Mike Tyson Turns 60 Today And The Man Who Said He Would Not Live To 30 Has Now Lived Twice As Long
Mike Tyson turns 60 years old today, born June 30, 1966, in Brooklyn, New York, in Brownsville, in circumstances that by every reasonable statistical measure were not pointing toward a long life or a legendary one.
He once said he did not expect to reach 30. He may not have expected to reach 25. He is 60.
He celebrated early. On June 25 he had dinner with his wife Lakiha "Kiki" Spicer, sons Morocco and Amir, daughter Milan and close family at Yamashiro Miami, 14 guests, a $2,000 birthday cake, a caviar platter, sushi and well-done salmon for Tyson himself.
He wore a Versace silk ensemble. The restaurant, a source said, "felt like a championship fight had just walked in."
The career itself needs no rehearsing in full. He became the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history at 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old when he stopped Trevor Berbick in two rounds in November 1986, a record that still stands.
He was the first heavyweight to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBC and IBF titles. He won his first 19 professional fights by knockout, 12 of them in the first round.
He knocked out Michael Spinks in 91 seconds. He was the most feared fighter on the planet for a stretch of years in the late 1980s that his opponents remember differently than everyone else does.
What came after, the conviction, the prison, the Evander Holyfield ear, the tattoo, the bankruptcy, the documentary, the one-man show, the Jake Paul exhibition fight at 58, the planned Floyd Mayweather exhibition that a broken hand delayed into fall 2026, the cannabis business, the unexpected third act as a somewhat beloved elder statesman of a sport that broke him and made him, is its own story.
A long one. Sixty years long, now. Happy birthday, Iron Mike.
