Mitch Green (born January 13, 1957) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 2005. He is best known for having gone the distance with

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 ...

in 1986, who was undefeated at the time, and had won 20 matches in a row, 19 of them by

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

. Two years later, in 1988, Green ended up fighting Tyson again in a notorious street brawl. A

toothpick A toothpick is a small thin stick of wood, plastic, bamboo, metal, bone or other substance with at least one and sometimes two pointed ends to insert between teeth to remove detritus, usually after a meal. Toothpicks are also used for festive ...

dangling between his lips became his trademark at any public appearance.Green learned on mean streets
by Tom Hanrahan, ''Daily News from New York'', March 9, 1980, p. 65.

Early years

Green grew up in the Bronx on 175th St. between Anthony and Clay Aves. "I was shot twice when I was 17. But it had to have been the will of God that I wasn't hurt" said Green. The first time Green was shot it was with a

.22 magnum The .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire, also called .22 WMR, .22 Magnum, .22 WMRF, .22 MRF, or .22 Mag, is a rimfire cartridge. Originally loaded with a bullet weight of delivering velocities in the range from a rifle barrel, .22 WMR is now loaded ...

. The bullet passed through his right wrist, but the slug missed arteries, bones and nerves and Green was fighting again a few weeks later. The second time he sustained a graze wound, when a slug slashed the right side of his head, leaving a short, puffy scar. Ironically, it was the gunfights that led Green to less lethal boxing. Later he moved to

Jamaica, Queens Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is mainly composed of a large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis to the east; St. Albans, Springfi ...

, where he reportedly quarreled with another Jamaica resident and talented amateur boxer Carl Williams. Green attended DeWitt Clinton High School while employed as a

security guard A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) from a variety ...

.Heavy, 175, 160 Glovers' average age is 20
by Jack Smith, ''Daily News from New York'', March 14, 1979, p. 69.

Amateur career

As an amateur he won the

New York Golden Gloves The New York Golden Gloves boxing tournament was considered by many boxing aficionados as one of the most elite Golden Gloves titles, along with the Chicago Golden Gloves. Named for the small golden gloves given out to the winners of each weigh ...

four times (1976, 1977, 1979, and 1980) and compiled a record of 64 wins and 7 losses, with 51 wins by knockout. Green won the 1976 Sub-Novice Heavyweight Championship and the 1977, 1979 and 1980 Heavyweight Open Championships. Green defeated Anthony Zampelli to win the 1976 title. In 1977 Green defeated Guy Casale for the title. In 1979 Green defeated Ralph Fucci for the Championship and in 1980 Green defeated Merlin Castellanos for the title. He suffered a decisive cut loss in the 1978 tournament, preventing him from winning a fifth Golden Gloves title. He was also a two-time

Intercity Golden Gloves Intercity Golden Gloves is an amateur boxing tournament which is considered by many boxing aficionados as one of the three most elite Golden Gloves titles, along with the Chicago Golden Gloves and the New York Golden Gloves. Goal The Intercity ma ...

champion. In 1977 he won the title by KO in round one over Calvin Cross and again in 1979 by a decision over William Hosea. Mitch lost against Russian boxing great

Igor Vysotsky Igor Yakovlevich Vysotsky (10 September 1953 – 2 April 2023)1980 Olympic Games The 1980 Olympics may refer to: * 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, United States * 1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officiall ...

(held in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

), but the U.S. boycotted the event, and Green also lost to

Marvis Frazier Marvis Frazier (born September 12, 1960) is an American former professional boxer who fought in the heavyweight division. Early life Marvis is the son of former heavyweight champion and Hall of Famer, Joe Frazier. Marvis was at ringside for all o ...

in the quarterfinals of the Olympic Trials that year. He did, however, in the finals of the Eastern Regionals, manage to beat perennial contender Woody Clark. In amateur competition Green also lost bouts to future world champions Greg Page and

Tony Tubbs Tony Tubbs (born February 15, 1958) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 2006, and held the WBA heavyweight title from 1985 to 1986. Amateur career As an amateur, Tony Tubbs competed in 253 bouts, compiling a reco ...

, though he did manage to beat Tubbs in the 1978 Sports Festival. Surprisingly, he also lost to future cruiserweight champion

Alfonzo Ratliff Alfonso Ratliff (born February 18, 1956) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 1989, holding the WBC and '' The Ring'' cruiserweight titles in 1985. He was later coaching at the Harvey Boxing Club in Harvey IL. Amat ...

in a 1980 New York−Chicago intercity matchup. Green trained at the United Block Association Gym in New York City. At that time he was employed as a

Highlights

* 50th

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, March 19, 1976, Finals: Defeated Anthony Zampelli (Solar Sporting Club, NYC) by decision * 51st

, March 11, 1977, Finals: Defeated Guy Casale (Empire Sporting Club, NYC) RSC 1 () * 35th

, April 18, 1977: Defeated Calvin Cross (Woodlawn Boys Club, Chicago) KO 1 () * U.S. National Championships,

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...

, May 6, 1977, Semi-Finals: Lost to Greg Page by decision * USA–USSR Heavy Duals, Hilton Pavilion,

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, December 10, 1977: Defeated ? (Soviet Union) * USSR−USA Duals, Alma-Ata, Kazakh SSR, March 31, 1978: Lost to

Igor Vysotsky Igor Yakovlevich Vysotsky (10 September 1953 – 2 April 2023)National Sports Festival,

Fort Carson, Colorado Fort Carson is a United States Army post located directly south of Colorado Springs in El Paso, Pueblo, Fremont, and Huerfano counties, Colorado, United States. The developed portion of Fort Carson is located near the City of Colorado Springs ...

, July 27–29, 1978: **Semi-Finals: Defeated Jerry Williams by decision **Finals: Defeated

(Santa Monica) by decision * AAU Intercity Semi-Finals,

Felt Forum The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden is a theater located in New York City's Madison Square Garden. It seats between 2,000 and 5,600, and is used for concerts, shows, sports, meetings, and other events. It is located beneath the main Madiso ...

, November 10, 1978: Defeated James Smith (Philadelphia) * 53rd

, February 23 – March 16, 1979: **Preliminaries: Defeated Christopher Pinkston (unattached) by decision **Finals: Defeated Ralph Fucci (Recreation's Lost Battalion Hall, NYC) KO 1 () * 37th

, April 23, 1979: Defeated William Hosea (Chicago) by decision * AAU Intercity Boxing championships,

, October 24, 1979: Defeated Terry Henderson (Atlanta) RSC 2 * AAU Intercity Finals,

, January 5, 1980: Defeated Mike Ganz (San Francisco) KO 1 * 54th

, March 14, 1980, Finals: Defeated Merling Castellano (Bronx) * 38th

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, April 11, 1980: Lost to

(Chicago) by decision * Olympic Trials,

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, June 16, 1980, Quarter-Finals: Lost to

by unanimous decision, 0–5 In February 1979, Green was ranked #5 U.S. amateur heavyweight by the U.S. Amateur Boxers and Coaches Association. He has quit his job to spend full time preparing for the 1980 Olympics. "I'm really getting it together. I'm taking time out so I can just think about boxing," he said. In the beginning of 1980 he went to Tennessee, where he sparred with WBA world heavyweight champion

John Tate John Tate may refer to: * John Tate (mathematician) (1925–2019), American mathematician * John Torrence Tate Sr. (1889–1950), American physicist * John Tate (Australian politician) (1895–1977) * John Tate (actor) (1915–1979), Australian act ...

, and Washington D.C., where he trained with Dave Jacobs, Sugar Ray Leonard's trainer. "I want to go pro right after the Gloves. I had wanted very much to go to the Olympics, you know, give those Russians a bit of New York. But now I'll just see if I can make a living at it," said Green.

Professional career

Green turned pro in 1980, signing a contract with the rock promoter

Shelly Finkel Sheldon "Shelly" Finkel (born June 27, 1944) is an American boxing and music manager and promoter. Finkel received the Boxing Writers Association of America ''Manager of the Year'' award in 1990 and 1993. He was inducted into the International ...

, whom he met at the 1979 New York Golden Gloves. As a professional, Green was one of NBC's "Tomorrow's Champions" (a group of Finkel's young pros, which also included

Alex Ramos Alex Ramos (born January 17, 1961) is a former middleweight boxer from the 1980s. A native of Manhattan, New York, whose parents were from Puerto Rico, Ramos won four Golden Gloves titles in New York City in the late 1970s (1977–1980) and was ...

Tony Ayala Jr. Antonio Ayala Jr. (February 13, 1963 – May 12, 2015) was an American professional boxer who competed in the light middleweight division. He began his professional career in 1980, and by 1982 he had compiled a record of 22 wins and no losses, wit ...

Donald Curry Donald Curry (born September 7, 1961), is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 1991, and in 1997. He held the WBA world welterweight title from 1983 to 1986, the undisputed world welterweight title from 1985 to 1986 a ...

and Johnny Bumphus) and was ranked as high as #7 by the

World Boxing Council The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation ...

, and also in the top ten by the

World Boxing Association The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...

. Green left Finkel after a year as a pro after a disagreement over payoffs. He was managed by Carl King, son of Don King, who was Green's promoter. Mitch was undefeated in his first sixteen bouts, which included a 1983 points win over the rugged Floyd "Jumbo" Cummings, and a draw with trial horse Robert Evans. His first loss was a twelve-round decision to future WBC champ

Trevor Berbick Trevor Berbick (1 August 1954 – 28 October 2006) was a Jamaican professional boxer who competed from 1976 to 2000. He won the WBC heavyweight title in 1986 by defeating Pinklon Thomas, then lost it in his first defense in the same year to Mi ...

in a bid for the United States Boxing Association title on August 10, 1985. In March 1985, Green violently interrupted a pre-fight press conference of the Larry Holmes vs

David Bey David Bey (March 11, 1957 – September 13, 2017) was a heavyweight boxer who held the USBA title. He unsuccessfully challenged Larry Holmes for the heavyweight title in 1985. Bey was an outstanding amateur boxer who had taken up the sport to ...

championship fight, claiming that he was a way better contender than Bey, and seeking for a clash with Don King's people.

Green vs. Tyson

After a comeback win over Percell Davis he lost a ten-round decision to

in 1986 on HBO, in his most famous fight. In the buildup to the fight Green had complained bitterly of the disparity in purses between him and Tyson when a day before the fight, at

weigh-in In boxing, a weight class is a measurement weight range for boxers. The lower limit of a weight class is equal to the upper weight limit of the class below it. The top class, with no upper limit, is called heavyweight in professional boxing and ...

s, Green learned he was being paid $30,000 in comparison to Tyson's $200,000 for the fight alone, in addition to a $1 million deal with HBO for the live broadcast of 3 fights. He threatened to pull out of the contest, finally settling for being released from his managerial contract with King's stepson Carl in return for his short purse. Green put up a stubborn showing during the fight despite losing a ten-round unanimous decision, and at one point managed to knock one of Tyson's gold teeth out, which landed in front of writer Phil Berger. A week later Green was released from his contract by manager Carl King, who was criticized the previous week by Green for mishandling his career.

Later years

Green was later signed to face James “Bonecrusher” Smith on December 12, 1986 as part of a Don King-produced event for HBO from

. The match between Green and Smith was to serve as part of the event’s undercard, with

Tim Witherspoon Tim Witherspoon (born December 27, 1957) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1979 to 2003. He was a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the WBC title in 1984, and the WBA title in 1986. Witherspoon also wor ...

set to defend his WBA championship in a rematch against former champion

, from whom Witherspoon had wrested the championship eleven months earlier. After Tubbs pulled out of the contest with a reported injury, Witherspoon instead gave Smith, whom he had beaten in a twelve-round decision in 1985 to earn the shot at Tubbs, a rematch with the title on the line; Green was left off of the event, as a result, since a replacement opponent was not found. Green later appeared at the Witherspoon–Smith pre-fight negotiations, again threatening Don King. Green refused to box for many years and was in frequent trouble with the law. He finally returned to the ring in February 1993, then aged 36, against journeyman Bruce Johnson. Again complaining about his purse and his new manager, Green refused to throw any punches and argued constantly with the referee, until the exasperated ref stopped the bizarre contest in the third. Throughout the 1990s, Green sporadically came out of retirement, most notably in bids for the New York State heavyweight title, against fringe contenders Melvin Foster in 1994 and Brian Nix in 1998. A 1998 win over Mike Dixon was ruled a 'no contest' when Green tested positive for marijuana. A March 1996 contest with Shannon Briggs fell apart when Green pulled a gun on his manager. Green was scheduled to fight James Broad for the NABF title in 1985, but dropped out of the fight for money reasons. Late in his career, an aged Green held two spurious championships. He won the World Boxing Empire Super-Heavyweight Title with a twelve-round decision over Danny Wofford on March 9, 2002, and was proclaimed the Universal Boxing Organization Heavyweight Champion on June 24, 2005. He never defended either title. His last fight was a fourth-round knockout of Billy Mitchem on August 2, 2005.

Feud with Mike Tyson

Green was also known for an incident that began in the early hours of August 23, 1988, in Harlem. Tyson and some friends were shopping at Dapper Dan's, a Harlem clothing store. Green had heard that Tyson was in the area and found him, demanding a rematch. A scuffle ensued. Green allegedly threw a punch and Tyson responded with a punch of his own, closing Green's eye and requiring stitches to his nose. Tyson broke his hand in the incident and had to postpone his first fight with Frank Bruno. Later, although a New York jury awarded Green $45,000 in damages in a civil lawsuit against Tyson, the sum did not cover the legal fees. Tyson later recounted his version of the fight in his book and Broadway show ''Undisputed Truth'', as well as on his '' Hotboxin' with Mike Tyson'' podcast.

Personal life

Green was involved in street gangs during his youth, and became a gang leader with the New York City based The Black Spades.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Mitch 1957 births Living people Boxers from Augusta, Georgia (U.S. state) Heavyweight boxers African-American boxers American male boxers 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people