Mike Tyson
Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career, and later known as "The Baddest Man on the Planet", Tyson is cons ...
vs.
Donovan Ruddock
Donovan "Razor" Ruddock (born December 21, 1963) is a Jamaican-born Canadian former professional boxer who competed from 1982 to 2001 and in 2015. He is known for his two fights against Mike Tyson in 1991, a fight against Lennox Lewis in 1992, a ...
, billed as ''The Fight of the Year'', was a professional boxing match contested on March 18, 1991 at the
Mirage
A mirage is a naturally-occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays bend via refraction to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. The word comes to English via the French ''(se) mirer'', from the Latin ''mirari'', meanin ...
in
Paradise, Nevada
Paradise is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the city of Las Vegas. It was formed on December 8, 1950. Its population was 191,238 at the 2020 census, making it the fif ...
, USA. At the time the two fighters were the top two ranked contenders for the
WBC
WBC may stand for:
Business
*Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, a former large India broadcaster now folded into CBS
*Westpac (New Delhi Exchange code: WBC), a multinational Financial services company
*Wholesale Broadband Connect, BT Wholesale's ...
,
WBA, and
IBF
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...
world heavyweight championships that were at the time held by
Evander Holyfield
Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed champion at cruiserweight in the late 1980s and at heavyweight in the early 1990s, and is the on ...
. The bout was a twelve-round championship eliminator fight, with the winner becoming the mandatory challenger to Holyfield's crown.
Tyson, the former champion, defeated Ruddock by technical knockout in the seventh round but the circumstances surrounding the stoppage nearly caused a riot and a
rematch
''Rematch'' is the first US-released Sammy Hagar compilation album. After Sammy left Capitol Records for Geffen in 1981, and after Rick Springfield had a hit with the Hagar-penned "I've Done Everything for You", this collection was released to ...
was signed to settle the dispute.
Background
Tyson and Ruddock had originally been set to face each other on November 18, 1989, in
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
,
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, in Ruddock's adopted home country of Canada for Tyson's undisputed world championship. However, the fight was postponed and ultimately cancelled because Tyson was suffering from
costochondritis
Costochondritis, also known as chest wall pain syndrome or costosternal syndrome, is a benign inflammation of the upper costochondral (rib to cartilage) and sternocostal (cartilage to sternum) joints. 90% of patients are affected in multiple ri ...
. Tyson instead would fight
James "Buster" Douglas on February 11, 1990 in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
, where he would
be knocked out in a massive upset and lose his belts.
Tyson would fight twice more in 1990 and won both bouts by first-round knockout. He defeated 1984 Olympic gold medalist
Henry Tillman
Henry Durand Tillman (born August 1, 1960) is an American former professional boxer.
Early life
Tillman was born in Los Angeles, California.
Amateur career
Tillman twice defeated Mike Tyson as an amateur, winning both bouts via close decisions. ...
on June 16 and then beat undefeated up-and-coming prospect
Alex Stewart on December 8.
Ruddock, meanwhile, had won twenty-five of his first twenty-seven fights, with his only defeat coming at the hands of journeyman
David Jaco
David Lee Jaco (born January 24, 1954Steven Ponall (June 22, 2003). "The Fights of His Life". ''The Bradenton Herald'' (Database: NewsBank Retrieved January 26, 2014).) is a retired heavyweight boxer. He spent his career as a journeyman, fighting b ...
early in his career. He had also defeated former world champions
Mike Weaver,
James "Bonecrusher" Smith
James "Bonecrusher" Smith was born in April 13, 1953 at Mangolia, Nort Carolina, USA. James "Bonecrusher" Smith is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 1999, and held the WBA heavyweight title from 1986 to 1987.
Ea ...
, and
Michael Dokes
Michael Marshall Dokes (August 10, 1958 – August 11, 2012) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1976 to 1997, and held the WBA heavyweight title from 1982 to 1983. As an amateur he won a silver medal in the heavyweight division ...
along the way.
On December 9, 1990, the day after Tyson defeated Stewart, Tyson promoter
Don King
Donald King (born August 20, 1931) is an American boxing Promoter (entertainment), promoter, known for his involvement in several historic boxing matchups. He has been a controversial figure, partly due to a manslaughter conviction and civil cas ...
announced Ruddock would indeed be Tyson's next opponent while also announcing that Tyson and
Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
had agreed to a blockbuster long term pay-per-view deal that would pay Tyson $120 million.
The fight
The fight was a hard-fought one, with both men hitting each other with power punches throughout the fight. Early in the second round, Tyson scored a controversial knockdown. After being hit with a left hook to the shoulder, Ruddock tripped over Tyson's right leg and fell to the canvas. Referee
Richard Steele
Sir Richard Steele (bap. 12 March 1672 – 1 September 1729) was an Anglo-Irish writer, playwright, and politician, remembered as co-founder, with his friend Joseph Addison, of the magazine ''The Spectator''.
Early life
Steele was born in Du ...
awarded Tyson with the knockdown. Shortly after, Tyson would illegally hit Ruddock with a right hand as the two men were being separated by Steele, though Steele did not deduct a point from Tyson. Ruddock would suffer another knockdown late in round 3. After hitting Tyson with a straight left hand with less than 10 seconds to go in the round, Tyson countered with a powerful left hook to the side of Ruddock's head that again sent Ruddock to the canvas. Ruddock was able to get up at the count of 8 as the round ended. The fight would come to an end with less than a minute remaining in round 7. Tyson was able to hit Ruddock with a six-punch combination. Though Ruddock remained on his feet and was seemingly healthy enough to continue the fight, Steele stepped between the two fighters and stopped the fight, awarding Tyson the victory by technical knockout.
The decision enraged Ruddock's corner with Ruddock's brother and manager, Delroy storming the ring to confront Steele. Tyson's trainer
Richie Giachetti
Richie Giachetti (April 20, 1940 – February 3, 2016) was an American boxing Personal trainer, trainer who worked with a number of world boxing champions, champions including Larry Holmes and Mike Tyson.
He was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Gi ...
attempted to restrain Delroy but a melee ensued that also involved Ruddock's promoter
Murad Muhammad. Mirage security had to break up the scuffle and escort Steele to safety.
Fire Fight
Sports Illustrated article, 1991-03-25, Retrieved on 2013-05-07.
Undercard
There were two world championship bouts on the undercard of the event.
In the first, Julio Cesar Chavez Julio is the Spanish equivalent of the month July and may refer to:
*Julio (given name)
*Julio (surname)
*Júlio de Castilhos, a municipality of the western part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
* ''Julio'' (album), a 1983 compilation albu ...
defended his WBC and IBF super lightweight championships against John Duplessis
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
, knocking him out in the fourth round to extend his undefeated streak to seventy-three bouts.
The second was a title unification bout between IBF welterweight champion Maurice Blocker
Maurice Blocker (born May 15, 1963) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1982 to 1995. He was a two-time welterweight world champion, having held the WBC title from 1990 to 1991, and the IBF title from 1991 to 1992. He als ...
and WBC welterweight champion Simon Brown. Brown won by TKO in the tenth round to take Blocker’s title despite Blocker being ahead on all of the judges’ scorecards at the time of the stoppage.
Future multi-time middleweight and light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins
Bernard Hopkins Jr. (born January 15, 1965) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2016. He is one of the most successful boxers of the past three decades, having held multiple world championships in two weight class ...
was also featured on the undercard, as was former world heavyweight champion Greg Page and multi-class world champion Roberto Duran
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
. Hopkins and Page won their fights by knockout, while Duran was injured in his bout with Pat Lawlor
Patrick M. Lawlor (born November 30, 1951) is a video game and pinball machine designer.
Pat Lawlor had originally been a video game designer and had entered the coin-operated game design industry in 1980, working for Dave Nutting Associates. ...
and could not continue.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyson, Ruddock
1991 in boxing
Boxing in Las Vegas
Boxing on Showtime
1991 in sports in Nevada
Ruddock
March 1991 sports events in the United States