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. Carl Williams was a professional boxing match contested on July 21, 1989, for WBA,

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 ...

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 ...

, and '' The Ring'' heavyweight championships.

Background

After Tyson's dominating victory over Frank Bruno five months prior, negotiations for a potential bout with Carl Williams began, and on June 15, 1989, the fight was made official. Four years earlier, Williams had challenged then-IBF Heavyweight champion Larry Holmes for the title, only to narrowly lose by unanimous decision. Prior to his fight with Tyson, Williams had won his previous five fights, including a victory over former champion

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 ...

which got him back into contention.

The fight

The fight would only last 93 seconds, becoming Tyson's second quickest title fight after his 91-second

victory The term victory (from Latin ''victoria'') originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal Duel, combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitu ...

over Michael Spinks the previous year. Tyson and Williams began the fight trading punches with each other, though Tyson's aggressiveness caused Williams to hold several times. About 76 seconds into the round, Williams attempted to hit Tyson with a left jab. Tyson countered and hit Williams with a left hook that sent Williams to the canvas. Though Williams was able to get back on his feet and was seemingly ready to continue the fight, referee

Randy Neumann Randolph Neumann (born July 21, 1948), raised in Cliffside Park, New Jersey,Randy Neumann
, New Jersey Boxing ...

controversially stopped the fight and awarded Tyson the victory by technical knockout. In an interview after the fight, the referee was asked why he had stopped the fight and he replied: “When he got up at eight, he arl Williamswas wobbly. He wasn't standing up, he was leaning against the ropes. I asked him a question, a very simple question, ‘How do you feel?’. Not for the answer, but to see how he responded. His eyes were blank, his expression was blank, he had no answer.”

Aftermath

Because of the controversial nature of Tyson's victory, both Williams and his manager Ira Leibowitz urged the WBA, WBC and IBF to change the ruling Tyson victory to no-contest while also demanding a rematch between the two. However, all three boxing organizations, as well as Tyson's camp refused a Tyson–Williams rematch with Don King's spokesman stating that Williams would have to "go out and knock out a few good fighters" before a rematch with Tyson could happen. Tyson's victory over Williams would mark the last successful defence of his Undisputed Heavyweight Championship. His next fight would be against little-known James "Buster" Douglas on February 11, 1990, in

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. Despite being a 42-1 underdog, Douglas was able to knock out Tyson in the 10th round to pull off the upset and become the new Undisputed Champion.

HBO 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 ...

, which broadcast the fight live across the nation, did not expect the early conclusion and was hence forced to fill time with episodes of ''

The Kids In The Hall The Kids in the Hall is a Canadian sketch comedy troupe formed in 1984, consisting of comedians Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson. Their eponymous television show ran from 1989 to 1995, on CBC, in C ...

'' and '' HBO One Night Stand'' (prior to the latter, they put up a card explaining the unscheduled broadcast).

Undercard

Confirmed bouts:

Broadcasting

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyson, Williams 1989 in boxing 1989 in sports in New Jersey July 1989 sports events in the United States Boxing matches at Boardwalk Hall Williams, Carl World Boxing Association heavyweight championship matches World Boxing Council heavyweight championship matches International Boxing Federation heavyweight championship matches Boxing on HBO Boxing on ITV