Peter McNeere is undoubtedly a minor figure in heavyweight boxing history, but as Mike "The Iron Man" Tyson's first opponent out of prison, McNeere is destined to be remembered for generations to come. In that 1995 contest, McNeilley tasted Tyson's iron fist, so what was it like to be hit by Tyson? McNeilley recalls the scene in an interview with Sports Illustrated.
McNeelay, nicknamed "The Hurricane," is a muscular white man, and the hair on his chest adds to his toughness, but against Tyson, McNeere is more like he was hit by a lucky lottery in the sky.
At first, many reports suggested that Tyson's opening game out of prison was likely to be against George "The Devil" Foreman, but promoter Don King eventually pushed McNeilley to the forefront.
When fighting Tyson, McNeelay's 36-1 record seems to be good, but in fact, the quality of the game is not worth mentioning, because according to the boxrec boxing archive network, before facing Tyson, all McNeelay's duels were all 0 stars, not even 1 star, it is not difficult to imagine that he has defeated some people, but as Tyson's opponent who has been away from boxing for three years, McNeilley is qualified, after all, it is very safe.
McNeilley still remembers what happened during the race, saying, "I weighed in at 224 pounds and Tyson 220 pounds, but one hour before the start of the race, we both decided to lose some weight and I ended up with 220 pounds and Tyson 216 pounds. ”
McNeilley thinks it's more dangerous to drop Tyson to 216 pounds, saying, "216 pounds gives Tyson the best speed, but it's those invisible punches that hurt you the most." Later, when I met Tyson again, he had reached 240 pounds and was very athletic enough to tear anyone to shreds. ”
Despite the pre-fight trash talk and "winning" in the fight, McNeay held on for just 89 seconds before falling twice in the face of Tyson's iron fist attack, when his coach and agent, Vinnie Vecchione, rushed into the ring and gave up resistance.
Despite Tyson's undisputed victory, fans didn't buy it, believing that McNeille's team deliberately conceded defeat in that situation, which was very unauthentic. McNeeray felt aggrieved by the outside world's doubts, and although it has been 29 years since the battle with Tyson, McNeeray admitted that he was indeed injured at the time.
"I'm thankful that Vicchione rushed into the ring, otherwise I don't know what would have happened if the fight had continued," McNeere said. When I was knocked down for the second time and stood up, except for the lights of the fight scene, everything else was blurry, and I couldn't even see the figure clearly, and I was obviously knocked unconscious, but I was still standing there, and at the same time my legs didn't obey, and if it wasn't for the rope behind me, I might have fallen to my knees again. ”
If McNeelay's description is correct, it seems that he is really not pretending, and it means that he really can't hold on, so it is wise to end the game early.
Although he was fortunate enough to be Tyson's first opponent after being released from prison, it was a pity that McNeille did not make any surprising moves after that, but successfully played the role of a sandbag. After losing to Tyson, McNeilley lost another 5 games, all 5 of which were stopped by opponents, 3 of which did not survive 2 rounds, it seems that it is really not good, but Tyson made McNeere and made him write his name in the annals of history, as for McNeere himself, his biggest asset is often telling the feeling of being hit hard by Tyson.