Wilder is the best puncher the sport has seen since Mike Tyson and he has a strong argument for greatest puncher in the history of boxing. His lone win on the cards came against Bermane Stiverne as Wilder won the WBC heavyweight title.
“I have a morphine drip, and I had my cocaine, and I had my Cialis, I had my marijuana, I had the Hennessy,” Tyson said. “I started beating them. I was in a dark place. There was a purpose, though, because I didn’t want to give them any more of my soul.”
O.K. So how is it that Zhang, 40 years old and more than a decade into his pro career, is suddenly one of boxing’s best big men? For that you have to go to George, a fringe cruiserweight who retired in 2009. At the urging of his manager—Duva’s father, Lou—George decided to get into training. Lou invited George to a U.S.–China national team dual meet in New York and pointed out Zhang. “Watch this guy,” he told George. “He’s going to be heavyweight champ.”
Hrgovic gave Zhang his first career loss, but not without some controversy as many boxing fans believed Zhang deserved to win the closely-contested bout. Zhang didn’t let the loss define him, instead coming back and getting a career-best win over then undefeated British heavyweight Joe Joyce in his next fight.
Born on June 30, 1966, Michael Gerard Tyson didn’t initially seem like the kind of boy who would grow up to be a fearsome and powerful fighter. According to ESPN, Tyson described himself as “a little fat kid with glasses” who was frequently hounded by bullies.
Even after two star-making stoppages of Joe Joyce last year, which earned him the WBO interim heavyweight title and the no. 3 heavyweight ranking with THE RING, George says Zhang (26-1-1, 21 knockouts) is still as hungry as he was when he first moved to New Jersey a decade ago from China to begin his professional career.
Cus had us modify the affirmations for our own situation. So he had me saying, “The best fighter in the world. Nobody can beat me. The best fighter in the world. Nobody can beat me,” over and over again all day. I loved doing that; I loved hearing myself talk about myself.
“Cus would repeat over and over to Mike from the beginning, ‘Do you know you’re going to be heavyweight champion of the world someday?’” said Nadia Hujtyn, a boxing coach and assistant to D’Amato. “If you say it enough times, you believe it. And if you believe it, then you’ll have no doubt.”
Within a few years, it was gone, and he declared bankruptcy, mainly due to his many addictions and reckless spending. He had hit rock-bottom, sifting his way through a mountain of debt, when, seemingly out of nowhere, he started an acting career and the comeback began.
Round 5 division boxing champions: Zhang continuing to bust up the eye of Joyce. Left hands, left hands. Joyce’s right eye is getting worse and worse. It’s swelling up. There’s another one. Joyce trying his best to bull Zhang back but it’s just not happening so far. Can’t help but wonder if this would be stopped with reversed roles in the UK. Zhang 10-9, 50-45.
The American former boxer Mike Tyson has four tattoos of note. Three—at least two of them prison tattoos —are portraits of men he respects: tennis player Arthur Ashe, Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, and Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong. The fourth, a face tattoo influenced by the Māori style tā moko, was designed and inked by S. Victor Whitmill in 2003. Tyson associates it with the Māori being warriors and has called it his “warrior tattoo”, a name that has also been used in the news media.
Tyson’s new trainer, the legendary Freddie Roach, actually pleaded with his fighter to postpone the event billed as ‘Back to Business’ due to his poor conditioning. Tyson had gone through a messy divorce in January and has since admitted he’d been hanging out in drug dens, taking coke and weed, in the aftermath of his fight with Lewis. Roach feared that a defeat to Etienne could end Tyson’s career.
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In 2020, while Zhang made a rare visit back home the day after Chinese New Year, his father died of a sudden cardiac arrest at home during COVID-19 lockdown in China. Zhang mistakenly believed his father to be choking and attempted the Heimlich maneuver to no avail.
The 2008 Olympic silver medalist from China, began his career later than most, turning professional at 31. He steadily worked his way up the heavyweight division until securing a fight with Filip Hrgovic, who features on the undercard, in 2022.
Struggling financially, the Tyson family moved to Brownsville, a Brooklyn neighborhood known for its high crime. Small and shy, Tyson was often the target of bullying. To combat this, he began developing his own style of street fighting, which ultimately transitioned into criminal activity. His gang, known as the Jolly Stompers, assigned him to clean out cash registers while older members held victims at gunpoint. He was only 11 years old at the time.