Why did Mike Tyson go to Jail? A look back at the boxer's 1992 rape conviction

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Why did Mike Tyson go to Jail: Boxing legend Mike Tyson is scheduled to fight his first sanctioned bout in decades on Friday.

The 58-year-old former heavyweight champion will face 27-year-old social media star-turned-boxer Jake Paul in Texas. For Tyson, it’s his first professional fight since retiring in 2005.

Tyson retired from boxing with a record of 50-6 with 44 knockouts. Paul has been boxing professionally since 2020. According to sources, Tyson will make about $20 million by agreeing to Friday’s bout (DraftKings Network). Paul’s earnings are estimated at $40 million.

Mike Tyson’s Professional Boxing Career

Tyson rose to fame in the 1980s after winning his debut bout against Hector Mercedes by knockout. He won the first round. By the time he was 21, he had a 30-0 record and held the WBA and WBC heavyweight titles. Tyson defeated Tony Tucker in his 31st fight to win the IBF title, becoming the first heavyweight boxer to hold all three titles.

But less than a decade later, Tyson’s personal life was in turmoil. As The Athletic reported, Tyson’s first wife, Robin Givens, filed for divorce in 1989, citing spousal abuse.

In 1992, 25-year-old Tyson was sentenced to six years in prison for raping 18-year-old Desiree Washington. Washington was a college student at the time and the reigning Miss Black of Rhode Island. She met Tyson at the 1991 Miss Black American beauty pageant in Indianapolis.

Tyson was sentenced to six years in prison but was released in 1995 after serving only three years. He maintains his innocence and wrote in his 2013 autobiography: “I was a fighter. I … “I asked the doctor if I was going to die and she didn’t say ‘no’… You wouldn’t believe what I had to go through because of the ulcer.”

The Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul story

The Tyson-Paul fight was originally scheduled for July, but had to be postponed in May when Tyson developed a stomach ulcer. In an interview for Netflix’s fight preview series Countdown: Paul vs. Tyson, Tyson said the ulcer was more than two inches long and that he’d lost 25 pounds.

“All my friends were calling me like I was going to die,” Tyson said. “I asked the doctor if I was going to die and she said no. …You wouldn’t believe what an ulcer has done to me.”

When Tyson and Paul met for the official weigh-in on Thursday, Tyson punched his opponent in the face. It’s unclear why Tyson went crazy, but Paul said in several interviews leading up to Friday that he intended to knock out his opponent.

In an episode of the Netflix series Countdown, Tyson said: “He’s a manufactured killer. Television and newspapers have made him into a killer. I’m a born killer.”

When Tyson and Paul met for the official weigh-in on Thursday, Tyson punched his opponent in the face. It’s unclear why Tyson did this, but Paul had said in several interviews leading up to Friday that he intended to knock his opponent out. To knock him down.

During an episode of the Netflix series Countdown, Tyson said: “There’s a fundamental difference between me and Jake. He’s a synthetic killer. The television and newspapers made him out to be a murderer. I am a born murderer.”