Tyson, one of the most iconic boxers of all-time, reigned as the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world from 1987 to 1990.
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As a boxing town, Las Vegas served as the site of some of the greatest triumphs of Mike Tyson’s legendary career. That’s part of why Tyson, now 55, has made Las Vegas his home. And that’s also why Sin City has honored Tyson as a staple of their culture and community.
The former heavyweight champion was honored Thursday night with the unveiling of a new statue at Resorts World in Las Vegas. The statue stands at 10 feet tall and is situated outside of Mulberry Street Pizzeria.
Mike Tyson was honored with a 10-foot-tall statue in Las Vegas ?
L E G E N D ?
(via @MikeTyson) pic.twitter.com/RCs3I2FSr7
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) October 23, 2021
Tyson, one of the most iconic boxers of all-time, reigned as the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world from 1987 to 1990.
“Mulberry Street Pizzeria owner and founder Richie Palmer is an avid boxing fan and felt that Tyson represents a prominent time in the sports world as well as Las Vegas,” read a news release by Mulberry Street Pizzeria. “He thought that it was time Tyson deserved to be honored with his own statue, which is something that the Resorts World team agreed with, so they worked together to make this happen.”
Las Vegas was the site of some of Tyson’s most memorable moments in the ring, including an infamous 1997 fight where he was disqualified after biting off part of Evander Holyfield’s ear.
Well beyond Sin City, Tyson’s career as a boxer has already been widely recognized. He has been inducted into both the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame.
In the breakthrough performance of his young career, Shakur Stevenson became a two-division champion in a master class of a performance. Stevenson (17-0, 9 KOs), a former featherweight champion, was nothing short of sublime in the first half of his 130-pound bout against Jamel Herring.
The 24-year-old southpaw went on to score a 10th-round stoppage over the WBO champion that easily goes down as the signature win Stevenson’s pro career had lacked after winning a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics. Visibly more muscular in his upper body, Stevenson relied on his speed to pick Herring apart. Once the 35-year-old veteran found a way to get inside, Stevenson did just as well outmuscling Herring and acting like the bigger fighter.
The more offensive Herring (23-3, 11 KOs) would become, beginning in Round 4, the cleaner Stevenson would counter with power shots.
Stevenson, who would go on to outland Herring by a margin of 164 to 87, according to CompuBox, began to walk Herring down at will by Round 9, splitting his guard with big combos. A cut above Herring’s eye only began to get worse from there, causing referee Mark Nelson to pause the fight in Round 10 for the ringside doctor to take a look.
Nelson kept a short leash from there as Stevenson stepped on the gas and flurried along the ropes forcing the referee to stop the action despite Herring still being on his feet. The fight was ruled a TKO at 1:30 of Round 10.
