Mike Tyson

Mike Tyson has been married thrice and has fathered eight children. His first marriage was to actress Robin Givens. The union did not last more than a year (from February 7, 1988 to February 14, 1989) as the two separated following allegations of violence, spousal abuse and mental instability by Givens on Tyson. The couple had no children.

Tyson then went into the wedlock with Monica Turner. The marriage lasted for five years (from April 19, 1997 to January 14, 2003) after which Turner pursued divorce on grounds of adultery. The couple had two children, Rayna and Amir.

In 2009, in an unfortunate accident, Tyson lost his daughter Exodus after the latter was found unconscious and tangled in a cord, dangling from an exercise treadmill. She was on life support and declared dead the following day.

Born to Jimmy Kirkpatrick and Lorna Smith Tyson in Brooklyn, New York, Mike Tyson was one of the three children of the couple. He had an elder brother Rodney and a sister Denise who passed away in 1991 due to heart attack. Additionally, he also had a half-brother Jimmie Lee Kirkpatrick from Kirkpatrick’s earlier marriage.

Kirkpatrick abandoned the family after the birth of young Tyson. Succumbing to the financial burden, the family relocated from Bedford-Stuyvesant to Brownsville when Tyson was ten years of age.

Ever since his early years, Tyson was involved in fights; of course those at this stage were basically only for personal reasons and did not have a professional ground. He resorted to his fist to solve problems of bullying. By the time Tyson stepped into teenage, he had already been arrested 38 times for knocking out grown men from the street.

Young Tyson completed his schooling from Tryon School for Boys in Johnstown, New York. It was there that Bobby Stewart, a juvenile detention center counselor and former boxer, noticed Tyson’s boxing skills. He honed them a little before introducing the destined-to-be champion to Cus D'Amato.

Under Amato’s guidance, Tyson trained for the sport. He was under the full-time custody of Amato who set a rigorous training schedule for the aspiring boxer. Tyson attended Catskill High School by the day and practiced in the ring by the evening. However, he did not graduate from the school and left his studies as a junior.

Tyson’s training was very well evident in his performance at the Junior Olympic Games in 1981 and 1982, where he won gold medals by convincingly, beating opponents Joe Cortez and Kelton Brown, respectively.

He fought against the eventual 1984 Summer Olympics heavyweight gold medallist Henry Tillman twice in the trials, losing on both occasions. Failing to make it to the Olympics team, Tyson turned professional.

His professional debut fight was against Hector Mercedes on March 6, 1985. He won the same in the first round knockout itself.

In his first year, Tyson won 26 of the 28 fights that he participated in, 16 of which he won in the first round itself. Slowly graduating up the ladder, Tyson fought against veteran journeyman fighters and borderline contenders like James Tillis, David Jaco, Jesse Ferguson, Mitch Green and Marvis Frazier.

Tyson’s back-to-back victories brought him under media attention, who billed him as the future heavyweight champion. While his career was progressing upwards, Tyson faced turmoil off the ring as his friend, philosopher and guide Amato left for the heavenly abode. Rooney filled up for the shoes of Amato.

Tyson’s first televised fight was against Jesse Ferguson. He stumped the opponent by breaking the latter’s nose in the fifth round. By the sixth round, Tyson was declared a winner.

By the age of 20, Tyson had won a record 22 back-to-back matches, 21 of those victories coming from knockout.