Mike Tyson is a retired professional heavyweight boxer, famous for being the youngest world champion and an aggressive and fierce competitor. He was born as Michael Gerard Tyson on June 30, 1966 in Brooklyn, NY. He was often bullied and beat up as a child in the streets, so he joined a street gang at a young age and became involved in violence and petty theft. By the age of 13 he had more than 30 arrests on his record and was sent to Tryon School for Boys, a correctional school in upstate New York. At Tryon, he started to train as a boxer with the school counselor Bob Stewart. Tyson worked hard at training and even improved his grades dramatically.

Stewart introduced Tyson to a boxing manager named Constantine D’Amato, who was well known for taking talented young boxers under his wing. He saw Tyson’s potential and assured him that he could become the world champion some day with the right kind of training. Tyson moved in with D’Amato, first studying at school and later under private tutors when he was kicked out. The two developed a close personal bond, more like father and son than trainer and fighter. D’Amato helped to keep Tyson out of trouble and trained him rigorously. Tyson’s mother passed away in 1982, which was a great personal loss. D’Amato was initially training Tyson for the Olympics team, but after Tyson failed to qualify, he turned him professional in 1985. In his first professional fight at the age of 18, he knocked his opponent out in one round. This was later to become his signature style. The winning streak continued, but another and greater personal loss was on the way – D’Amato shortly died of pneumonia.

Though devastated beyond measure, Tyson continued to focus on his career by training with Kevin Rooney. In 1986, at the age of 20 years and 4 months, Tyson won his first title fight and became the youngest heavyweight champion in history. He then won the World Boxing Association championship and International Boxing Federation title to become the first person to hold all three major boxing