'I had to quit Mike Tyson's fight camp - I couldn't believe what he'd done'

Mike Tyson's former trainer has recalled how he reacted to his boxer getting a tattoo on his face just days before a fight, which he won inside a minute

One of Mike Tyson’s former trainers had to quit a fight camp after the boxing icon got a tattoo on his face just before a bout.

Following his shattering defeat by Lennox Lewis in 2002, Tyson returned to the ring the following year, knocking out Clifford Etienne inside a minute in Memphis. However, that wasn’t the most memorable aspect of the fight, which proved to be the final victory of his storied career.

Just three days before the fight, Tyson shocked the world – and even those within his inner circle – by getting a Maori-style symbol inked on his face. One of his best friends, former bantamweight and featherweight world champion Jeff Fenech, trained Tyson for the fight and assumed it could not go ahead, promptly returning to his native Australia.

“This guy’s just got this crazy tattoo on his face,” Fenech recalled during an interview Mirror Fighting ahead of Tyson’s showdown with Jake Paul in Dallas on November 15.

“I was like, ‘How’s he going to fight with this fresh tattoo on his face?’ And he told me he didn’t want to fight so I jumped on a plane and went home.”

However, the fight did go ahead, with legendary trainer Freddie Roach taking Fenech’s place in Tyson’s corner. Fenech added: “Three days later, he weighs in and fights.

“Apparently [there was] pressure from [broadcasters] Showtime and the promoters. He jumped in the ring, which was a huge risk, but God was on his side and he knocked Clifford Etienne out inside a round. That was great.”

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Fenech has no regrets about leaving the camp, though. He said: “I trained him for the whole fight but missed out on enjoying the win with him.

“I don’t regret that at all because when he got that tattoo on his face, that was a sign to me. You don’t get a tattoo on your face three days before a fight.”

In light of that experience and with Tyson clearly coming to the end of the road, Fenech made sure he stayed put for what proved to be the final fight of his pro career, throwing the towel in during the defeat to Kevin McBride in 2005.

On the chaotic build-up to that fight, Fenech reflected: “He was training so well and then all of a sudden he felt he needed to have a couple of days off, which I thought was a great idea. Then I never saw him for seven or eight days!

“It wasn’t the perfect preparation but he still fought. And the reason I stayed was because, if something happened, I was going to look after Mike. I stopped the fight.

“There were people in the corner telling me not to stop it but I told them I was the boss and that I wasn’t letting him take anymore punishment. That was a priority of mine.”

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