Mike Tyson vs. Clifford Etienne
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| Date | February 22, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | The Pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | None | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Boxer | Mike Tyson | Clifford Etienne | |
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| Nickname | "Iron" | "The Black Rhino" | |
| Hometown | Catskill, New York | Baton Rouge, Louisiana | |
| Pre-fight record | 49–4 | 24–1–1 | |
| Weight | 225 lb | 222 lb | |
| Style | Orthodox | Orthodox | |
| Recognition |
WBA/WBC/IBF No. 4 Ranked Heavyweight |
IBF No. 3 Ranked Heavyweight |
IBF
No. 7 Ranked Heavyweight
Mike Tyson vs. Clifford Etienne, billed as "Back to Business", was a professional boxing match contested on February 22, 2003.
In his previous fight on June 8, 2002, Mike Tyson had met WBC and IBF heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis. In what would prove to be the final title match of Tyson's career, he was thoroughly outboxed by Lewis, who from the second round on, won every round on the judge's scorecards before knocking out Tyson in the eighth. Though Tyson's plans were not immediately known after his defeat, he announced in November that he would return to boxing on February 22, 2003 to take on fringe contender Clifford Etienne, with the fight taking place at the site of his previous fight with Lewis, the Pyramid Arena in Memphis. Etienne began his professional career with 19 consecutive victories and was named 2000's "Most Exciting Fighter to Watch" by The Ring magazine, but a loss to Fres Oquendo, in which Etienne was knocked down seven times in eight rounds, halted his progress. Only days before the fight was to take place, however, Tyson's new trainer Freddie Roach announced that he didn't think Tyson was ready for the fight and advised him to not go through with it, citing Tyson's lack of condition, as well as the fact that a loss to a journeyman like Etienne could end Tyson's career. Two days later, the fight was cancelled after both the fight's promoters and Tyson's team failed to hear back from Tyson about whether or not he would go through with the fight. However, Tyson arrived in Memphis the following day, seemingly putting the fight back on, but the fight was again held up as Etienne pulled out because several members of his camp had already left Memphis after the first cancellation. The following day, Etienne had a change of heart and stated "This morning, I woke up and I thought about it. I realized that I've worked all these weeks for this. I weighed everything out again. The fight is on."
Despite concerns about Tyson's condition, the fight would prove to be one of his quickest victories. Tyson would start the match aggressively by throwing powerful combinations at Etienne, causing Etienne to clinch with Tyson, though the combined momentum of the two fighters caused both men to stumble to the mat and the referee then called a brief timeout to allow the fighters to regroup from the fall. After the fight was resumed, Tyson continued to throw wild power punches at Etienne, though none connected. Etienne responded by throwing several power punches of his own which caused Tyson to clinch. After being separated, Etienne missed Tyson with a left jab–right hand combination. Tyson then missed with a left hook, but rebounded with a strong right hand that sent Etienne down. Etienne laid flat on his back and made no attempt to get back up as the referee counted him out. Tyson was then awarded the knockout victory at 49 seconds of the first round. The victory would be the 50th and final one of Tyson's professional career.
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