Mike Tyson is a former heavyweight champion and "Baddest Man on the Planet." He's also a noted pigeon enthusiast. In fact, his first fight was with a bully who had pulled the head off one of Tyson's pigeons.

By the age of 13, he had been arrested 38 times. He ended up at the Tryon School for Boys in Johnstown, New York, where his boxing talent was discovered by Bobby Stewart, a juvenile detention center counselor and former boxer.

Tyson won his first 19 professional fights by knockout, 12 of them in the first round.

On November 22, 1986, Tyson was given his first title fight against Trevor Berbick for the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight championship. Tyson won the title by TKO in the second round, and at the age of 20 years and 4 months became the youngest heavyweight champion in history.

On August 1, 1987, he took the IBF title from Tony Tucker in a twelve-round unanimous decision 119-111, 118-113, and 116-112, becoming the first heavyweight to own all three major belts (WBA, WBC, and IBF) at the same time.

Punch-Out!! featured a boxer known as Little Mac, fighting his way up through the ranks of the World Video Boxing Association. After facing a series of colorful fictional opponents in three circuits, the goal was to win a final "Dream Fight" against a highly skilled boxer. In the original version, this was real-life World Heavyweight Champion Mike Tyson.

On June 27, 1988, Tyson faced Michael Spinks, who many (including Ring magazine) considered to have a legitimate claim to being the true heavyweight champion. Boxing pundits predicted a titanic battle of styles--Tyson's aggressive infighting vs. Spinks' skillful out-boxing and footwork. The fight ended after 91 seconds when Tyson knocked Spinks out in the first round.

His first marriage was to actress Robin Givens, who was known at the time for her role on the sitcom Head of the Class. Tyson's marriage to Givens was tumultuous, with allegations of violence, spousal abuse, and mental instability on Tyson's part. Matters came to a head when Tyson and Givens gave a joint interview with Barbara Walters on the ABC TV newsmagazine show 20/20, in which Givens described life with Tyson as "torture." A month later, Givens announced that she was seeking a divorce.

Buster Douglas was a 42-to-1 underdog going into his 1990 fight against Tyson, who was undefeated and still considered "The Baddest Man on the Planet" for his domination of the division over the previous three years. In what has been described as one of the most shocking upsets in modern sports history, Douglas knocked Tyson out in the 10th round to claim the WBC, WBA, and IBF titles.

He famously kept multiple white tigers in his home for more than a decade, but donated them to a sanctuary after a trespasser on his property was badly injured.