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A Look at Mike Tyson's Life after Boxing
By Kenneth Henderson - June 20, 2006
Retire is a word defined as "go into retirement; stop performing one's work or withdraw from one's position". Many working people strive to reach retirement and plan for that day in a variety of ways. Many employers nowadays are offering thrift savings plans or they will match the employee contributions to a 401K retirement plan (up to a certain percentage). As working people plan for retirement and financial stability after our days of work are over, one must wonder what the future holds for a worker who has chosen the sport of pugilism as their mainstay in life.
All other professional sports have some sort of retirement fund. Boxing, however, is the exception to this rule. There is no retirement fund established for the benefit of the fighter; nor is there an organized commission over the sport to incorporate such a policy. It falls to the individual fighter to plan for the future and their life after the ring. There is no fall back plan for many of the athletes in this profession. For instance, the majority of professional football, basketball, and baseball players played that sport in college. While in college they earned their college degrees. After their time is over in the sport, they can fall back on their college degree to survive the struggles of life.
Again, boxing is the exception to this rule. Many of the sports greatest athletes were from less than stellar neighborhoods and were lucky to get out of high school much less attend college. So with this new found status as a professional superstar, comes more money than they could imagine, a network of friends that are there as long as your money is, and a lifestyle that is often too fancy for the well-being of the athlete.
Mike Tyson is a prime example. Mike Tyson was raised in Brownsville, New York; a section of Brooklyn. Being raised by only his Mother, Tyson would be in and out of juvenile detention centers and expelled from high school for violently beating up people that made fun of him- especially for the high- pitch in his voice. After his school days were over, Tyson was involved with the police for various crimes. It is on the streets that his raw talent for fisticuffs was first noticed.
Mike went to the gym and was trained by the legendary Cus D'Amato. Through D'Amato, Tyson showed that he could be tamed. Being removed from school, Tyson became a student of the sport of boxing. He trained daily and started his career with a first round knockout. Through his rise to prominence he tallied numerous devastating knockouts of quality opposition-many in the first round. His first title shot came against the WBC Heavyweight Champion Trevor Berbick, 32-4-1, 23 KO's. Tyson entered the battle as a highly regarded prospect that was in for his toughest opposition. In the second round, Tyson dropped Berbick twice. Although Berbick rose to beat the count, his legs were unsteady and he fell an additional two times. With the second round technical knockout of Berbick, "Iron" Mike Tyson became the youngest Heavyweight Champion of the World at age 20 with a professional record of 28-0, 25 KO's. He fought through personal and professional problems to unify the heavyweight division before finally retiring with a professional record of 50-6, 44 KO's.
Quick to establish himself as "The Baddest Man on the Planet" Mike Tyson ruled the division through intimidating knockouts and brute strength. During his reign, he suffered a widely publicized divorce to actress Robin Givens. In 1992, Mike Tyson spent three years in an Indiana prison on charges that he raped former beauty contestant Desiree Washington. After getting released, Tyson again served nine months in jail for an altercation with two people after a reported automobile accident. In 2002, he was pending charges of sexual assault. In 2003, the human knockout reel was faced with such economical distress that he was forced to file bankruptcy.
With the history of legal and personal problems, the now retired forty year old Mike Tyson was faced with a dilemma of how to make a living and payback the IRS without throwing fists. Finding peace within himself, the converted Islam worshiper maintains a pigeon farm in Phoenix, AZ that is staffed with roughly 300 birds. Mike has also signed on to do promotions of various markets, most notably his April 2005 stunt of joining strippers on top of a club in New York City to promote the gaming site FortuneFun.com.
Noticing the passion for which "Iron" Mike Tyson still holds for the sport of boxing, prominent promoter Bob Arum has begun negotiations with Tyson to work as an analyst commentator for his company Top Rank, Inc. As a student of the game under his legendary trainer Cus. D'Amato, Tyson learned the full realm of the sport he once dominated and has intrigued the boxing world with his knowledge of the sport outside of the ring ever since. Tyson possesses an intuitive base of real world facts of fighters past and present. Combining his fountain of boxing knowledge with his skill and experience inside the squared circle will provide the common fan with an insight into not only the sport of pugilism, but the ins and outs of the mental and physical campaign that a fighter endures to stay at the top of his game.
An intimidating figure in the ring that lost his will and his way. Mike Tyson was cast by worldwide media as a "bad man". The once "Baddest Man on the Planet" can now put some closure to a stellar career in the ring marred by personal issues. Just as Mike possessed the tools inside the ring to radiate greatness, he now holds the key to the door of a successful life afterwards. Only time will tell if the key fits the lock.
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