36 years ago, a young Mike Tyson was making a name for himself in the world of boxing. He was an animal. An unstoppable force who couldn't be tamed, just ask Joe Cortez.
At the age of 15, you can see how developed and skilled Tyson was in the ring. His famous speed and agility is clear to see, even at such a young age. Cortez had no chance.
In the opening seconds of the round, a young Tyson almost ran towards Cortez, throwing lefts and rights like no tomorrow.
It took him just under 10 seconds to KO the clearly dazzled Cortez and the rest is history:
Mike Tyson knocking out opponents doesn't stop there.
Let's go back to February 22, 2003 at The Pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee.
Billed as 'Back to Business', it was Tyson's first fight after what would turn out to be his final title contest against Lennox Lewis, who on June 8, 2002 had made mincemeat of the former heavyweight champion from Brooklyn.
Beaten in every round by the judge's scorecards, Tyson eventually got taken down for good by Lewis in the eighth. It was the beginning of the end for Tyson's career in the ring, which would eventually draw to an underwhelming close in 2005.
However, this brief fight in between that murky part of his latter career would demonstrate for the last time the once-unmatched aggression and power of Iron Mike.
Such was the aggression, in fact, that the two boxers both stumbled to the mat just seconds into the bout. Allowing for a brief time out on both sides, the referee soon resumed the fight. Tyson, once again, didn't beat around the bush.
Etienne swung for Tyson with a left-jab-right hand combination but missed. Tyson then missed a left hook. Not that it mattered, because his follow-up right hand sent Etienne crashing to the mat like a fucking rag doll.
Etienne, completely surrendered, made no attempts to bring an end to the referee's count.
The victory would prove to be the 50th and final of Tyson's illustrious-if-troublesome career.
In an interview with Jim Gray following the fight, Tyson said he was reluctant to face Lewis for a rematch, saying he would require at least two more tuneup bouts before even considering getting in the ring with him again.
With both men approaching the end of their 30s and careers, Lewis gave Tyson an April 15 deadline to accept the offer of fighting in June 2003.
Tyson passed and agreed to face Oleg Maskaev on the undercard of Lewis' title match against Vitali Klitschko.
He would eventually pull out of that fight, and take a 17-month break from boxing before returning on July 30, 2004, to take on Danny Williams.
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