After a horrific childhood in some of the more unsavoury neighbourhoods of New York, Tyson was taken under the wing of venerable 160 pound division boxing trainer Cus D’Amato, who had guided Floyd Patterson to the world heavyweight title twice.
Zhang later found out various errors in his preparations. During his one-week COVID-19 quarantine in Miami before the bout, the hotel provided him only two meals a day. Unfamiliar with Miami’s high humidity, Zhang’s water intake during his stay at hotel was insufficient and he suffered from severe dehydration. Compounded by a drop in fitness from staying in the hotel during quarantine, he lost 9 pounds. Zhang had been unconcerned with his weight loss since it was not an issue in the unlimited weight class. His doctor also concluded that his excessive consumption of Chinese tea during training was partially responsible for his iron-deficiency anemia. When Zhang was discharged from hospital, his first words to his managers were the Chinese idiom, fang hu gui shan, lit. „a tiger let go would come back at the village hard“, referring himself as the tiger. Since then, Zhang hired a nutritionist, quit smoking and has stayed away from tea during training and in the immediate run-up to boxing matches.
Max Sherry is a journalist for SPORTbible Australia. After migrating Down Under from London as a teenager, he instantly fell in love with Aussie sport and its culture. From NRL to AFL, cricket to rugby — you name it, Max watches it (with a beer in hand, of course). During his time at Fox Sports, he worked in the football department covering the Premier League, A-League, Socceroos and Matildas. Born a stone’s throw away from West Ham’s training ground, Max is obviously a die-hard Liverpool fan.
Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005, and is scheduled to compete once again in 2024. Nicknamed „Iron Mike“ and „Kid Dynamite“ in his early career, and later known as „the Baddest Man on the Planet“, Tyson is regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. He reigned as the undisputed world heavyweight champion from 1987 to 1990. Tyson won his first 19 professional fights by knockout, 12 of them in the first round. Claiming his first belt at 20 years, 4 months, and 22 days old, Tyson holds the record as the youngest boxer ever to win a heavyweight title. He was the first heavyweight boxer to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBC and IBF titles, as well as the only heavyweight to unify them in succession. The following year, Tyson became the lineal champion when he knocked out Michael Spinks in 91 seconds of the first round. In 1990, Tyson was knocked out by underdog Buster Douglas in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.
On February 11, 1990, in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history, Tyson lost the championship to lightly regarded James („Buster“) Douglas, who scored a technical knockout in the 10th round. Tyson rebounded from the loss with four straight victories. In 1991, however, he was accused of having raped a beauty pageant contestant, and he was convicted of the charge in 1992.
However, his family was at a surprise 21st birthday party, which had a tattoo artist at it. As everyone drank alcohol at the event, Paul then got a second tattoo on his hip. It was something his dad encouraged, but his mom did not. Once he got the tattoo on his hip, „it was all downhill after that.“
Nevertheless, his girlfriend, Jutta Leerdam, didn’t appear so convinced and persisted that he shouldn’t proceed with it. While Paul did explain how Tyson got his tattoo out of the blue, it happened before a major boxing match in Tyson’s career. While Tyson wanted a different design in the first place, it was the tattoo artist who persuaded him to change it. Let us see how this played out.
To help pay off his debts, Tyson announced he would be doing a series of exhibition bouts, calling it Tyson’s World Tour. For his first bout, Tyson returned to the ring in 2006 for a four-round exhibition against journeyman heavyweight Corey Sanders in Youngstown, Ohio. Tyson, without headgear at 5 ft 10 in and 216 pounds, was in quality shape, but far from his prime against Sanders, at 6 ft 6 in who wore headgear. Tyson appeared to be „holding back“ in the exhibition to prevent an early end to the „show“. „If I don’t get out of this financial quagmire there’s a possibility I may have to be a punching bag for somebody. The money I make isn’t going to help my bills from a tremendous standpoint, but I’m going to feel better about myself. I’m not going to be depressed“, explained Tyson about the reasons for his „comeback“. After the bout was poorly received by fans the remainder of the tour was canceled.
Tyson has taken the local MMA scene by storm, his first Pro bout was against Charlie Ngaheu with a first round KO by punches, then in 2016 he had 2 fights finishing both of his opponents (Micheal Fitzgerald and Don Endermann) in the first round by submission. Within the same year he had his 3rd professional bout against Steven Warby, New Zealand’s top light heavyweight also ranked No.1 in Australia. The fight took place in October where Tyson easily defeated Steven in the first round with a rear naked choke. This caught the attention of the UFC who gave him the opportunity to fight on the UFC Melbourne card in November 2016 against Khalil Rountree. Even with a short fight camp Tyson was able to take a massive win with another first round rear naked choke submission which also earned him the Performance of the Night Bonus. Not long after he was called to take on the undefeated 9-0 Scotsman Paul Craig at UFC 209 in Las Vegas, Tyson went to prove himself again. Another first round win by TKO.