Tyson started his amateur boxing career by winning gold medals during the Junior Olympic Games of 1981 and 1982. In 1981 he prevailed over defeating Joe Cortez while in 1982 he got the better of Kelton Brown. Tyson is also the holder of Junior Olympics record for making the speediest knockout. All bouts that he has won at Junior Olympic Games are by knockouts.

On a couple of occasions during his tenure as an amateur boxer, his rival was Henry Tillman and lost both these bouts.

The start of the profession boxing career of Tyson

Tyson began his career as a professional boxer at the age of 18 years on the 6th of March of 1985, in Albany, NY. He prevailed over Hector Mercedes via a knockout in the opening round. He contested in 15 bouts during his opening year as a professional boxer. Fighting regularly, Tyson was the winner of 26 of his 28 bouts by KO / TKO. He started facing more skilled opponents and soon he was fighting and borderline contenders and journeyman fighters. Tyson’s winning splash attracted the attention of the media and the media billed him as the next grand heavyweight champ.

According to a Mike Tyson wiki D'Amato, his trainer, passed away in the month of November of 1985, when Tyson's professional career was at a relatively early stage. According to quite a few his passing away was the cause of numerous of the dilemmas that the Boxer would experience later on in his life and professional career.

Among his bouts the one that was shown on television all over the country for the first time was hosted on the 16th of February of 1986 and its venue was Troy’s Houston Field House. In this bout, his opponent was Jesse Ferguson, a journeyman heavyweight boxer. Tyson brought Ferguson to the Floor with a fierce uppercut while the fifth round was underway and Ferguson had a broken nose. The referee ultimately ended the bout during the middle stages of the sixth round.

On the 22nd of November of 1986, Tyson fought his foremost title bout for the WBC heavyweight championship. In this bout, his opponent was Trevor Berbick. Tyson was the winner of the title and the referee judges the win as a second round TKO. With this win, Tyson had become the youngest heavyweight champ ever. He was aged just over 20 years. The dominant performance of boxer fetched him numerous accolades. Tyson’s immense strength intimidated most of his opponents. His other assets were exceptional hand speed, coordination, accuracy, power, and flawless timing. Check out more.