The career of Iron Mike Tyson: Part 1

Mike Tyson is no doubt one of the baddest men on the face of this earth. Just like Ali, Tyson's polarizing career in boxing made him one of the most famous and popular athletes in the world. His fights were known for being explosive, packed with action, and incredibly short. Throughout his amazing career we saw Mike absolutely punish his competition with some of the most brutal knockouts boxing and other combat sports has ever seen. So enough of this chitter chatter, lets get into the action, shall we?

March 6, 1985 

Mike Tyson VS Hector Mercedes (Professional debut)

Result: Mike Tyson (1-0) wins by 1st round TKO (1:47)

In his professional debut, Mike Tyson fought Hector Mercedes in Albany, New York. You can barley recognize Iron Mike without the tattoo on his face, but you can tell who he is by how bad he is destroying his opponent. This is a theme you will see in a lot of Mike’s fights, as early on his career he was known for having short matches, almost always delivering the most explosive and vicious knockouts.

April 10, 1985

Mike Tyson VS Trent Singleton 

Result: Mike Tyson (2-0) wins by 1st round KO (0:52) 

Watching this was just sad. It was like when you were a kid and you try to fight your older brother. It is like the build up to a Rocky movie, and Tyson is the bad guy you know Rocky is going to over come at the end. It is ridiculous somebody saw Trent Singleton fight, and thought he can go with Iron Mike. Mike looks like he didn't even break a sweat. 

May 23, 1985 

Mike Tyson VS Don Halpin 

Result: Mike Tyson (3-0) wins by 4th round KO.

Don Halpin came into this fight with a professional record of just 9-18. But it was his veteran status that helped him last 4 rounds and actually make Tyson work. But Tyson still dominated the fight, punishing Halpin in all four rounds. Give it to Tyson’s management, they built Tyson perfectly by putting him in there with a guy they new Mike would kill, but would hang with Mike and make him work for a couple rounds

June 20, 1985 

Mike Tyson VS Ricardo Spain 

Result: Mike Tyson (4-0) wins by 1st round TKO (0:39)

The first three fights were against nobodies. Guys who for lack of a better term, were "looser." Ricardo Spain was 7-0 with five knockouts.This was Tyson's first fight against a true quality opponent, but it didn't matter much, Tyson knocked Spain's head off with a nasty left hook. 

July 11, 1985 

Mike Tyson VS John Alderson 

Result: Tyson (5-0) wins by 2nd round TKO (3:00)

July 19, 1985

Mike Tyson VS Larry Sims 

Result: Tyson (6-0) wins by 3rd round KO (2:04) 

Unfortunately there is not footage of the Larry Sims fight. The only footage is a picture that was used in a newspaper. Some speculate the camera crew failed to show up, other opinions say the film was destroyed right after.

August 15, 1985

Mike Tyson VS Lorenzo Canady

Result: Tyson (7-0) wins by 1st round KO (1:05)

The left hook Mike hit Lorenzo with right out of the blocks was one of the nasty hits he delivered in his career, if Tyson wasn't off balance, Cain might have died from how perfectly that hook connected. 

September 5, 1985

Mike Tyson VS Michael Johnson 

Result: Mike Tyson (8-0) wins by 1st round KO (0:39)

In one of the most impressing showings of Tyson's career, he took on Michael Johnson, and absolutely killed him. First, knock Johnson down with a body shot, before taking his head off with one of most devastating shots I have seen in my time of watching boxing. 

October 9, 1985 

Mike Tyson VS Donnie Long 

Result: Tyson (9-0) wins by 1st round TKO (1:28) 

Donnie Long, AKA the master of disaster, was the first opponent that was projected to cause problems for Mike. That didn't go so well for Donnie. At 5:20 in this video, you see the power of Tyson take Donnie Long to another realm. The crazy thing about this fight is Donnie Long was a pretty good fighter, and Tyson just made him look absolutely foolish. 

October 25, 1985 

Mike Tyson VS Robert Colay 

Result: Tyson (10-0) wins by 1st round KO (0:37) 

This was one of the fastest fight of Tyson's career. Big Bob Colay was bigger and heavier then Tyson, and that seemed to not matter at all, as Tyson was way to fast, putting out Colay in what seemed like a blink of an eye.