Professional boxing knocked him out in brutal fashion. This fight made Hagler famous; he was able to lure Ray Leonard out of retirement in 1987, but lost in a highly-controversial decision. Hagler retired from boxing immediately after that fight. In the latter half of the decade young heavyweight Mike Tyson emerged as a serious contender. Nicknamed "Iron Mike", Tyson won the heavyweight unification series to become world heavyweight champion at the age of 20 and the first undisputed champion in a decade. Tyson soon became the most widely known boxer since Ali due to an aura of unrestrained ferocity, such as that
AWA World Heavyweight Championship (Boston version) AWA World Heavyweight Championship (Boston version) The AWA World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship promoted by Paul Bowser in Boston. The title was created by Bowser after Gus Sonnenberg, who had beaten Ed Lewis for the original World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship in 1929, was stripped of the title by the National Boxing Association. Browser continued to recognize Sonnenberg as champion and named his championship after the "American Wrestling Association" governing body, which hitherto did not actually exist. Rival promoters, including Jack Curley, countered by forming the National Wrestling Association and its NWA World Heavyweight Championship. During Don Eagle's