At the time, Tyson held the belts of all three of the major sanctioning organizations (WBA, WBC, and IBF) while Spinks was The Ring and Lineal champion.

Michael Spinks became a professional boxer shortly after he won the gold medal at middleweight in the 1976 Summer Olympics.

Initially, Spinks was more concerned with assisting his brother Leon's rise to the heavyweight championship, but was later convinced to turn pro himself.

In 1981 Spinks fought Eddie Mustafa Muhammad for the WBA light heavyweight championship and defeated him by decision to win his first world title.

[3][6][8][9] Mike Tyson turned professional in 1985 and won his first 19 fights by knockout, quickly garnering media attention and establishing an "aura of invincibility".

[7] In his very next fight Tyson faced James "Bonecrusher" Smith, who had won the WBA title in an upset over Tim Witherspoon earlier in 1986, and defeated him by unanimous decision.

Tyson faced Tucker, the winner, in August 1987 and won by unanimous decision, becoming the first fighter to unify all three major titles.

[13] By April an agreement had been reached, although another problem arose when the IBF threatened to strip Tyson of their title if the fight was not scheduled for 15 rounds.

IBF president Bob Lee then relented, not wanting his organisation to be absent from the biggest fight of the year, and agreed to a 12-round limit.

[20] In the days leading up to the fight, one or both men featured on the cover of TIME,[21] People,[22] Sports Illustrated[23] and Ring Magazine.

[24] Celebrities such as Jack Nicholson, Sylvester Stallone, Sean Penn, Madonna, Warren Beatty, Oprah Winfrey, Billy Crystal, George Steinbrenner, Carl Weathers, Jesse Jackson and Chuck Norris would all be in attendance.

[27] Co-promoter Shelly Finkel predicted that the bout would surpass Marvin Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard and become the highest grossing fight in boxing history.

[29][30] Former world champions Jake LaMotta and Billy Conn and trainers Gil Clancy, Angelo Dundee and Richie Giachetti all picked Tyson to win by knockout,[30] as did Gerry Cooney and Dan Duva.

[29] James Smith, who had lost a decision to Tyson the previous year, said that for Spinks to win he would "need to take me in the ring with him.

[30] Muhammad Ali thought Spinks would win, as "he hits hard enough, he'll stick and move, he's fast on his feet, and he'll keep his distance.

"[19] Reigning WBA welterweight champion Marlon Starling, veteran announcer Don Dunphy and Tyson's former trainer Teddy Atlas also favoured Spinks.

[30][31] Contender Meldrick Taylor felt Tyson would win if it ended in a knockout, but favoured Spinks if it went the distance.

The matter was only resolved when Spinks' trainer Eddie Futch was called in, and he accepted that Tyson's gloves were fine.

When Lewis had left and Tyson once again prepared to leave his dressing room, he told his trainer Kevin Rooney: "you know, I'm gonna hurt this guy.

He moved off the ropes but Tyson trapped him again; a left uppercut and a right hand to the body forced Spinks to take a knee after a minute, which marked the second time Spinks had been knocked down in his professional career since a controversial ruled knockdown against Dwight Muhammad Qawi during the eighth round of their 1983 encounter.

Futch opined that Spinks was undone because he abandoned his gameplan of boxing and moving early on and instead tried to win Tyson's respect.