Mike Tyson's troubled past - three marriages, prison sentence and drug addiction

Mike Tyson has had a heavily troubled past with much of the controversies in his life occurring at the peak of his fame

Mike Tyson caused controversy when he slapped rival Jake Paul as they completed their weigh in ahead of their big fight in Texas.

The retro boxer is set to take on the YouTube star in a long-awaited bout that has sport fans on the edge of their seats waiting to see how the 58-year-old fares against his 27-year-old opponent. While Tyson was renowned for his boxing ability in the ring his heyday the fighter had a troubled personal life and found himself struggling to cope with his demons.

Despite all his struggles outside of the ring, Tyson continued to dominate in boxing, beginning his fighting career with 19 straight victories. He'd continue to fly up the heavyweight ranks, recording a 50-6 record and 44 wins by knockout en route to being named "The Baddest Man on the Planet."

Marriage has always been important to the boxer and he credits one woman with helping him beat his addictions and getting him back on the straight and narrow, his beloved wife, Lakiha Spicer. The couple had first met when Lakiha was just 18 but didn't start dating until shortly before their marriage in 2009.

However, Lakiha was jailed for six months in 2008 for defrauding her father's company and was pregnant with her future husband's baby when she was sent to prison. When she was released, she found her soon-to-be-husband had used drugs as a way of coping, but she helped him to battle through the addictions.

Tyson previously said: "Without my wife, I’m a savage animal… I look at women differently as I get older. I’m very happy me and my wife got together, because I don’t know how I would have survived out there."

Tyson had been married twice before Lakhia - first to actress Robin Givens and doctor Monica Turner. Tyson and Givens wed in 1988 but their marriage was a tumultuous one and lasted just 12 months.

There were rumours of violence and domestic abuse and in a bombshell interview, with her husband sitting next to her, Givens described life with the boxer as "torture, pure hell, worse than anything I could possibly imagine". She claimed her husband was a manic depressive and just a month later, she filed for divorce.

Following the breakdown of his marriage to Givens, Tyson claimed he had caught her in bed with Hollywood A-lister, Brad Pitt. The couple had separated but the boxer would still visit his ex at home almost daily.

He claims it was on one of these visits that he caught Brad Pitt in her bed. Tyson said: "I was mad as hell. I was going to... you should have saw his face when he saw me." He then wrote in his autobiography: "He looked like he was ready to receive his last rites."

Tyson's second wife was paediatrician Monica Turner. The couple tied the knot in 1997 in a quiet ceremony after meeting seven years earlier at a party thrown by actor Eddie Murphy.

They had hoped to live a peaceful life in their home in Maryland but just four years later, Monica filed for divorce, citing adultery. They have two children, Rayna and Amir. Monica, a doctor who worked in Washington, had even visited Tyson every two weeks when he was jailed for rape.

Tyson went to prison in 1992 after being convicted of raping 18-year-old Miss Black America beauty-pageant contestant Desiree Washington. 'Iron Mike' was sentenced to 10 years with six in prison and four years suspended. He served less than three years before being released on probation due to his "good behaviour." But the heavyweight previously revealed that he had a year added to his sentence due to his aggressive behaviour when he first arrived in prison.

He has since had a second rape claim filed against him and his legal team are currently preparing to face the civil lawsuit in federal court. The lawsuit was initially filed in January 2023, but resurfaced again in June with his accuser claiming that Tyson brutally raped and sexually assaulted her in the early 1990s in the back of a limousine.

She has told the court that she accidentally cited the wrong date of the alleged attack on her initial filing, reports USA TODAY Sports. His attorneys reportedly plan to file opposition paper on November 18 – three days after his fight with Paul at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Tyson also faced controversy when he notoriously bit off part of his opponent Evander Holyfield's ear during a brutal fight in the ring. The infamous fight in 1997 shocked the sporting world as Tyson ramped up his reputation as being ruthless and violent. Holyfield won the fight when referee Mills Lane disqualified Tyson in the third round after he had bitten Holyfield twice.

Growing up in Brooklyn, Tyson was exposed to a wide array of crime and illegal substances, reportedly landing in jail 38 separate times before turning 13. Despite boxing providing him with an opportunity to turn his life around, he continued to get in trouble with the law throughout his career - citing an inner battle within himself as the cause.

He recently spoke on an episode of Good Trouble with Nick Kyrgios and said: "At first you want the fame of being a champion but that's... you have no control then. And that's when I first started getting in trouble, because sometimes I might be walking the streets, they don't know my mother died, my brother died, something about my family, I'm hurt and they just jumping in, 'Hey man, give me a picture. Hey man this. Hey man. I love you. Give me this.'"

He added: "I might not be in the mood, so I used to be violent about it. And then, I started getting quite a few lawsuits and I stopped. I'm a glutton for pain, but I stopped. I couldn't sign anymore checks."

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