Tyson's Prime Was Awesome

Tyson’s Prime Was Awesome

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MIKE TYSON first came into my consciousness back in 1983 when he competed as a 16-year-old in our local Golden Gloves tournament at the Boys Club in Holyoke, Massachusetts. They used to call Mike “The Tank” back then and he impressively won the tournament by stopping Jimmie Johnson in the first round in the finals with Kevin Rooney and Matt Baranski in his corner.

Then Mike made amateur boxing headlines later that summer when he won the prestigious Ohio State Fair tournament at age 17. Kevin Rooney was quoted that week as saying that they were having to send professional sparring partners home because Mike was banging them all up in Cus D’Amato’s famous Catskill, New York gym. He was just a kid who was