Mike Tyson’s loss to Lennox Lewis marked the end of his time as an elite-level heavyweight boxer, but the beginning of his unlikely renaissance with the sporting public.
Everything aligned that June in 2002 when two of the division’s greats collided, which ultimately created a personal and professional rock bottom for Tyson.
Struggling with drink, drugs, debt, lawsuits, depression and rage, the then 35-year-old had the last remnants of his ‘Baddest Man on the Planet’ reputation crushed by Lewis as the hotly-anticipated showdown ended in a one-sided beating and knockout.
READ NEXT :Jake Paul reiterates respect for Mike Tyson but says he has to end him during July fight
But Tyson’s courage in the ring and his gracious behaviour afterwards were the first steps on his public recovery. A path that led from hangovers to ‘The Hangover’; and from being a pariah to one of the most popular ex-sportspeople on the planet at 57 – an age many thought Tyson would never reach. Least of all himself, many years earlier.
The bad blood before the Lewis-Tyson fight had been intense. “I want your heart, I want to eat his children,” snarled Tyson about a then child-less Lewis after his first-round KO of Lou Savarese in Glasgow. When the pair later came face-to-face to promote their contest, Tyson stalked across the stage to attack Lewis.
“Put him in a straight jacket!” shouted a member of the media, prompting an expletive-filled rant from ‘Iron Mike’ – one that you probably wouldn’t want your own mother to hear, let alone a watching worldwide TV audience. Tyson’s actions were so outrageous that even Las Vegas – ‘Sin City’ itself – voted against staging a fight that would be the biggest PPV hit of its era, selling 1.95million buys in the USA alone.
JUST IN :Jake Paul is not satisfied with Mike Tyson alone and sends a clear message to Canelo Alvarez after his win over Munguia
Instead Tyson’s challenge for Lewis’s world titles took place in Memphis, Tennessee. Except it wasn’t much of a challenge. After a lively first round, Tyson – who had peaked at a far younger age than his opponent – ground to a halt under a steady barrage of Lewis jabs and uppercuts. In the eighth round, with Tyson bleeding over both eyes and from the nose, Lewis finally knocked him out with a booming right hand.
Tyson, the vulgar street thug, who was jailed for rape, had been vanquished in his last heavyweight title fight. Yet in the aftermath, public opinion was already turning his way. As Lewis and Tyson paid one another respect in the ring, ‘Iron Mike’ admitted that his pre-fight insults were just part of the hype, pausing to gently wipe away blood from Lewis’s face mid-interview. The man who had wanted to eat Lewis’s kids was now telling him how much he loved the Brit and his mother.
“The little gesture of me wiping the blood off Lennox’s cheek was seized on by all the boxing writers,” Tyson said later. “They thought that I had been heroic in defeat. And for the first time, a lot of them started to see the human side behind my facade.”
RELATED NEWS :Mike Tyson on surprising technique he used before every fight: ‘Only certain people get it’
In his changing room post-fight Tyson was interviewed again, this time cradling his young baby Miguel in his arms. “Daddy had a bad day at the office,” Tyson replied when playfully asked what Miguel made of the fight.
