Michael Gerard Tyson 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 considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. He reigned as the undisputed world heavyweight champion from 1987 to 1990. Tyson won his first 19 professional fights by knockout, 12 of them in the first round. Claiming his first belt at 20 years, four months, and 22 days old, Tyson holds the record as the youngest boxer ever to win a heavyweight title. He was the first heavyweight boxer to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBC and IBF titles, as well as the only heavyweight to unify them in succession. The following year, Tyson became the lineal champion when he knocked out Michael Spinks in 91 seconds of the first round. In 1990, Tyson was knocked out by underdog Buster Douglas in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.
Lennox Claudius Lewis is a boxing commentator and former professional boxer 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 the undisputed championship. Holding dual British and Canadian citizenship, Lewis represented Canada as an amateur at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics; in the latter, he won a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division.
Robert Edward Czyz is an American retired boxer and commentator. Czyz was a two-division world titlist at light heavyweight and cruiserweight.
Larry Holmes is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 2002 and was world heavyweight champion from 1978 until 1985. He is often considered to be one of the best heavyweight boxers of all time. He grew up in Easton, Pennsylvania, which led to his boxing nickname of the "Easton Assassin".
Michael Spinks is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 1988. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the undisputed light heavyweight title from 1983 to 1985, and the lineal heavyweight title from 1985 to 1988. As an amateur he won a gold medal in the middleweight division at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
James "Buster" Douglas is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1981 and 1999. He reigned as undisputed world heavyweight champion in 1990 after knocking out Mike Tyson to win the title.
Tommy "The Duke" Morrison was an American professional boxer and mixed martial artist who competed from 1988 to 2009. Best known for his iconic left hooks and dangerous punching power, Morrison won the WBO heavyweight title in 1993 with a unanimous decision victory over George Foreman. He lost the title in his second defense to Michael Bentt that same year. Morrison's other boxing highlights include his fight with Donovan Ruddock in 1995. Morrison is also known for his acting career, having starred alongside Sylvester Stallone in the 1990 film Rocky V as Tommy Gunn. He ultimately retired from boxing in 1996 when he tested positive for HIV.
József Kreul Bugner is a Hungarian-born British-Australian former heavyweight boxer and actor. He holds triple nationality, being a citizen of Hungary and a naturalised citizen of both Australia and the United Kingdom. He unsuccessfully challenged Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight championship in 1975, losing by unanimous decision. As an actor, he is best known for his role in the 1994 action film Street Fighter alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia.
Nikolai Sergeyevich Valuev is a Russian politician and former professional boxer. He competed in boxing from 1993 to 2009, and held the WBA heavyweight title twice between 2005 and 2009. Standing at a height of 2.13 metres (7 ft) and a peak weight of 149 kilograms (328 lb), Valuev is best known for being the tallest and heaviest world champion in boxing history.
Fight+ was a British and European combat sports TV channel founded by David McConachie and Steffen Tangstad.
Odlanier Solís Fonte is a Cuban professional boxer. He has challenged once for the WBC heavyweight title in 2011, and is a former top-rated contender in that division. As an amateur heavyweight, Solis was one of the most celebrated and decorated amateur stars of the 2000s, winning a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics, and three consecutive golds at the World Championships in 2001, 2003, and 2005. Odlanier Solís beat Luis Ortiz multiple times in the amateurs, never losing to him.
Alfredo Evangelista is a Uruguayan-born former boxer. He was born in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles since 2021, and the Ring magazine heavyweight title since 2022. Previously, he held the undisputed cruiserweight championship from 2018 to 2019, being the first boxer in that division to hold all four major world titles.
Martin Rogan is a retired Irish professional boxer. He won the first televised Prize Fighter 2008 defeating 3 fighters on the same night taken the title winning £25,000. He held the Commonwealth heavyweight title in 2009 and challenged for the Irish heavyweight title in 2012 against Tyson Fury.
In combat sports where champions are decided by a challenge, the lineal championship of a weight class is a world championship title held initially by an undisputed champion and subsequently by a fighter who defeats the reigning champion in a match at that weight class. In professional boxing, the lineal champion is informally called "the man who beat the man".
The boxing tournaments at the 2012 Olympic Games in London were held from 28 July to 12 August at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre.
Mike Tyson vs. Michael Spinks, billed as Once and For All, was a professional boxing match which took place on June 27, 1988. Both fighters were undefeated and each had a claim to being the legitimate heavyweight champion. At the time, Tyson held the belts of all three of the major sanctioning organizations while Spinks was The Ring and Boxing Illustrated magazine champion, regarded as "The People's Champion," and was considered the lineal champion. The fight was held at the Convention Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey U.S., it was at the time the richest fight in boxing history, grossing some $70 million, of which Tyson earned a record purse of around $22 million and Spinks $13.5 million. Tyson won the fight, knocking out Spinks in 91 seconds.
Jack Leonard Gardner was a British heavyweight boxer. He was the Heavyweight Champion of Great Britain, the British Empire, and Europe. Gardner was a top ten contender for the Heavyweight Championship of the World and retired with a record of 28 wins, 23 by knockout, and 6 losses, a total of 34 fights.
Mike Tyson vs. Pinklon Thomas, billed as Hard Road to Glory, was a professional boxing match contested on May 30, 1987, for the WBA and WBC heavyweight championships.
The heavyweight unification series, also known as the Heavyweight World Series, was a sequence of professional boxing matches held in 1986 and 1987 to crown an undisputed champion of the heavyweight class. The series was produced by HBO Sports and promoted by Don King. It ended with Mike Tyson as undisputed champion, holding the championship belts of the International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Association (WBA), and World Boxing Council (WBC).
