Mike Tyson vs. Alex Stewart
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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. Alex Stewart, billed as ''The Hard Way Back'', was a professional boxing match contested on December 8, 1990. It was Tyson's second fight since losing the undisputed world heavyweight championship earlier in the year.


Background

On February 11, 1990, James "Buster" Douglas knocked Tyson out in the tenth round of Tyson's tenth defense of his world championship, ending his reign as champion after nearly four years. Douglas then opted to make his first defense of the titles against the mandatory number one contender, former undisputed cruiserweight champion
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 ...
, instead of giving Tyson a rematch. To further complicate things for Tyson, Holyfield knocked an out-of-shape Douglas out in the third round of their fight and began pursuing fights with other contenders. The former champion, thus, had to bide his time and take whatever fights he could get against any contender willing to face him. The first was 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist Henry Tillman, who defeated Tyson twice at the Olympic trials and entered the ring with a 20-4 record as a professional. Tyson dispatched Tillman in the first round. Alex Stewart, meanwhile, started out his career by winning each of his first twenty-four fights by knockout and had not been taken beyond four rounds in any of them until he faced off against Holyfield in November of 1989. There, Stewart suffered his first career defeat as the ringside physician stopped the contest due to a severe cut in the eighth round that Stewart had been fighting with since early in the fight. Before stepping in the ring with Tyson, he defeated journeymen Mark Young and Jamie Howe in two tuneup bouts. Though the fight was originally set for September 22, Tyson suffered a deep cut over his right eye due to an accidental headbutt from sparring partner Greg Page. The cut required 48 stitches, causing the fight to be rescheduled for December 8.


The fight

As soon as the match started, Tyson went on the attack and hit Stewart with two right hands, the second of which knocked Stewart to the canvas less than 10 seconds into the fight. Stewart was able to get back up at the count of five and continue the fight, but he was met with a bevy of power punches from Tyson. At 1:05 in the round, Stewart was again knocked down by a right hand from Tyson. This time he got up at the count of eight and referee Frank Cappuccino allowed Stewart to continue. With the three knockdown rule in effect, Tyson would continue his furious assault on Stewart in an effort to get the third knockdown which would give him the automatic victory. At 2:27 in the round, Tyson hit Stewart with a short left hand that knocked Stewart down for the third time, ending the fight and giving Tyson the victory by technical knockout.


Aftermath

Tyson, who at the time was the number one contender, would then agree to fight the dangerous number two contender, Donovan "Razor" Ruddock, with the winner of the fight earning the right to face Holyfield for the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship. Tyson would controversially pick up the victory via 7th round technical knockout after 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 ...
stopped the fight despite the fact that Ruddock appeared healthy enough to continue. Because of this, Tyson and Ruddock's camps agreed to a rematch three months later. Tyson would again earn the victory, this time by unanimous decision, but before his planned match with Holyfield could happen, he was charged and subsequently sentenced to six years in prison for rape.


Undercard

Confirmed bouts: The co-feature bout on the telecast was a super lightweight bout where
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 world championships against Kyung Duk Ahn. Chavez won the fight by knocking out Kyung in the third round to win his 73rd consecutive fight. Other fighters featured on the card were Donovan Ruddock, who Tyson would face
next Next may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare * ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage * '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film Lit ...
and who recorded a first round knockout over Mike Rouse; future super welterweight world champion Simon Brown, who also won by first round knockout against Ozzie O'Neal; and former Olympic gold medalist
Tyrell Biggs Tyrell Biggs (born December 22, 1960) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 1998, and challenged once for the undisputed heavyweight title in 1987. As an amateur he won a gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics, having ...
, who defeated previously undefeated Rodolfo Marin to record his fourth consecutive win after being knocked out in three consecutive fights, the first of which was against Tyson.


Broadcasting

The fight was covered by
HBO Sports Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
through its ''
World Championship Boxing In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
'' series. Jim Lampley called the action with Larry Merchant as the analyst. This fight would be the final one of Tyson's fights that HBO televised as part of an eight-fight contract the two parties agreed to in 1987; afterwards, Tyson's promoter Don King announced that he had negotiated a long term deal with
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 ...
for the exclusive pay-per-view and broadcast rights to Tyson's fights, a relationship that, save for Tyson's matches against
Buster Mathis, Jr. Buster Mathis Jr. (born March 25, 1970) is an American former professional boxer who competed in the heavyweight division. Early life Mathis Jr. was the son of Buster Mathis, a heavyweight boxer from the 1960s. The senior Mathis had been inv ...
(which was televised by
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) and
Lennox Lewis Lennox Claudius Lewis (born 2 September 1965) is a former professional boxer and boxing commentator who competed from 1989 to 2003. He is a three-time world heavyweight champion, a two-time lineal champion, and the last heavyweight to hold ...
(which was a joint production of Showtime and HBO), would last for the remainder of his career.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyson, Stewart 1990 in boxing 1990 in sports in New Jersey December 1990 sports events in the United States Boxing matches at Boardwalk Hall Stewart Boxing on HBO