*Comprehensively covers their most famous fights
"To prove I am great, he will fall in eight." - Muhammad Ali
"Everybody in boxing probably makes out well except for the fighter." - Mike Tyson
The sports world has never suffered from a shortage of self-promoters, but none have ever walked the walk and backed up the talk like Muhammad Ali, boxing's greatest icon and possibly history's most famous athlete. Indeed, even referring to Ali just as a boxer does a disservice to the transcendent figure he has become around the world as a living legend.
Of course, the legend of Ali begins in the squared circle, where a young, brash kid named Cassius Clay rose to the top of the boxing world with a style so unorthodox that anyone else attempting it would all but assure he'd get knocked out. But Ali became the heavyweight champ by keeping his hands low, "floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee", and outboxing heavyweight champions like Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, and Floyd Patterson.
Though he was both loved and hated during his career, since his retirement, Ali has remained one of sports' greatest icons across the globe, and he has been honored with too many awards to count. Held in awe just about everywhere, Ali has lit the torch at the Olympics, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and received the Presidential Citizens Medal, among other honors.
Iron Mike Tyson was one of the most feared opponents to ever step into a boxing ring. With unbelievable power that floored or stopped all but two of his first 28 professional opponents, Tyson began an unprecedented ascent to the top of the boxing world, becoming the youngest champion in history with a second round TKO over Trevor Berbick, the last man to box and defeat Muhammad Ali. That victory, in November 1986, prompted one British sports reporter to write, "The noble and manly art of boxing can at least cease worrying about its immediate future, now it has discovered a heavyweight champion fit to stand alongside Dempsey, Tunney, Louis, Marciano and Ali."
Tyson became one of the biggest names in sports during the 1980s and could literally do no wrong in the ring, compiling a 37-0 record with 33 KO/TKOs. Unfortunately, as everyone knows today, the unprecedented nature of his rise is rivaled only by his stunning fall from grace. In February 1990, Tyson was knocked out by Buster Douglas in one of boxing's greatest upsets. Though he won his next few fights, his career was derailed by his conviction for raping Desiree Washington, landing him in prison for 3 of his prime fighting years.
When Tyson got out of prison, his career simply became surreal. After winning a few belts back, he lost two bouts to Evander Holyfield, infamously biting part of Holyfield's ear off out of frustration during the rematch. He had another stint in jail before the end of the '90s, and his odd comments before his loss to Lennox Lewis ensured that the man once billed as an all time great was now more of a one man circus than anything else. In 2003, near the end of a career that had netted him $300 million, Tyson declared bankruptcy, hitting rock bottom. Today Tyson is nostalgically remembered as one of boxing's great heavyweights, but that shares the pedestal with his controversial quotes and antics.
Boxing Icons chronicles the lives, careers and legacies of both fighters, from their unprecedented highs to their infamous lows. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events in their lives, you will learn about Ali and Tyson like you never have before, in no time at all.