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 M ...

vs.

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 con ...

, billed as ''Judgment Day'', was a professional boxing match contested on November 22, 1986 for the WBC heavyweight championship.

Background

In 1986, the three major boxing organizations, the World Boxing Council (WBC), the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the

International Boxing Federation 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 Cou ...

(IBF) teamed with

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

channel

Home Box Office 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 b ...

(HBO) to create a heavyweight championship tournament in an effort to crown the first Undisputed Heavyweight Champion since

Leon Spinks Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...

in 1978. All three of the organizations' heavyweight champions, as well as several of the sport's top contenders, were entered into the tournament. In the first leg of the tournament, Trevor Berbick met then-WBC champion

Pinklon Thomas Pinklon Thomas (born February 10, 1958) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1978 to 1993. He was boxing's first 'Centennial Champion' (1886-1986), and held the WBC heavyweight title from 1984 to 1986, along with being th ...

for the WBC portion of the heavyweight title. In a closely contested fight, Berbick was able to narrowly earn the victory by unanimous decision to capture his first major heavyweight title. However, his first defense of that title would come against the 20-year-old undefeated sensation Mike Tyson, who was 27–0 with 25 of his victories coming by way of knockout. Tyson had gone 12–0 in the year of 1986 alone and officially qualified for the unification series with a second-round knockout victory over

Alfonso 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 September. Though the 32–year old Berbick entered the fight as the champion, he was installed as a 3–1 underdog to Tyson, who, at 20 years old, was 12 years younger than Berbick and trying to surpass

Floyd Patterson Floyd Patterson (January 4, 1935 – May 11, 2006) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1972, and twice reigned as the world heavyweight champion between 1956 and 1962. At the age of 21, he became the youngest boxer in hi ...

as the youngest man to win a major Heavyweight title in the history of the sport.

Fight

Tyson dominated Berbick, easily picking up the victory by way of second-round technical knockout. From the opening bell, Tyson was the aggressor, hammering Berbick with several powerful punches. Towards the end of the round, Tyson hit Berbick with a four-punch combination that sent Berbick across the ring. Berbick managed to stay on his feet, but Tyson continued to attack, hitting Berbick several more times until the bell sounded. Tyson picked up right where he left off in round 2, almost immediately hitting Berbick with a combination that dropped the champion. Berbick was able to answer the referee's count and the fight continued. Berbick, however, was unable to mount any offense. Tyson finally ended the fight at the 2:35 mark, hitting Berbick with a right to the body followed by a left hook to the head that dropped his opponent for the second time. Berbick attempted to get up twice, only to collapse both times, causing referee

Mills Lane Mills Bee Lane III (November 12, 1937 – December 6, 2022) was an American boxing referee and professional boxer, a two-term Washoe County, Nevada district court judge, and television personality. Lane was best known for having officiated se ...

to call the fight and award Tyson the victory via knockout.

Undercard

knocks out William Hosea at 1:10 of Round 7 * Matthew Hilton knocks out Franklin Owens at 1:23 of Round 2 * Greg Page knocks out Wimpy Halstead at 1:38 of Round 8

Aftermath

Berbick would continue to fight into the year 2000, but was unable to match his previous success, never again fighting for the Heavyweight championship. Tyson, meanwhile, would continue his dominance through the rest of the decade, next defeating

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 ...

to win the WBA Heavyweight title. After defeating former champ Pinklon Thomas to retain his two titles, Tyson would meet IBF Heavyweight champion

Tony Tucker Tony Craig Tucker (born December 27, 1958) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 1998. He won the IBF heavyweight title in 1987, and was the shortest-reigning world heavyweight champion at just 64 days. In an inte ...

in a match that would unify all three major heavyweight titles, a match Tyson would win via unanimous decision to become the Undisputed Heavyweight champion. This fight was mentioned in the animated TV series ''

Mike Tyson Mysteries ''Mike Tyson Mysteries'' is an American adult animated television series, and is the first collaboration between Warner Bros. Animation and Williams Street. It premiered October 27, 2014 on Adult Swim. The series features Mike Tyson solving myste ...

'' episode "Ultimate Judgment Day" from 2014. In the episode Mike Tyson says Trevor Berbick wanted to call their 1986 fight 'Ultimate Judgment Day', but then the ghost of Berbick appears to correct Tyson, saying that actually Tyson was the boxer that wanted to call it 'Ultimate Judgment Day. He then says, "Rest in Peace, Trevor Berbick!" while waving his hand to make the ghost of Trevor Berbick disappear.

References

External links

* , courtesy of

ESPN Classic ESPN Classic was an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns 20%). The channel was originally la ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berbick, Tyson 1986 in boxing 1986 in sports in Nevada November 1986 sports events in the United States Boxing matches in Las Vegas Berbick World Boxing Council heavyweight championship matches Westgate Las Vegas