On This Day in 1986, Mike Tyson Became the Youngest Heavyweight Boxing Champ Ever

This is probably not entirely due to age, though the former champion is now 58 years old, more than twice as old as Paul. Tyson is also no longer in peak competitive shape; he retired nearly 20 years ago, in 2005. His only fight since then was in July 2020,  when he faced former champion Roy Jones Jr. in an eight-round exhibition fight. It went all eight rounds, just to be declared a draw.

So what has Tyson been up to in the years since he was one of America’s most famous athletes? Due to some post-career debt, he became involved in several business ventures, such as Mike Tyson Cares Foundation, and also wrote two books: In 2013, he published his autobiography, Undisputed Truth, and the 2017 follow-up, Iron Ambition, which detailed his time with trainer/surrogate father figure Cus D’Amato.

He also developed a side hustle making guest appearances as himself: in 2006’s Rocky Balboa, 2009’s The Hangover, 2011’s The Hangover 2 and a 2013 episode of How I Met Your Mother. He starred in a few low-budget martial arts and action films as well. Additionally, Tyson struggled with a number of health issues, like crippling back pain caused by sciatica, and an ulcer that nearly killed him.

All in all, it was not the best set of circumstances to find yourself in prior to a highly publicized competition against a man in peak health and age for the sport, though Tyson certainly didn’t feel that way. Prior to the fight, Tyson said, “This guy is gonna come, he’s gonna try to hurt me, which I’m accustomed to, and he’s gonna be greatly mistaken.”

Despite the outcome, the fight was quite a success from a ratings standpoint. People of all ages were so interested in watching that viewership soared on Netflix, to the point where Netflix could not maintain a clear video and had so many glitches and buffering issues that there’s now an active class-action lawsuit against the streamer.

Which just goes to show you that some things were better in the 1980s. Not just this fighting icon, but also how people watched live television!