Today, 38 years ago, the young Mike Tyson became world champion. Those who know him only as a scandalous figure and an old-fashioned boxer can only guess at the real basis of his myth.
Trevor Berbick stood up – and fell backwards against the ropes. His second attempt to stand up also failed. And while Berbick, struggling to get back on his feet, was being counted out by the referee, the boxing star of a 20-year-old was rising in the other corner of the ring: Mike Tyson.
On that day, November 22, 1986, 38 years ago today, Tyson was to be crowned the youngest heavyweight world champion in history in the fight dubbed “Judgment Day,” and the birth of a legend was to be heralded.
At the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel and Casino, then the largest hotel in the world in Winchester, Nevada, the first undisputed champion since Leon Spinks in 1978 was to be crowned in a boxing tournament. Tyson was 20 years old at the time and had twelve years less experience than his opponent from Jamaica.
Impressive numbers
Kid Dynamite, as Tyson was later christened, was by no means an underdog. His record before the fight was impressive: at the time, Tyson had a clean slate. In his still young career, the gifted martial artist had won all 27 fights, 25 of them by knockout.
Impressive. For the 32-year-old WBC champion, on the other hand, it was a matter of defending the title. After Berbick knocked Pinklon Thomas out in the first round, it was also important to put the rebellious youngster in his place.
Technical knockout: Tyson overwhelms Berbick
But Tyson had a different plan, and it was a tough one. From the outset, the young American dominated his vastly outmatched opponent. Attack after attack pelted the almost amateurish Berbick.
Symbolic of the dismantling: At the end of the first round, Tyson delivered an incredible four-punch combination that sent the Jamaican hundred-kilo colossus across the ring as if he were a feather.
A pattern that was to continue throughout the second round. The champion’s offensive efforts: zero. One combination after another rained down on Berbick, an inhuman force that he had to admit defeat to after 2:35 minutes in the second round. A technical knockout followed.
The WBC champion on the floor. Towering majestically above him, marveled at by the audience, was the new heavyweight champion. Rarely has a title holder been so humiliated.
The starting signal: What follows is historic!
But the evening was to mean more for Tyson than just his first title as heavyweight world champion. It was to mark the beginning of a career like no other. The New York native was the first world champion to be recognized by all three boxing associations, the WBC, WBA and IBF.
The Tyson legend was not without its cracks, however: in sporting terms, his sensational defeat by Buster Douglas was the first crack, followed in 1992 by a deep personal fall when he was convicted of raping beauty pageant contestant Desiree Washington and served three years in prison.
After his comeback, he did indeed regain the world championship title. However, he never regained the former height of his creative output – the legendary biting of the ear during the fight against Evander Holyfield cemented his image as a scandalous attraction.
Only those who saw him for the first time last weekend as a has-been prizefighter fighting Jake Paul can even begin to imagine what a groundbreaking phenomenon the elemental force Tyson was in his younger years from a sporting point of view.
