By
1990 Tyson had lost direction, his personal life was in disarray and he was not
training well. In a fight on February 11 with the little regarded James 'Buster'
Douglas he lost to a tenth round KO and despite the protests of his manager over
a 'slow count' in the eighth round Tyson lost all his belts to Douglas. Tyson's
two other fights in 1990 were confidence regaining first round KOs. In
1991 Tyson fought Donovan "Razor" Ruddock twice, once in March and again
in June. There was some controversy over the first fight which Tyson won in the
seventh round but at the second fight, which Tyson fought while waiting for a
match against the new champion Evander Holyfield, Tyson won on points. Tyson
went on trial charged with the rape of a 1991 Miss Black America Contest contestant
named Desiree Washington on January 27, 1992 and was found guilty of the rape
on February 10 and imprisoned. As a result, Tyson did not fight again until 1995.
As a Get-out-of-jail opener he won within one round against Peter McNeeley in
August and beat Buster Mathis Jr. in three in December. In March 1996 Tyson regained
one belt, winning the WBC title from a lumbering Frank Bruno in three rounds.
In September Tyson won back the WBA in 93 seconds from Bruce Seldon, having paid
Lennox Lewis $4m to 'step-aside'. On November 9 however he faced a tougher challenge
in Evander Holyfield, fighting over eleven rounds Holyfield won with a TKO to
become a three-times world champion. Tyson did not fight again until June
of 1997 when there was a hugely anticipated rematch with Holyfield on June 28
for the WBA title. Tyson was disqualified in the third round, he lost his temper
over a head-butt from Holyfield and had come out without his gum-shield, he then
bit a chunk from Holyfield's ear, when the referee, Mills Lane, warned him Tyson
went for Holyfield's other ear. On July 9 Tyson was banned from boxing for one
year and fined $3m. In January 1999 Tyson fought the South African Frans
Botha and while Botha initially controlled the fight Tyson landed a single good
punch in round five that put Botha down. On February 5 Tyson was sentenced to
a year's imprisonment, fined $5,000, and ordered to serve 2 years probation and
perform 200 hours of community service for the August 31, 1998 assault on two
people after a car accident. He served nine months of that sentence. On his release
he fought Orlin Norris in October, where in a farcical scene Norris claimed to
have twisted his ankle in the first round and refused to fight on. In 2000
Tyson had three fights. The first was staged in England and against Julius Francis,
the pre-fight arguments about whether Tyson should be allowed into the country
were more entertaining than the second round KO of Francis. He also fought Lou
Savarese in June in Glasgow, winning in the first round and in October the notoriously
dirty Andrew Golota, winning in round three. Tyson fought only once in 2001 beating
Brian Nielsen in Copenhagen with a seventh round TKO. Tyson sought to fight
Lennox Lewis in 2002 in Nevada but the Nevada boxing commission refused him a
license to box as he is facing possible sexual assault charges. A scuffle at a
press conference finally removed any chance of a Nevada fight. The fight actually
occurred in June in Memphis, Tennessee. Tyson losing in the eighth round by knockout.
On February 22, 2003, Tyson beat fringe contender Clifford Etienne 49 seconds
into round one, once again in Memphis. The pre-fight was marred by rumours of
Tyson's lack of fitness and that he took time out from training to party in Las
Vegas and have a new facial tattoo. Tyson is looking for a rematch with Lewis
and contracts have been signed. In August 2003, after years of financial
struggles, Tyson finally filed for bankruptcy.
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