“I want to be perfect.” 36 years ago, Tyson forever entered his name in boxing history.
Aug 1, 2023 02:45 pm UTC Audio Version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Iron Mike’s record has not been broken so far.
On August 1, 1987, exactly 36 years ago, Mike Tyson inflicted the first defeat on Tony Tucker in his professional career and became the youngest absolute world champion. A record that has not been broken to this day.
Tyson came into the fight with Tucker the clear favorite. His opponent had to defend the IBF world title just 64 days after winning the belt. However, Tony was determined to prove that he was too soon to write it off.
What was Tyson’s professional debut:
“He was perfect, aggressive as hell.” Mike Tyson’s career started with a beating
Iron Mike started looking for a knockout from the first round and tried to drop Tucker with powerful hooks. Tony competently secured, extinguished the power of the opponent and once even punished him with a strong hook that shook Tyson. In the following segments, Mike was less likely to chase a knockout blow and more often began to work a series, including on the body. Tucker did not deviate from the chosen tactics: he tried to meet the opponent and, in dangerous situations, approached and weaved him even at the cost of the judge’s comments.
Tony surprised with his stamina in this fight. Tyson repeatedly hit Tucker’s head, hit Tucker’s body, but held on. What’s more, it made Mike agitated.
In the second half of the fight, Tyson began to save energy and stopped investing in every punch. Instead, jabs appeared, a competent choice of distance and movement around the opponent. Tony missed the opportunity to get into spikes and was unable to keep up with Mike who was once able to surprise him.
Tyson’s trainer, Kevin Rooney, insisted that his protege stick to jabs and not allow himself to be tied up in clinches. In the final rounds, Tucker was already noticeably tired, and the volume of missed strikes took a hit as well. Tony was already outright running from Iron Mike, holding his own more and occasionally working scrap. Tyson pushed on and tried to ride to an early win. Tucker, on the other hand, periodically began to mess around in the ring. Obviously, he wanted Mike to get angry and start mindlessly moving forward again, but the 21-year-old was cool and continued to dismantle his opponent, regularly changing attacking floors.
Mike Tyson
Photo: Getty Images
The last round turned into a real war. Tyson set up a search for Tucker’s head and forgot all the warnings. It made sense, because Tony was already barely on his feet, but he still stoically took all the blows. If it was really difficult, then the rivets saved. Mike stunned his opponent several times during the round, but was unable to finish early. However, the judges unanimously gave Tyson the victory: 119-111, 118-113, 116-112.
Iron Mike achieved a unique achievement, becoming the undisputed world champion at 21 years old, but he was still unhappy: “He managed to take my most powerful blows, a very strong fighter. Why don’t I look happy? And why rejoice if you made so many mistakes. I want to be perfect.”
The main scandals in Tyson’s career:
“I’m afraid of the beast inside of me.” The main scandals in Mike Tyson’s career
Years later, Tony Tucker remembered that defeat. The former champion said that he broke his arm during the fight and if it wasn’t for that, he could have won: “If it wasn’t for the broken arm, he would have knocked him out. If he had been okay, Tyson wouldn’t have been able to win. To some extent, I blame my father for this defeat. I got hurt sparring and he assured me that everything was fine, that he would recover me 10 days before the fight, and insisted that he keep sparring with one arm. And Tyson didn’t even surprise me once in the entire fight. He wanted a rematch and I even contacted Don King, but Mike ended up in jail.”
In the future, Tyson was able to defend the title six more times and remained undefeated until February 1990. He then lost the belt after losing to James Douglas. However, to this day, no one has been able to defend the title of absolute heavyweight champion more than six times.
