After 56 professional bouts, Mike Tyson was victorious in 50 of them with 44 knockouts, giving him a 75% knockout percentage.
And there were times when Tyson was at the receiving end of the punishment. In his professional career, he was defeated 6 times and suffered a knock-out loss 5 times.
However, ironically, more than a decade later, Tyson is unable to recall how many times he was defeated via either a knockout or a technical knockout.
The sport of boxing is competitive and brutal. It is very uncommon to witness a professional boxer have multiple bouts and suffer no defeats, especially as a heavyweight. Tyson’s record is impressive despite his defeats. Not to mention, 3 of his 6 knockout defeats came within a span of a couple of years up to his retirement. But, Tyson does not shy away from talking about his shortcomings inside the ring.
In a recent interview with renowned media personality Joe Budden, Tyson was reflecting back on his career and talked about knocking out opponents. Simultaneously, he acknowledged that there were boxers who were able to knock him out as well. Tyson stated, “There are people who put me down as well. I am sure.” To which, Budden responded with a question asking, “How many times have you been put down” and Tyson answered, “5-6 I don’t know.”
Although Tyson’s guess was extremely close to the actual answer, he did not give a definite reply.
Intriguingly, his defeats just go to show that even a legendary fighter like Tyson is fallible. However, what differentiated him from other fighters was his resilience and work ethic.
Is Mike Tyson embarrassed about being knocked out 5 times?
When Tyson revealed in the interview that he was knocked out “5-6” times, Budden responded by asserting, “That’s not a lot”.
To which, Tyson had a very sound answer. While giggling, he responded, “No. Depends what you think a lot is. Somebody may think 1 is too much.”