Former boxing champion Mike Tyson was arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona Friday and charged with cocaine possession as well as driving under the influence of drugs. Tyson's BMW narrowly avoided hitting a police vehicle.
(Media-Newswire.com) - Former boxing champion Mike Tyson was arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona Friday and charged with cocaine possession as well as driving under the influence of drugs. Tyson's BMW narrowly avoided hitting a police vehicle.
"During an interview with Mike he admitted to using today and stated he is an addict and has a problem," stated by arresting officer in court documents. "Mike admitted to possessing bags of cocaine and said he uses any time he can get his hands on it."
Michael Gerard Tyson, born on June 30, 1966, in Brooklyn, New York, ( USA ) is a semi-retired professional boxer and former World Heavyweight Champion. The youngest man to win a heavyweight title belt, he was rated in 1999 by Ring magazine as the fourteenth greatest heavyweight of all time. He was nicknamed "Iron" Mike Tyson and The Baddest Man on the Planet. Tyson unified the belts in the splintered heavyweight division in the mid-eighties and quickly disposed of all rival contenders.
During his prime Tyson was considered unbeatable, but his once dominant career was undermined by personal problems, lack of preparation, and periods of imprisonment. After being released from his first prison sentence, Mike made a heavily anticipated comeback but failed to reclaim his previous dominance. Though eventually regaining a title belt, it was the period prior to 1990 when he primarily made his mark as a fighter. The second half of his career was largely overshadowed by controversy.
Tyson was raised in the notorious Brownsville section of Brooklyn to parents Lorna Smith Tyson and Jimmy Kirkpatrick. His early childhood was marked by strife and unhappiness, his mother had to fend for the entire family following the departure of their father when Mike was only two years old. On the streets of Brownsville he was constantly picked on and abused by older children, later gaining a reputation as a youth who would savagely beat those who ridiculed his high-pitched, lisping voice. As a youth, he was constantly in trouble with the police over petty crime and thuggery, passed in and out of juvenile detention centers, and was expelled from junior high school for fighting. While in a juvenile detention center in New York, Tyson was discovered by a guard named Bobby Stewart, who noted his raw boxing ability and awesome potential for the ring. Tyson was an outstanding physical specimen, Stewart trained him for a few months, then introduced him to the legendary Cus D'Amato.
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