The final win of Mike Tyson’s career saw a new face tattoo and crazy KO despite a ‘broken back’ against Clifford Etienne who was later sentenced to 160 years in prison

Mike Tyson scored the final win of his storied career 20 years ago this month – and it was arguably his craziest knockout involving a fresh face tattoo, a ‘spinal’ injury, both boxers trying to pull out during fight week and a brutal 49-second stoppage.

Clifford ‘The Black Rhino’ Etienne was the opponent and, like Tyson, he was viewed as a dangerous puncher. Having learned to box while in prison for attempted armed robbery, Etienne had built a 24-1-1 pro record – scoring 17 KOs including 11 in the first round.

He was chosen as the 36-year-old Tyson’s February 2003 comeback opponent after his defeat by Lennox Lewis because Etienne had also suffered 10 knockdowns. The thinking being that he wouldn’t be able to cope with the former undisputed heavyweight champion’s destructive power – which proved true with a spectacular, if controversial, ending to the fight.

Tyson’s new trainer, Freddie Roach, actually pleaded with his fighter to postpone the event billed as ‘Back to Business’ due to his poor conditioning. Tyson had gone through a messy divorce in January and has since admitted he’d been hanging out in drug dens, taking coke and weed, in the aftermath of his fight with Lewis. Roach feared that a defeat to Etienne could end Tyson’s career.

The fact that Tyson got his Maori facial tattoo just a week before the fight also threw the event into doubt. Any tattoo close to a fight is ill-advised as it can bleed or become infected. Yet Tyson was determined, originally wanting a bunch of hearts on his face (“I was going to be the man of hearts, baby”) until his tattoo artist convinced him that Maori warrior ink was a better look.

The fight looked on the brink of being cancelled until Tyson belatedly showed up in host city Memphis. The confusion around whether the contest was even happening then caused Etienne to pull out – before he changed his mind 24 hours later, perhaps realising there weren’t too many other $1million paydays on his horizon.

The fight itself was shockingly brief. Rather than attempting to box and testing Tyson’s by now suspect stamina, Etienne came in to try and blast ‘Iron Mike’ out – with predictable results. As the two swung wildly at one another, Etienne was caught clean with a couple of blows before the pair clinched and wrestled one another to the canvas.

After the fight resumed, Tyson missed with a left hook but then connected with a thunderous right hand to the jaw that caused Etienne to collapse, his back leg buckling in spectacular fashion. There was no way he was getting back up. Etienne had landed only one left hook, failing to even test the tattoo on the left side of Tyson’s face.

He added: “I had a motorcycle accident and the doctors discovered it. I was doing my sit-ups, 2,500 a day with my 20lb weight, and one day I couldn’t move any more. I asked the doctor what was wrong – and he said: ‘Believe it or not your back is broken slightly.’”

That’s certainly a lot of sit-ups per-day (exactly how many was Roach expecting him to do to get into shape?). Years later Tyson laughed about the interview and explained he actually had a long-standing back injury after years of training.

But in 2003, talk quickly turned to the potential of a money-spinning rematch with Lewis who was still the heavyweight champ. Tyson was keen on the fight but wanted further tune-ups to shake off his ring rust.

“I’ve got issues I’ve got to deal with,” he told the media post-fight. “I’m in pain and I’ve got some serious demons I am fighting… To be honest I’m not ready to fight him [Lewis] at this time. I need more fights.”

For most boxers, a 49-second KO would be the quickest on record. But Tyson made a career of pulverising foes who didn’t belong in the ring with him and the obliteration of Etienne was only the sixth-fastest knockout of his career.

It was Tyson’s 50th professional win and his 44th KO (not counting the stoppage of Andrew Golota, which was changed to a no contest after Tyson failed the post-fight drug test for marijuana). It was also the final victory of his career.

For all his talk of being more active and earning a rematch with Lewis, Tyson’s personal demons were consuming him. He wouldn’t actually enter the ring again until July 2004, when the 38-year-old Tyson was upset by Britain’s Danny Williams, before one last defeat by Kevin McBride in 2005. Two opponents who, with respect, would have been demolished by Tyson at the peak of his powers.

Still, Tyson was at least able to overcome his personal and professional lows to eventually emerge as a fitter, happier, more well-adjusted version of himself. Etienne’s life unfortunately went down a different path. After eight more fights, he went on what was described as a ‘cocaine-fuelled crime spree’ in his native Louisiana.

In August 2005, Etienne robbed a local business, tried to hijack two cars (one containing a woman and her child), then pulled a gun on police officers. He reportedly tried to fire the weapon only for it to jam. After being convicted of armed robbery, kidnapping and the attempted murder of a police officer, Etienne was sentenced to 160 years in prison (later reduced to 105 years due to a technicality).

Etienne’s life tragically spun out of control in a way many feared Tyson’s would after he finished fighting. But at least Etienne got to share the ring with one of the most feared and famous heavyweights of any era – even if the whole event is mainly remembered for just how bizarre it all was.