the decade. Although often controversial in his per-
sonal life, he seemed invincible in the ring and was at
his fighting prime, at age twenty-three, as the 1990’s
began. This invincibility was shattered when he
fought what was to be a routine title defense against
James “Buster” Douglas in Tokyo on February 11,
- In one of the great upsets in boxing history,
Douglas knocked out a poorly trained Tyson in the
tenth round.
Following the surprising defeat by Douglas,
Tyson returned to the ring in June of 1990. He
scored two quick, first-round knockouts over fringe
contenders Henry Tillman and Alex Stewart in
bouts held in June and December. In March and
June of the following year, he fought a memorable
two-bout series against highly ranked Donovan “Ra-
zor” Ruddock. Although both of these latter bouts
involved controversy, especially in connection with
Tyson’s often vulgar prefight trash talk toward his
opponent, his victories—first by a seventh-round
knockout and then by a unanimous decision in a
fight in which he broke Ruddock’s jaw—were deci-
sive enough to convince many ring observers that
he was regaining his old form. At this point, how-
ever, his personal life intervened to derail his come-
back.
Rape Trial, Prison, and Second Comeback In July
of 1991, Tyson was arrested in Indianapolis for the
rape of eighteen-year-old Desiree Washington, the
reigning Miss Black Rhode Island. Tyson claimed
that their intercourse in an Indianapolis hotel room
was consensual, while she insisted that he had sexu-
ally attacked her. Following a highly publicized trial
in 1992, Tyson was found guilty and sentenced to six
years in prison, of which he served three years. Dur-
ing his time in prison, he was said to have educated
himself by reading classic works of literature, philos-
ophy, and history and to have brought order to his
life through conversion to Islam. Following his re-
lease from prison in May of 1995, he resumed his
boxing career.
After tune-up fights in August and December of
1995 in which he scored quick knockouts, Tyson
faced Frank Bruno of Great Britain for the World
Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight title on March
3, 1996. He defeated Bruno by a third-round knock-
out to regain the title and followed that with a first-
round knockout of Bruce Seldon to win the World
Boxing Association (WBA) title in September. The
victories over Bruno and Seldon then set up a big-
money bout with former champion Evander Holy-
field in November of 1996.Holyfield Fights and Tyson’s Decline The fight
with Holyfield, which took place on November 9,
1996, in Las Vegas, Nevada, was for the WBA title
only, since Tyson had been stripped of the WBC title
for failing to defend it against top contender
Lennox Lewis. Tyson was heavily favored to defeat
Holyfield, but in a major upset Holyfield prevailed
by a technical knockout (TKO) in the eleventh
round, inflicting upon Tyson his second profes-
sional loss. A rematch was scheduled for June of- In the second fight, Tyson suffered a severe cut
over his right eye from a headbutt in the second
round. In the next round, apparently believing
that Holyfield had butted him intentionally, Tyson
retaliated by biting off a piece of Holyfield’s right
ear. Referee Mills Lane stopped the fight tempo-
rarily, at which point Tyson ran across the ring and
pushed Holyfield. When order was finally restored,
the ringside physician examined Holyfield’s ear
and determined that the fight could continue. Lane
penalized Tyson two points, and the fight resumed.
When Tyson bit Holyfield’s left ear in the next
round, the fight was eventually stopped and Holy-
field was declared the winner by disqualification. On
the way back to his dressing room, Tyson attempted
to attack a spectator who had thrown a water bottle
at him and had to be physically restrained. Following
the fight, he was suspended and his boxing license
revoked.
Tyson returned to the ring in January, 1999, but
never again regained his earlier form. Controversy
continued to surround him both inside and outside
the ring. In his first comeback fight, against
Francois Botha of South Africa, he tried to break
Botha’s arm during a clinch before eventually
knocking him out, and in a fight against Orlin
Norris in October of 1999, he hit Norris after the
bell following the first round. The bout was ruled
no contest when Norris was unable to continue be-
cause of a knee injury suffered in the knockdown.
Tyson’s problems outside of the ring also contin-
ued when he was arrested in August of 1998
for assaulting two people following a car accident
in Maryland. He was eventually found guilty in
the incident and served four months in jail the fol-
lowing year.
The Nineties in America Tyson, Mike 877