Exclusive: I made Mike Tyson retire from boxing… Two decades on he’s making $20million to fight Jake Paul and I’m a paver… Continue Reading

Years before Jake Paul had even launched his first YouTube channel, boxing history was being made in Washington DC.

After an iconic decades-long run that saw him become undisputed heavyweight champion and reclaim gold after a prison stint, Mike Tyson decided to hang up his gloves. The date was June 11, 2005, and the venue was the MCI Center in the United States capital.

Tyson was arguably up on the scorecards, but had just been floored by little-known Irishman Kevin McBride with a shot that wasn’t called an official knockdown by referee Joe Cortez. And as he sat down at the end of their sixth round, ‘Iron Mike’ decided to quit not just the fight, but boxing altogether.

Mike Tyson retired after being defeated by Kevin McBride
On that fateful night in Washington, Monaghan native Kevin McBride managed to live out what he refers to as a ‘Cinderella story’. Entering with a record of 32-4-1, he was believed to be canon fodder for a returning Tyson who was attempting to launch one last run in the sport.

“It was a dream for me coming true,” McBride explained in an exclusive chat with Bloody Elbow. “To actually be in the ring with the most feared man in the world, I remember growing up and hoping to one day just meet Mike Tyson.”

Not only did he meet Tyson, but he managed to do it with his idol as a heavyweight boxer watching from ringside. “I also wanted to meet Muhammad Ali and I got to meet the two of them in the one night. I beat one of them as well, that was Tyson.

“And it’s my wee claim to fame in America, but my big claim is that I have two beautiful kids and a lovely wife, thank God we’re all healthy.”

He got to spend some time with Ali after the event was done, adding: “After the fight I got to meet Muhammad Ali and shake his hand. I got to hug him and say ‘this is the greatest night of my life’.

I’m after meeting and beating a legend and now I’m meeting the greatest of all time. Muhammad Ali then threw a few punches at me and said ‘I’m the greatest, you’re the latest’. At the end of the day, the whole thing was surreal.”

Kevin McBride is now a paver in Boston, while Mike Tyson is returning for $20million
The fight was never about money for McBride, who accepted a limited purse in order to get the chance to share the ring with one of the sport’s icons. “I was offered small money, maybe $150,000,” he explained.

“But I couldn’t care less about that, I just wanted to get in the ring with him, it wasn’t about money at all for me when it came to Mike Tyson. He ain’t no joke and I would have fought him for free.”

And he is now literally thousands of miles from the tens of millions that will be fought for on Friday night at the AT&T Stadium as Tyson faces Jake Paul. He will be watching live on Netflix from his home in Boston while Tyson pockets a reported $20million and Paul takes home double.

“I work with this guy now Mathias and I do paving,” he explained. “I must have lost 50lb this summer and I’d be able to make fighting weight again… Regular people around Boston know me, but it doesn’t matter and I don’t go around telling people ‘hey I’m Kevin McBride’.

“Sometimes when I’m doing the detailing for my boss a cop will say ‘look at that big guy there, he’s six-foot-six with thick size 18 shoes’… Someone might then say ‘you know he actually beat Mike Tyson’ and they’ll say ‘Jesus, you beat Mike Tyson?’ I have to say yeah.

“I’ll even say ‘do you want to know how I beat him?’ They’ll say ‘yeah’ and I’ll go ‘boo’ and scare them. What I did in boxing, I was happy to have a dream come true. Sure you’d love to be world heavyweight champion and the iron was hot for a while, but it’s hard to get them kind of fights.”