38 years ago

Date: 22nd November 1986

Venue: Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada

Title: WBC World Heavyweight Title

Promoter: Butch Lewis Productions, Dynamic Duo Inc, Don King Productions

Referee: Mills Lane

Tv: HBO World Championship Boxing

Trevor Berbick
( 31 - 4 - 1 )
Weight: 218½ lbs

Mike Tyson
( 27 - 0 - 0 )
Weight: 221¼ lbs

On November 22, 1986, at the Las Vegas Hilton, Trevor Berbick made the first defence of his WBC heavyweight title against 20-year-old challenger Mike Tyson. With Tyson entering the bout undefeated at 27-0 and Berbick holding a 31-4-1 record, the fight was the culmination of months of build-up, with the younger fighter regarded as a prodigious talent destined for greatness.

HBO's Larry Merchant set the stage before the opening bell, explaining, "The key in this fight for Tyson is to be patiently aggressive, not to fling himself into clinches as he has done. The key for Berbick, in my judgment, is to hold him off, smother Tyson, and hope for a long fight that wears him out." As the fighters met in the ring, Berbick appeared confident, sticking his tongue out at Tyson as he walked to his corner at the end of the opening round.

Tyson, however, had no intention of letting the fight go long. From the first bell, he closed the distance quickly, pounding Berbick with hooks and uppercuts to the body and head. Berbick's attempts to clinch and frustrate Tyson's offence were ineffective. At the end of the first round, the champion returned to his corner visibly shaken. A chaotic scene unfolded in Berbick's corner as trainer Angelo Dundee yelled at one of the seconds to put an icepack on Berbick's next and then screamed, "Where's the fucking sponge?"

The second round was more of the same, with Tyson methodically breaking Berbick down. A devastating left hook midway through the round sent Berbick crashing to the canvas for the first time. Although he rose, his balance was clearly compromised. Moments later, another left hook to the temple dropped Berbick again. This time, his legs betrayed him completely, and he stumbled multiple times in his attempt to rise. Referee Mills Lane waved the fight off at 2:35 of the second round, awarding Tyson a technical knockout victory and the WBC heavyweight title.

As the celebration erupted in Tyson's corner, the new champion embraced and kissed co-manager Jim Jacobs on the lips, a gesture of gratitude to the man who, alongside Tyson's late mentor Cus D'Amato, had guided him to the pinnacle of the sport. Reflecting on the performance, Larry Merchant declared, "Mike Tyson fought as perfect a fight as a man of his ability could possibly fight. There is no praise high enough for Mike Tyson."

Berbick, for his part, acknowledged his tactical misstep, saying, "I made a silly mistake. I tried to prove my manhood with him in the early rounds." It was a decision he paid for dearly against Tyson's overwhelming power and precision.

In becoming the youngest heavyweight champion in history at just 20 years and 4 months, Tyson broke a record set three decades earlier by Floyd Patterson. Reflecting on his historic achievement, Tyson confidently stated, "My record will last for immortality. It will never be broken." Decades later, that record remains intact, a testament to the extraordinary nature of Tyson's rise to the heavyweight throne.