Mike Tyson Will Not Speak At the Republican National Convention, Trump Tweets

Donald Trump quashed a rumor that Mike Tyson would be among the speakers at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July. "

"The media makes everything up," said the presumptive Republican nominee in a tweet. "But if Iron Mike were to speak, though, he'd do a good job."

The convention won’t just be a family affair, says Politico. Trump has publicly talked about calling upon his celebrity friends to join him at the convention, and Bloomberg reported this week that he’s looking to roll out a line of high-profile athletes as well, including retired boxer Mike Tyson and NASCAR CEO Brian France, though Trump has denied Tyson was invited to speak.

“It's not gonna be a hohum lineup of the typical politicians," Ivanka Trump said Wednesday in a radio interview. “It’s gonna be a great combination of our great politicians, but also great American businessmen and women, and leaders across industry and leaders across really all the sectors, from athletes to coaches and everything in between." http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/trumps-convention-stars-his-kids-224969#ixzz4D4uR9NII

Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson, 50, is an American former professional boxer. He held the undisputed world heavyweight championship and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF heavyweight titles at 20 years, 4 months, and 22 days old.[4] Tyson won his first 19 professional bouts by knockout, 12 of them in the first round. He won the WBC title in 1986 after defeating Trevor Berbick by a TKO in the second round. In 1987, Tyson added the WBA and IBF titles after defeating James Smith and Tony Tucker. This made him the first heavyweight boxer to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBC and IBF titles, and the only heavyweight to successively unify them.

Tyson was arrested in July 1991 for the rape of 18-year-old Desiree Washington, Miss Black Rhode Island, in an Indianapolis hotel room. Tyson's rape trial took place in the Marion County superior court from January 26, 1992 to February 10, 1992. When he was convicted, Donald Trump was among his defenders, saying the Boxer had "been railroaded."

Desiree Washington testified that she received a phone call from Tyson at 1:36 am on July 19, 1991 inviting her to a party. Having joined Tyson in his limousine, Washington testified that Tyson made sexual advances towards her. She testified that upon arriving at his hotel room, Tyson pinned her down on his bed and raped her despite her pleas to stop. She ran out of the room and asked Tyson's chauffeur to drive her back to her hotel.[citation needed] Partial corroboration of Washington's story came via testimony from Tyson's chauffeur, Virginia Foster, who confirmed Desiree Washington's state of shock. Further testimony came from Thomas Richardson, the emergency room physician who examined Washington more than 24 hours after the incident and confirmed that Washington's physical condition was consistent with rape.[64]

Under lead defense lawyer Vincent J. Fuller's direct examination, Tyson claimed that everything had taken place with Washington's full cooperation and he claimed not to have forced himself upon her. When he was cross-examined by lead prosecutor Gregory Garrison, Tyson denied claims that he had misled Washington and insisted that she wanted to have sex with him. Because of Tyson's hostile and defensive responses to the questions during cross-examination, some have speculated that his behavior made him unlikable to the jury who saw him as brutish and arrogant.[65] Tyson was convicted on the rape charge on February 10, 1992 after the jury deliberated for nearly 10 hours.

Alan Dershowitz, acting as Tyson's counsel, filed an appeal urging error of law in the Court's exclusion of evidence of the victim's past sexual conduct, the exclusion of three potential defense witnesses, and the lack of a jury instruction on honest and reasonable mistake of fact. The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled against Tyson in a 2–1 vote.

In 1988, Tyson became the lineal champion when he knocked out Michael Spinks in 91 seconds. Tyson successfully defended the world heavyweight championship nine times, including victories over Larry Holmes and Frank Bruno. In 1990, he lost his titles to underdog James "Buster" Douglas, by knockout in round 10. Attempting to regain the titles, he defeated Donovan Ruddock twice in 1991, but pulled out of a fight with undisputed heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield due to injury. In 1992, Tyson was convicted of rape and sentenced to six years in prison, but was released after serving three years. After his release, he engaged in a series of comeback fights.

In 1996, he won the WBC and WBA titles after defeating Frank Bruno and Bruce Seldon by knockout. With his defeat of Bruno, Tyson joined Floyd Patterson, Muhammad Ali, Tim Witherspoon, Evander Holyfield, and George Foreman as the only men in boxing history to that point to have regained a heavyweight championship after having lost it. After being stripped of the WBC title, Tyson lost his WBA crown to Evander Holyfield in November 1996 by an eleventh-round TKO. Their 1997 rematch ended when Tyson was disqualified for biting part of Holyfield's ear off.