Tyson, Chavez elected to boxing shrine
Mike Tyson, whose reign as the globe’s most feared heavyweight was
followed by an epic fall from grace, was named Tuesday for induction
into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and Museum.
Tyson headlines a list that also includes Mexican three-divison
champion Julio Cesar Chavez and Russian-born Australian Kostya Tszyu, a
junior welterweight champion. Mexican trainer Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain,
referee Joe Cortez, and screenwriter and actor Sylvester Stallone were
also honored. Inductees were voted on by members of the Boxing Writers
Association of America and a panel of international boxing historians.
Old-timer
Posthumous honorees to be enshrined in June 12, 2011 ceremonies
include bantamweight Memphis Pal Moore, light heavyweight champion Jack
Root, and middleweight Dave Shade in the old-timer category, British
heavyweight John Gully in the pioneer category, promoter A.F. Bettinson,
and broadcaster Harry Carpenter.
Tyson’s rise to fame, and subsequent fall to infamy, has become the
stuff of legend rivalling any cinema ring drama penned by the likes of
Stallone.
He rose from the mean streets of Brooklyn, exploding on the boxing
scene in the mid-1980s and becoming the youngest heavyweight champion in
history in 1986 at the age of 20.
Considered unbeatable for the rest of the decade, Tyson’s career went
off the rails when he suffered a shock upset to James “Buster” Douglas
in 1990.
Beauty queen
In 1992, Tyson was convicted of raping a beauty queen at a pageant in
Indianapolis, Indiana.
He served three years of a six-year sentence and was released in 1995
- and has always denied raping the woman.
“Iron Mike” reclaimed the heavyweight throne but lost to Evander
Holyfield in 1996 and notoriously bit Holyfield’s ears twice in a 1997
rematch, adding banishment to his ridicule.
He has battled substance abuse, been jailed for assault, and his last
opportunity to recapture the heavyweight crown in 2002 resulted in an
eighth-round knockout at the hands of Britain’s Lennox Lewis. AFP
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