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April 10, 1985. Today exactly 21 years ago Mike Tyson fought his second professional fight at the age of just 18. While the fight against Trent Singleton in the ring looked very easy, the psychological fight was all but that. People who have stepped in the ring aswell know this by experience: the crushing emotional feelings before your very first fights. Mike Tyson once said it the best with his quote: “A lot of people don’t understand the psychological trip in heavyweight fighting. The greatest fighter in the world is not the guy with the most skills and most talent. The greatest fighter in the world is good at keeping his composure under all the pressure”. This quote goes back to the very basic of Cus D’Amato’s famous teaching of Fire & Fear.

To put this psychological aspect of boxing in light I’d like to share the full video of this fight along with an excerpt about Tyson’s fight against Trent Singleton from José Torres’ book “Fire & Fear: The Inside Story of Mike Tyson”.

By José Torres:
On April 10, 1985, Trent Singleton, a fighter with a poor record but an impressive physique was coolly waiting to fight the relatively unknown Tyson. He would be Tyson’s second opponent. I had visited Singleton, wished him good luck, and told him, as I tell all boxers, to protect himself.
Tyson, tense and anxious, was not too far away in his own dressing room, throwing punches at an invisible opponent. He was trying to put into practices D’Amato’s teachings: relaxation, emotional control.
“I don’t have to tell you,” I told Mike as he paced the large dressing room he was sharing with a few other fighters, “that feeling of wishing to be somewhere else at this moment is normal. The other bastard in the next dressing room is as much or more afraid than you.” Mike, his head down, never looked up, his face remained expressionless. “You know this, but I must remind you that if you didn’t have those feelings I would tell Cus that you’re a dumb, crazy kid not worth keeping.”
No response. “Are you listening?” I asked.
“Uh-huh.”
“At least you’re not shaking like I always did,” I said.
Before my first professional fight I couldn’t control the trembling of my hands or the butterflies in my stomach. I remember my teeth chattering so loudly that my opponent, Gene Hamilton, who was standing next to me, asked if I was cold. I gave him a nervous laugh for an answer because I had noticed his stomach was quivering out of control. I couldn’t control my own trembling, but I felt my energy level increasing as the fight approached.
“Just try to relax,” I said now. “And when you walk in, don’t forget to keep your hands up, your chin down, and punch always in combination.”
Tyson nodded a couple of times and then I told him to stand up and show me. He did, and I thought he was loose enough. I said, “Now, you’re ready to search and destroy.” He managed a spiritless smile.
Minutes later, as referee Sid Rubenstein gave the usual instructions in the center of the ring, Mike stared at the canvas, biting down on his mouthpiece. Fifty-two seconds after that, Rubenstein made Tyson stop punching. The referee had probably prevented Singleton’s brains from being scrambled. The fight was suddenly over and Tyson was a happy, beaming teenager. He looked at me as if he was surprised with the ease of his triumph. Rubenstein’s instructions had taken longer than the fight itself.