Mike Tyson, Who Was Suffering From Illness, Had to Pull Out Days Before Scheduled Bout & Ultimately Lose a Chance of Avenging His Devastating Loss

Published 09/12/2022, 4:15 PM EDT

Mike Tyson recently left the Miami International Airport in a wheelchair and shocked all his fans. Later, fans discovered that Tyson was suffering from a painful condition called sciatica. This is not the first time the former heavyweight champion of the world has fallen sick. In 2003, after he lost to Lennox Lewis in an unprecedented outcome, Mike Tyson canceled his bout with Clifford Etienne reportedly bedridden with flu.

At the time Tyson was 36-year-old, and just a little prior to the cancellation of this fight, had done the famous tattoo on his face. However, the fight finally took place on 22nd February, 2003 and Tyson won via a first-round KO. Tyson started off by stretching his arms and moving side by side like a windshield. Then, as soon as the duo occupied the center of the ring, ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’ attacked with his jab.

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At a point, Etienne fell on Tyson with all his weight in a corner in the ring. The referee got them up and Tyson started closing in. With Tyson’s aggressiveness and ferocity, the bout looked close to being over. With 2:17 on the clock, Tyson attempted a left hook to Etienne’s head. Etienne ducked but unfortunately made a wrong angle. This allowed Tyson to throw a straight hook to Etienne’s open chin. Etienne fell half-unconscious on the ground and Tyson helped him up.

Mike Tyson lost rematch with Lennox Lewis following postponement with Etienne

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Had Tyson fought Etienne on the initial date, he would have had a rematch with Lewis against whom he had lost. However, his postponement with Etienne eradicated his chance of avenging his past loss to Lennox Lewis in their June bout. In addition, Tyson was unhappy with his purse.

To fight Etienne, Tyson was offered only $5 million, a quarter of what he made when he fought Lennox Lewis in June, 2003. Anyway, Tyson won and went to fight two more fights before hanging up his gloves and calling it a day.

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What is your memory from the Tyson vs. Etienne fight? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by:

Samrat Sardar is a Boxing writer at EssentiallySports and is currently a final year undergraduate student of English literature. A passionate content creator, he has been writing since his high school days, and possesses work experience as a commercial writer for companies such as WordsKraft among others. Samrat believes he fell in love with boxing the day he watched Vasiliy Lomachenko share the ring with Guillermo Rigondeaux.

Edited by:

Ajinkya Aswale

Mike Tyson, Who Was Suffering From Illness, Had to Pull Out Days Before Scheduled Bout & Ultimately Lose a Chance of Avenging His Devastating Loss

Mike Tyson lost rematch with Lennox Lewis following postponement with Etienne

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