can see what kind of improvements I have made in him,” said D’Amato. Rooney was 9-0 in Scranton before the loss.
Bob Connelly was putting on a show at the CYC in Scranton, Pennsylvania. I was helping matchmaker Gary Hegyi with a couple of fights and approached him about putting Rooney on the show to which he agreed. Popular Johnny Turner was on top. Connelly’s top prospect future world champion John David Jackson would be in his second fight on the undercard.
On a Wednesday night on April 11th, Rooney would be back in with Crawley who’d gone 1-3 since their first meeting. One loss was to Mickey Ward’s half-brother Dick Eklund by split decision in a ten-rounder. Crawley was 5-2-1 in their first meeting, now 7-5-1.
By the end of eight rounds, all three judges had different scores. First Phil Bosha gave it to Crawley 37-36. Then Jack Castellani scored it 38-36 for Rooney which seemed right to me. The final judge Chris Kirias scored it 36-36 a split decision draw.
It would be almost a year before Rooney fought again returning against Wilkes-Barre, PA, fighter Garland Wright, 9-13-2, in Albany, New York, with Rooney winning by decision in 8. Another win in 8 at the same venue a month later before he ended his career losing in Atlantic City to Mike “Pic” Picciotti, 28-2-3, in the fourth round.
After the second fight Rooney had with Crawley I invited myself to Catskill’s. I believe the house was in Athens, New York. The gym was in the town of Catskill. It was June 20, 1984, per the polaroid picture of him with D’Amato, Davey Hilton, Sr., and Jr., along with other two sons Matt and Alex. In the gym was also Tyson who was a year away from turning pro.
Tyson and I hit it off right away watching films he soon to be official manager Jim Jacobs would supply from his “Greatest Fights of the Century” series. I had met and had lunch with Jacobs the year before when he told me of this young teenager Mike Tyson.
As we watched one of my favorites Kid Gavilan and “Bobo” Olsen fight then it was heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey who Tyson seemed to be fond of. No socks and no robe and ferocious in the ring was Dempsey.
Tyson had just returned from Fort Worth, Texas, where he lost to Henry Tillman 5-0 in the Olympic Trials. He had stopped Henry Milligan whom I knew was a tough banger in his previous bout stopping him in two rounds. Several weeks later Tyson returned to Fort Worth and lost to Tillman again by split decision in the box-off.
The following month in October Tyson was in the US National u19 tournament scoring a pair of stoppages taking the championship. Two months later he was in the Tammer Tournament in Finland and would win three straight by walkover against one from Finland, and a pair of decisions over one from Hungary and Denmark for the championship. Box rec shows he ended with a 15-3 record with just two stoppages though there are nine.
Tyson was 10-0 when D’Amato passed away on November 4th. Rooney had been assisting him due to poor health.
In March of 1985, Tyson made his debut starting an eighteen-stoppage streak. He was 15-0 when my phone rang and the voice on the other line said “do you know who this is?” I replied “Mike Tyson!” He replied, “how’d you guess?” I replied, “lucky guess Mike!” He went on to say he was fighting Dave Jaco a 6:05 guy with a 19-5 record. Since I keep a lot of records he had called and asked what I thought. Not having seen Jaco I said, “he’s just a big white guy, no problem.” Jaco went bye-bye in 2:16 of the first round.
The following month his trainer Kevin Rooney took me back to the dressing room to meet Tyson before his fight with Mike Jameson, 14-9, at the Trump Plaza Casino. When he saw me he smiled ear to ear and grabbed me and picked me with a bear hug up in the air! I thought “glad he likes me!” He’d stop Jameson in five rounds.
Unfortunately, I wouldn’t see him again in person until his career was over up in Bethlehem, PA, at the casino. He was working with a promotional group. I talked to him briefly before the show started and gave him a picture of me, Rooney, and D’Amato taken in Scranton before I met him. He was then standing talking to Larry “Easton Assassin” near the ring and I wrote an article for Doghouse Boxing entitled “Iron” Mike Tyson and Larry “Easton Assassin” Holmes ll in Bethlehem!
I went on to say “the last time they met, Holmes’s feet were up in the air! That’s another story of how Holmes once threatened to “beat the s*** out of you. Next time when I tell you something don’t go to my brother!” He had been misinformed when I was putting on a show at Easton High School in 1984 and wanted his brother Mark in an exhibition.
In 1986 Tyson won eleven straight fights seven by stoppage. Eight were in New York and the final one in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It started with beating Jesse Ferguson, 14-1. While down in the fifth round he was disqualified but later changed to a technical stoppage.
Two fights later James “Quick” Tillis, 31-8, would go the distance with Tyson. Next fight another ten round decision over Mitch Green, 16-1-1. Two first round stoppages would follow before meeting Marvis Frazier, 16-1, son of “Smokin” Joe Frazier. He was on a six-fight winning streak since his only loss to Holmes.
It only took 0:30 to knock out Frazier in the first round. Less than a month later Cuban Jose 22-3-1 managed to get into the tenth and final round before being stopped at 1:37 of the round. Two fights later he would finally get a title fight in Las Vegas, Nevada, in November of 1986 in his twenty-eighth fight scoring a pair of knockdowns. As he tried getting up he fell down twice ending the fight with Tyson winning the WBC title at age 20!
Four months later Tyson would add the WBA title defeating James “Bonecrusher” Smith, 19-5, winning all twelve rounds on one card in Las Vegas, Nevada. Next a defense against former WBC champ Pinklon “Pink” Thomas, 29-1-1, in six rounds in Las Vegas.
Three months later Tyson would add his third title the IBF title defeating Tony “TNT” Tucker, 34-0, in Las Vegas. Just two months later he would stop former 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist Tyrell Biggs, 15-0, in seven rounds in Atlantic City. Biggs I was told feared Tyson during the amateurs.
Upon talking to Biggs later I did an article and asked him “when did you know your career was over?” He said, “I never did!” I told him “you went 15-10 including the Tyson fight to end your career!” I remember talking to him in Philly’s Mitch Allen Gym where he was in charge of the “games” and nothing to do with boxing. Drugs were his downfall.
Three months later in January of 1987 Tyson would meet former champion Holmes, 48-2, at the Convention Center in Atlantic City. Muhammad Ali was sitting at ringside next to the future President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. When introduced, Ali first went to Holmes with his fists to his gloves. Then walked over to Tyson and whispered something in his ear! “Kick his ass?”
The first time Tyson landed a flush punch, Holmes was on the run feeling his power. He managed to get into the fourth round before getting dropped like a thud with his feet up in the air! It was all over for loudmouth Holmes claiming, “I got my arm caught in the ropes throwing a punch!” Are you kidding me?
The bell sounded at the start of the match, with Tyson landing a right to the body in seconds, making Holmes hold for the first of eight clinches to follow in the first round.
At the end of the third, Holmes complained about a late punch. In the fourth round, Holmes started dancing around more than during the first three rounds. Halfway through the round, a Tyson right on the chin and down went Holmes with feet in the air. He got up, shaking his head, trying to “wake up!” Tyson was all over him, landing what seemed like a glazing right on top of the head, and down went Holmes a second time, getting another 8-count from referee Joe Cortez. Just before the round ended, a pair of rights from Tyson and down went Holmes for the third and final time. Many entered the ring while Holmes lay on the canvas.
Just two months later, Tyson stopped former WBA champ Tony “TNT” Tubbs, 24-1, in the second round in Tokyo, Japan. It will be his first of two fights in that country, with the next one not so good. In June, he crushed unbeaten Michael “Jinx” Spinks, 31-0, in 1:31 of the first round in Atlantic City, sending Spinks into retirement. Co-Manager Jim Jacobs, his manager, passed away three days later at age 58, ending his partnership with Bill Cayton as managing Tyson. Rory Holloway and John Horne took over until 1997. Shelly Finkel took over from 1999 to 2005.
In February of 1989, in the first of two meetings with Frank Bruno, 32-2, of the UK, stopping him in five rounds in Las Vegas. In July, he stopped Carl “The Truth” Williams, dropping him halfway into the first round. I felt referee Randy Neumann, by stopping it immediately, it was too soon. Williams never had a chance upon getting up. Aaron Snowell became the third trainer for Tyson 1989-90.
Tyson was 37-0 in his next fight back at the Tokyo Dome in Japan for a second time. James “Buster” Douglas, 28-4-1, was on a six-fight winning streak since losing to Tony “TNT” Tucker. In the ring, Tyson was walking back and forth, awaiting the introduction like a lion in a cage. In the eighth round, Tyson had Douglas down from a right uppercut on the chin while referee Octavio Meyran of Mexico gave him an eight-count, not even wiping off his gloves, signaling them to continue as the bell sounded. Going into the tenth round, scores were 87-86 Tyson, 88-82 Douglas, and 86-86.
Douglas has used an effective jab throughout the fight setting up his combinations. He landed almost ten unanswered punches on the chin of Tyson, who seemed to be wearing down coming into the round and down he went.
At six, he was trying to put his mouthpiece back in. If he had gotten up, the referee would have stopped and called time to put the mouthpiece in from his corner. When he got up, the referee immediately grabbed him into a hug, not even giving him a chance to respond to the knockdown.
There would be no rematch. Douglas would take a big payday to fight Evander “Real Deal” Holyfield in October, getting stopped in three rounds. He’d had three defenses before losing to Riddick “Big Daddy” Bowe. He won the rematch but lost to Michael Moorer. It would be two years before defeating Tyson in back-to-back fights in 1996-97.
Richie Giachetti would take over as trainer of Tyson, being one of promoter Don King’s people, replacing Snowell for two years, and coming back in 1997. Jay Bright would assist from 1995-96, coming back in 2000-01 assisting Tommy Brooks, who came aboard in 1999-2001. Then Ronnie Shields for only 2002. Freddie Roach came in 2003-04 with Jeff Fenech in 2005 being the last trainer for Tyson. King was his promoter from 1988-to 1998 when America Presents took over until 2001.
Just four months after losing to Douglas, Tyson was back facing the man who beat him in back-to-back fights to earn going to the Olympics, Henry Tillman, 20-4. Tyson had a lot to prove, especially not getting a rematch with Douglas, and knocked Tillman out in the first round looking like his former self. Two fights later, he was in a war with Donovan “Razor” Ruddock, 25-1-1, who he stopped in seven rounds. In a rematch, he won the decision.
Getting in trouble with the law, he would serve prison time for rape from 1992 to 1994 not return to boxing until four years later in 1995. After two wins, he re-won the WBC title from Bruno in a rematch in March of 1996. In his next fight, he won the WBA title from Bruce “Atlantic City Express” Seldon, 33-3, in September of 1996 in the first round in Las Vegas.
In November, he faced Holyfield, whom he didn’t want to fight in the amateurs we were told. He was well behind when he was stopped in the eleventh round. In June of 1997, in a rematch, he was cut and losing when he bit the ear of Holyfield. Referee Mills Lane panicked and went to the commissioner, who said, “we can’t stop a fight of this magnitude” and allowed it to continue. Tyson would then bite off a piece of Holyfield’s ear, disqualifying him in the third round after losing the first two rounds. At this point, his career was over.
In January 1999, Tyson returned to the ring a much meaner fighter. In his next five fights twice he had no contests with Orlin Norris and Andrew Golota. In October of 2001, he traveled to Denmark, stopping Brian Nielsen, 62-1, in six rounds.
In his next fight in June of 2002, he traveled to Tennessee to meet champion Lennox “The Lion” Lewis, 39-2-1. I talked with the person supplying the ring who I knew, and he said Tyson was shot going into the ring. Behind 69-64 on all cards, he was knocked out in the eighth round.
Returning to the ring in 2003, claiming bankruptcy after having earned over 300 million. He knocked out Clifford “The Black Rhino” Etienne, 24-1-1, in the first round back at the same venue in Tennessee he fought Lewis. Seventeen months later, he came back against Danny “The Brixton Bomber” Williams, 31-3, of the UK in Louisville, Kentucky, winning the first three rounds before getting knocked out in the fourth.
Eleven months later in what would be his final fight a shot, Tyson faced Ireland’s Kevin “The Clones Colossus” McBride, living in Massachusettes, 32-4-1, in DC, in June of 2005 and after six rounds up by split decision on the scorecards but refusing to come out of the corner. His final record was 50-6, with 44 stoppages retiring days before his 39th birthday.
In November of 2020, called the “Lockdown Knockdown” in an exhibition with former 4-division champion Roy Jones, Jr. at age 54, Jones clinched with him the entire eight rounds.