The distance (boxing) 19, 1987. While the International Boxing Federation, which had recently broken away from the WBA, continued to hold onto the position there was no documented medical evidence to show a 15-round fight is more dangerous than a 12-round fight, they eventually voted to shorten their championship distance to 12 rounds as well on June 3, 1988. The last heavyweight 15-rounder title fight was on October 16, 1987 between Mike Tyson and Tyrell Biggs. The last middleweight 15-rounder title fight was a World Boxing Board title match on June 7, 1997 in which Jose Alfredo Flores won a split decision over
Mike Tyson vs. Kevin McBride In April 2005, Tyson officially announced his return to boxing to take on little-known Irish journeyman Kevin McBride on June 11 in Washington, D.C. Though the 38–year old Tyson was far removed from his prime, he nevertheless predicted an easy victory, vowing to "gut (McBride) like a fish" while also calling his opponent a "tomato can". McBride, however, remained confident that he could upset Tyson and promised that he would "shock the world" by defeating Tyson Prior to the fight, Tyson parted ways with trainer Freddie Roach, who had trained Tyson for his two previous fights against Clifford Etienne in