He then took a pummelling towards the end of the fifth as he continued to be worn down by his gutsy foe. Both men came out swinging and again ended up in a clinch. Moments later he cut McBride with a headbutt and referee Joe Cortez deemed it intentional, deducting him two points as a result.
This decision boosted McBride, who sensed victory and began to land uppercut after uppercut on a spent Tyson. With the round coming to a close, McBride leaned on Tyson yet again, this time smothering him to the ground. He stayed sat by the ropes for 15 seconds, then struggled to his feet and made it back to his corner. After consulting with trainer Jeff Fenech, Mike Tyson called it quits on the fight and so too on his boxing career. Meanwhile on the other, Tyson sat slumped on his stool.
He was nodding, accepting his fate. A beaten man in every sense of the word. But Andy Foster, the executive director of the California State Athletic Commission, tried to warn potential customers that these two aging fighters were not, in fact, going to fight.
Of course, Tyson, who turned fifty-four this summer, is known for fight -fights. In , it took Tyson about ninety seconds to flatten Michael Spinks, who entered the fight undefeated, at 31—0, and never fought again. Jones, who is nearly fifty-two, is slightly younger, and in his glorious prime he was significantly smaller: Tyson fought at heavyweight, for fighters more than two hundred pounds, whereas Jones did his best work between a hundred and sixty pounds, middleweight, and a hundred and seventy-five pounds, light heavyweight.
Despite the precautions—rounds lasting two minutes instead of three, a referee empowered by Foster to prevent unnecessary roughness—many sports fans found it hard to imagine Tyson doing anything gentler than seeking and destroying.
In the weeks leading up to the match, a striking split seemed to emerge. Casual fans were curious, and the match received cheerful advance coverage in outlets ranging from TMZ to the New York Times. Many boxing experts were warier. Roy Jones. Boxing aficionados are rarely accused of squeamishness. In fact, squeamishness is one characteristic that prevents many sports fans from becoming boxing aficionados in the first place.
But, for people who love the sport, its violence is balanced by the skill it requires; focussing on technique can be a way to avoid being overwhelmed by all the destruction. When mixed martial arts emerged, some boxing fans were repulsed by the spectacle of two guys in a cage, punching and kicking and wrestling—it seemed somehow unsporting.
Senator John McCain, a lifelong boxing fan , famously referred to M. Is that because, after years of cheering them on, we have suddenly become genuinely concerned for their health?
By the time Tyson and Jones came together on Saturday night, each was far removed from his prime. Tyson was never the same after an astonishing upset loss to James Buster Douglas, in ; after that night, he never beat a top opponent.
Some skeptics like to point out that few of the men Tyson beat before that night could plausibly be described as top opponents, including Spinks, who was supremely skilled but rather small, having spent almost all of his career at a hundred and seventy-five pounds, not heavyweight. Meanwhile, Jones was unbeatable in the nineteen-nineties and into the early two-thousands. In , after he tired of dominating light heavyweights, Jones moved to heavyweight and talked about challenging Tyson, at an asking price of a hundred million dollars.
After it became clear the fight was officially over, McBride and his team celebrated a stunning upset. Yet his moment in the spotlight was quickly overshadowed by the loser announcing his retirement. No matter the extent of his financial problems, Tyson was finished. He no longer wanted to fight for a living.
My heart is not into this anymore. I'm sorry for the fans who paid for this. I wish I could have done better, but it's time to move on with my life and be a father and take care of my children.
Despite rumours suggesting otherwise on more than one occasion, the New Yorker was never tempted to make a return. Well, not in a professional ring anyway. He did undergo an exhibition tour involving bouts against Corrie Sanders to help boost his bank balance. There were losses to Andrew Golota and British veteran Matt Skelton, while he was knocked out by Mariusz Wach in his 46th and final bout.
I was very bruised after that fight. But I was on a mission to win and thank God I did win. It showed that the underdog can win. And he quit on his stool, against Kevin McBride—who would ever have believed it?
He never quite cashed in on his brief brush with fame, yet he will forever be remembered as the man who sent Michael Gerard Tyson into retirement. Follow RobLancs Enjoy our content? Join our newsletter to get the latest in sports news delivered straight to your inbox! Your sports. Join Newsletter.
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