On January 24, 1986: Heavyweight Mike Tyson, just 19, breaks Rocky Marciano’s record for consecutive knockouts at the start of a career, stopping an overweight, 31-year-old tomato can named Mike Jameson in the fifth round in Atlantic City. Tyson does not appear as sharp as in the past as he records his 17th knockout. From the opening bell, Tyson drives punches into the beefy sides of Jameson before bringing his blows up to his opponent’s head. Jameson is 6-foot-4 and 236¼ pounds and described by The New York Times as “a jiggly slab of a man with drooping pectorals and rolls of fat protruding from his waist band.” Tyson, who is 5-foot-11 and weighs 215 pounds, scores knockdowns in the fourth and fifth rounds. After the second knockdown, the referee stops the fight, though Jameson, whose record drops to 17-10, protests the decision. This is the longest of Tyson’s 17 fights.
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