[2] Afterward, Tyson took steps to become a power in the heavyweight division while Holyfield went on to win the bronze medal in Los Angeles.

In 1986, Tyson became the youngest fighter ever to win a world heavyweight championship when he knocked Trevor Berbick out in the second round to win the WBC title as part of an ongoing series of fights designed to unify the belts of the WBA, WBC, and the IBF and create an undisputed world champion.

The next year, Tyson won the other two championships to become the first fighter since Leon Spinks to be an undisputed world heavyweight champion.

[citation needed] Tyson's loss to Buster Douglas, which he had intended as a tune-up fight for the Holyfield match, derailed those plans.

Tyson, meanwhile, entered into a fight with Canadian heavyweight contender Donovan Ruddock with the winner to face Holyfield.

He fought journeyman Peter McNeeley in his first fight and then, before a national television audience, knocked out fringe contender Buster Mathis, Jr.

The WBC installed him as its number one contender and ordered the winner of a fight between Oliver McCall, their champion who knocked out Lennox Lewis in 1994, and Frank Bruno, a veteran British contender who had fought and lost to Tyson during his first run as champion, to fight him in their next bout.

[citation needed] Preparing to fight Tyson, Holyfield employed Mike Weaver, the WBA ex-champion, as a personal assistant.

Undefeated WBC world minimumweight champion Ricardo Lopez knocked out contender Morgan Ndumo in the sixth round to retain his title.

WBA super bantamweight champion Antonio Cermeno defeated challenger Eddy Saenz after his opponent decided not to continue following the fifth round.

Henry Akinwande, a British fighter who defeated Jeremy Williams for the title Riddick Bowe vacated to set up the third and last fight with Holyfield, took on former NABF champion Alexander Zolkin.

[6] At the time of the stoppage judges Glen Hamada and Chuck Giampa had scored 106–100 to Moorer, while Stuart Winston had it 103–104 for Botha.

In the second, Holyfield drove Tyson into the ropes and stung him with a hard combination, and his strategy for the match became clear.

Keeping Tyson on the back foot minimized his power and affected his balance, and gave Holyfield the opportunity to come forward and score with combinations to the head.

[10][failed verification] Holyfield also became the first person since Muhammad Ali to win a heavyweight championship belt three times, although, unlike Ali, Holyfield's third championship win had not been for the lineal heavyweight title,[11] which was at that time held by George Foreman.