Twenty years after Mike Tyson battered Trevor Berbick to become the youngest heavyweight world champion in history, the ”Baddest Man on the Planet” is aging as badly as any boxing cautionary tale.
Tyson was 20 years old on November 22 1986 when he pummelled Berbick into submission in two rounds, seizing the World Boxing Council crown that the Jamaican had held for only eight months.
”I’m the youngest heavyweight champion in the world,” Tyson told his co-manager in the ring, ”and I’m going to be the oldest.” Tyson’s prediction of longevity proved premature, but certainly his brutal dominance for a time electrified what had become a stagnant division.
He arrived at the Berbick fight already surrounded by an aura of menace, undefeated in 27 professional fights — with most of those wins coming by way of ferocious knockouts.
The experienced Berbick had no answer for Tyson’s determination and power. Tyson hurt him in the first round and continued the punishment to body and head in the second, finally sending Berbick sprawling with a left hook to the temple.
Berbick tried to rise twice before finally getting his wobbly legs under him, but referee Mills Lane judged him unable to continue.
Berbick, who beat Muhammad Ali in the legend’s final fight, became a footnote in boxing history before his slaying last month in his native Jamaica.
Tyson, undoubtedly one of the greatest heavyweight champions, continued to overwhelm foes for three years.
But after his loss to James ”Buster” Douglas in his 10th title defence, on February 10 1990 in Tokyo, Tyson was launched on a downward spiral in both his personal and professional life.
He was convicted of rape in 1992 for a 1991 incident in Indianapolis involving 18-year-old beauty pageant contestant Desiree Washington.
He served three years and returned to boxing in 1995.
Backed by flamboyant promoter Don King, Tyson beat Britain’s Frank Bruno and US foe Bruce Seldon in 1996 to reclaim two world heavyweight crowns.
But he lost to Evander Holyfield later that year and was infamously disqualified for biting Holyfield’s ears in a 1997 title rematch.
Banned for a year, Tyson made another return in 1999 and nearly broke South African Francois Botha’s arm.
Tyson’s final meaningful appearance came in 2002, when Britain’s Lennox Lewis, snubbed by Tyson six years earlier at the cost of a crown, stopped him in the eighth round of their world title fight.
Even as his real expectations in the ring diminished, Tyson continued to exploit the freak-show nature of his chequered past for profit.
His last legitimate comeback bid ended with a humbling surrender after six rounds to Irishman Kevin McBride.
After that fight on June 11 2005 Tyson said he was calling it quits.
”I can’t do this no more. I can’t lie to myself,” Tyson said. ”I can’t do this. I’m not going to embarrass the sport anymore. This is just my ending.”
But Tyson continues to fascinate. And for a fighter who declared bankruptcy in 2003, true retirement appears to be impossible.
In October, he launched what he called his ”Mike Tyson World Tour” with an exhibition against Corey Sanders in Youngstown, Ohio.
After a one-sided bout that looked more like a sparring session, Tyson reiterated that he had no designs on another world title.
”I am worn out and washed up. I am finished,” he said. — Sapa-AFP