Mike Tyson's weight class was heavy.
Heavyweight is a weight class in boxing and other combat sports . Michael Gerard Tyson ( [ ˈtaɪsən ] born June 30 , 1966 ) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005 . This made Tyson the first heavyweight boxer to simultaneously hold the WBA , WBC and IBF titles , and the only heavyweight to successively unify them . With his defeat of Bruno , Tyson joined Floyd Patterson , Muhammad Ali , Tim Witherspoon , Evander Holyfield , George Foreman as the only men in boxing history to have regained a heavyweight championship after having lost it . Nicknamed `` Iron , '' and `` Kid Dynamite '' in his early career , and later known as `` The Baddest Man on the Planet , '' Tyson is considered one of the best heavyweights of all time .