The fight I will never forget took place on June 27, 1988 against Michael Spinks. The bout was, at the time, the richest fight in history and expectations were very high. Boxing pundits were predicting a titanic battle of styles, with Tyson's aggressive infighting conflicting with Spinks' skillful outfighting and footwork. It was an impressive display, but not for the reasons expected. Incredibly, the fight ended after just 91 seconds when Tyson knocked Spinks out in the first round. I just remember Tyson connecting with a punch and Spinks hitting the mat with his eyes rolled back in his head. He tries to get up, but falls over the bottom rope almost comically as Tyson is declared the winner. I remember being in awe. Here's a video so you can watch the short fight here...

Another related item from the 80s that I will likely never forget is one of my favorite Nintendo video games of all time, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! Based off the arcade game Punch-Out!!, it was released in 1987 and it was a Christmas gift for my brother and I in December of that year. We were obsessed with it for the coming months. I can still remember the line-up: Glass Joe, Von Kaiser, Piston Honda, Don Flamenco, King Hippo, Great Tiger, Bald Bull, Soda Popinski, Mr. Sandman, Super Macho Man and then the champ himself. This was before the internet and easily finding cheat codes, so we put hours and hours into learning the tricks to defeat each opponent. Here's the commercial for the game featuring Iron Mike himself...

As many of you know, the good times would not keep on rolling for Tyson as the 90s began. His short marriage to actress Robin Givens had ended in divorce on Valentine's Day of 1989 and then on February 11, 1990 he lost his first fight ever in what is considered one of the greatest upsets of all time to Buster Douglas. He would never be the same since. In 1991, Tyson was arrested for rape and ended up serving three years of six year prison sentence. In 1997, Tyson would be disqualified in his rematch against Evander Holyfield for bizarrely biting his ears. His boxing career was basically over at that point and then in 2003, after years of financial struggles, Tyson would file for bankruptcy as well as divorce his second wife. In 2006, he would be arrested again for felony drug possession of cocaine and driving under the influence. How the mighty had fallen! Just 18 years after being on top of the world after that Spinks knock-out, Mike Tyson could not get much lower.

More recently, Tyson would apparently get treatment for drug addiction and begin turning his life around. In 2009, he was married for a third time and had a hilarious cameo in the outstanding comedy film The Hangover. Here is Tyson's first scene from the movie...

Tyson claims the film (which he had to be convinced to do after initially having no interest) helped turn his life around, the job offer and fun he had on set convinced him to clean up his act. Now he will never regain the status he had in the late 80s, but at least it appears there might be a happier ending to the Mike Tyson story.

That's all for this issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks as always for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column to find any other issues you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on the "Like" button. Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. You can also follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". I am sending daily 80s tweets, so sign up to get those. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: I thought this sign was an interesting and pointed way of reminding people to keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel...

Quote of the day: "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." -Aristotle