Mike Tyson - The Unrepentant

And Tyson wasn't finished, with boxing or with outrages. On October 19, 1998, the Nevada State Boxing Commission restored Tyson's boxing license. In December of 1998, he pled no contest to a road rage incident and spent a short time in jail the following March. That year he also initiated a $100 million lawsuit against Don King after discovering that his $200 million career winnings had dwindled away, and that in fact he owed $13 million in back taxes. In the summer of 2000, after knocking down an opponent, Lou Savarese, he continued to pound the fighter and even lashed out at the referee. Incredibly, in the post-fight press conference, Tyson revived his cannibal image in remarks addressed to heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis, whom Tyson hoped to meet in the ring some day. "I want your heart. I want to eat your children," Tyson declared, adding, "I will rip out his heart and feed it to him."

Then, in the runup to the actual Tyson-Lewis match, Mike Tyson seemed to blow his chances. While the Nevada State Athletic Commission was considering whether to give Tyson a license to box there, Tyson charged at Lewis during a pre-fight press conference. Lewis' bodyguard intervened, and a brawl ensued. Nevada turned him down for a license, but Washington, D.C.,

Mike Tyson

allowed the fight to take place there. When the fight finally took place in June of 2002, Lennox knocked Tyson out in the eighth round. It was almost anti-climactic that the unbeatable Iron Mike had been felled again.

Tyson had come a long way from the days when Cus D'Amato had dreamed of making him a legend. He had almost fulfilled those dreams, winning a world championship at the age of 19 and consolidating all of boxing's dubious crowns into one that nobody could dispute. For awhile he seemed like the champ everyone had been waiting for. But in the end, he seemed to willfully throw it all away. Tyson continues to fight, in the face of public outrage, and maybe he will win back fans and reclaim his titles—but with every year and every comment and every altercation, it seems like that goal, if it is his goal, slips further away.