It’s been 20 years since the release of Nelson Mandela, and South Africans today are celebrating that moment, the first step on the road to democracy.
But on the same day that Mandela walked free after 27 years in prison, on the other side of the planet, a single sports event stunned the world: the supposedly invincible “Iron” Mike Tyson was knocked out by unheralded James “Buster” Douglas.
Indirectly, that result had a significant impact on heavyweight boxing, which has since lost its status as a mainstream sport. The division was already in trouble when Tyson came to the fore in the mid-1980s, drowning in an alphabet quagmire before he unified the titles to become the first undisputed champion since Muhammad Ali nearly nine years before him (I don’t regard Larry Holmes as a true undisputed champion).
The electric Tyson captivated the boxing world and the public at large, partly for the way he demolished challengers in the ring and partly for his wild behaviour outside of it. He possessed a menacing charisma that helped to ensure he transcended the sport – pretty much like Ali did, although in a very different way.
His most notorious fight would come in 1997, when as a challenger, he bit off a piece of Evander Holyfield’s right ear and spat it out in the ring.
Beating Tyson on February 11, 1990, earned Douglas the world heavyweight championship, but not the same status as Tyson. The mantle quickly passed to Holyfield before going to Riddick Bowe in 1992. Bowe threw the WBC belt away because he refused to face Lennox Lewis, the man who had beaten him as an amateur at the Olympics.
The world had to wait until the Holyfield versus Lewis series in 1999 to see a unified champion again, and it was Lewis who emerged triumphant. Although he held the unified belt, he didn’t possess the charisma of his more illustrious predecessors.
Since his retirement the heavyweight title has again slipped into a state of alphabetic boredom.
Boxing today does boast a fighter who has transcended the sport – in the form of welterweight Manny Pacquiao.
But the heavyweight class is boxing’s showcase division, and it desperately needs another Tyson.
