Mike Tyson earned just $450 for professional debut, leaving rival on canvas in two minutes with thunderous KO

Mike Tyson would have to earn 44,000 times more to fight Jake Paul than he did in his professional debut.

The heavyweight legend is considered one of the greatest boxers of all time in his prime, conquering the sport by becoming undisputed world champion and then headlining huge events against the likes of Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield.

At his peak, Tyson earned around $430 million (£337.5 million) from the sport, but lost the vast majority of his fortune.

That money certainly didn’t come from his first professional appearance against Hector Mercedes in 1985, where he revealed he only had $100 (£80) left after cashing in the rest of his total purse of $450 (£280) .

Tyson said in his autobiography Undisputed Truth: “I made almost no money from those early fights.

“My first fight lost the promoter money, but Jimmy (Jacobs) gave me $500.

“Then he took $50 to give to Kevin and he put $350 in the bank for me, so I left with $100.”

At the time, Tyson was managed by Jacobs, his professional debut failing to sell out the Plaza Convention Center in Albany, New York, which left everyone involved at a financial loss.

Although he later made a serious statement as being one of the brightest prospects, knocking out the journeyman in just one minute and fifty seconds.

This sparked a career of punching power supremacy, as he quickly became the youngest heavyweight champion of the world at the age of 20, defeating Trevor Berbick in November 1986 after racking up 27 victories.

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Tyson earned $1.5 million (£1.2 million) for that famous night, but his winnings have exploded, with ‘Iron Mike’ raking in $30 million (£24 million) for his rematch with Frank Bruno and two epic clashes with Evander Holyfield.

His career high came for his defeat to Lennox Lewis in 2002, where he pocketed a whopping $35 million (£28 million) for the famous clash under the Las Vegas lights.

Tyson unfortunately filed for bankruptcy in 2003, but has since regained his wealth through business investments.

The 57-year-old will now earn $20 million for his upcoming showdown with Paul.

Paul and Tyson are set to face off in front of 80,000 fans in a battle to be streamed on Netflix, despite their 31-year age gap.

Justified health concerns have been raised given that he will be stepping into the ring at 58, but he has attempted to take the boxing world by storm with several snippets of training footage.

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