Al “Chico” Evans remains a forgotten heavyweight who dealt Mike Tyson one of the most overlooked defeats of his career, stopping the future champion as a 16-year-old amateur before the sport began to move forward without him.

Tyson wasn’t yet a fearsome professional force that would tear through the heavyweight division. He was still a teenager learning the U.S. amateur scene when Evans, a fully grown 27-year-old heavyweight from Chicago, defeated him in the 1982 U.S. Amateur Championship.

Context matters. Evans deserves full credit for the victory, but the age difference adds perspective.

It was a man standing face to face with a juvenile man who was not yet the completed version that the world would later know.

How Al Evans defeated Mike Tyson

Evans didn’t score a one-punch knockout. Available data indicates a stoppage in the third round, which is consistent with the most detailed press coverage of the fight.

Later Chicago Tribune ReportEvans remembers being warned about Tyson’s strength before the fight. He said Tyson started brisk and picked up early, but felt he was in control of the action despite the pressure.

According to this account, the turning point came in the third quarter. Evans said: “I put in a left hook and that was it.” He then dropped Tyson again with a right hand before the fight was stopped after another fall, a sequence later described by the Chicago Tribune as “flattening” the future champion.

This does not detract from the result, but explains it. Evans beat Tyson clearly enough for the referee to step in, and the knockdown sequence tells the real story better than any headline version.

A context that cannot be ignored

Any truthful story should include where both fighters were at the time. Amateur boxing pits fighters at very different stages of development, and Tyson had yet to become the cohesive, ruthless world title-winning force we saw a few years later.

Despite this, the victory still matters because Evans wasn’t some anonymous opponent pulled out of nowhere. In the amateur ring, he was a legitimate heavyweight with the size, skill and enough pedigree to make the result stand up for scrutiny.

A real contender, not just Tyson trivia

Evans had substance beyond that one night. Reports from the period and the broader history of his amateur career place him among the toughest American heavyweights of the era, even if injuries repeatedly hampered his progress.

He defeated grave opponents, rose to a high level of competition, and in boxing circles became known as a man who managed to do something that almost no one else had done at any stage of Tyson’s career.

That’s why this story continues. Not because it rewrites Tyson’s legacy, and not because it involves exaggeration, but because it shows how uneven a sport can be before greatness has fully taken shape.

Evans never came close to sharing Tyson’s fame. “Iron Mike” became one of the biggest names in sports history while Evans faded into the background.

But the result remains, and so does the account of how it happened.

For this reason, Al “Chico” Evans deserves more than a passing mention. He deserves to be remembered as more than just a curiosity attached to someone’s story.

About the author

Phil Jay is the editor-in-chief of World Boxing News (WBN) and a boxing veteran with over 15 years of experience. Read the full biography.

Michael Conlan may be approaching the end of his career, but the Irishman’s fierce desire to win the world title has not waned in the slightest.

Defeats to Leigh Wood and Luis Alberto Lopez in 2022 and 2023 respectively prevented him from playing, which many believed was almost a foregone conclusion.

He finally entered the professional game in 2017 with a grave point to prove as he received a penalty a truly glaring defeat against Vladimir Nikitin at the Olympic Games in Rio.

However, almost a decade later, Conlan has yet to realize his ultimate ambitions, but he believes a third blow at world honors will soon come.

Meanwhile, the 34-year-old needs to stay in the win column against Kevin Walsh, which he is preparing for next Friday at the SSE Arena in Belfast.

In an interview with Conlan, he said he had been preparing for this opportunity since tardy last year, mostly training away from home.

“I have been training for this fight since mid-December, although I had a holiday over Christmas, but I still trained while I was away.

“I think that says a lot about my dedication to boxing. If I wanted to be indolent and half-crazy and I was just doing it for the money, I could train at home with random trainers.

“But I’m really enjoying it here in Sheffield with Grant Smith. I feel like I’m still learning and improving, even though I’ve been boxing for 27 years. You don’t stop learning the game.”

As for his next opponent, Conlan knows he faces a tougher opponent – and that will certainly be the case if he fights for another world title – but he also feels that at this stage of his career he simply cannot afford to take his eyes off the ball.

“It’s a risky fight because [Walsh] is rather unknown. He has a winning record, appears to be a demanding hitter and loves to trade.

“If you lose to him, people will laugh at you. But who cares? It’s a fight that raises my ranking and puts me in a position to fight for the WBC world title.

“So that’s why I took it. It might be a banana peel, but I’ll make sure it isn’t.”

The WBC featherweight title clearly appeals to Conlan more than a potential rematch with Wood, who the Belfast fighter said looked “very aged” after winning a unanimous decision over Josh Warrington last month.

On the other hand, someone who is just entering his prime is Bruce Carrington, who won his green and gold belt in January with an emphatic ninth-round victory over Carlos Castro.

“I think Bruce is a very good fighter – very talented, very skillful, very explosive, has power and a good boxing IQ. It’s a tough fight, but I believe I can win it.

“It would be nice [to rematch Wood] at some stage, but right now my only focus is on winning the world title.

“After that, who knows? Maybe I’ll sing a swan song against Leigh if he’s still here at this stage.”

It’s demanding to say whether he will ultimately rematch Wood, but at the moment Conlan’s thoughts are firmly on a possible shot at Carrington.

But even then, will the wily technician really be content with his story if it doesn’t include a world title?

“I thought about this question a lot. Have I done what I wanted to do in professional boxing? If I don’t win a world title, then no, I didn’t do it.

“Will I feel like it was a waste of time? No, because it gave my family a better life. But will I feel like I didn’t accomplish much? Yes, definitely.”

In reality, Conlan has had a career that most can only dream of, but time will tell if he walks away from the sport with all the boxes ticked.

Author: Sean Crose

“I feel regenerated, mighty and more motivated than ever,” the World Boxing Council quotes Carlos Adames. “On March 21, the world will see why I am one of the most solid names at 160 pounds. I don’t just come to fight; I come to send a clear message and I will bring victory to the Dominican Republic.”

If Adames defeats Austin Williams at Caribe Royal Stadium in Orlando next weekend, his compatriots will have every reason to be ecstatic. After all, he is the WBC middleweight champion. If Adames is victorious in front of the DAZN cameras this weekend, the WBC green title will still be his.

But first he has to really overtake Williams… not an uncomplicated task. “I’ve been working my whole life for this moment,” William’s said. “Delaying the fight only gave me more time to prepare better. I respect what Adames represents, but now my time has come and I promise that on Saturday night I will go out with my hand raised.”

Williams actually seems eager to meet the challenges posed by Adames. “He will push me in a way that allows me to show different parts of myself,” Williams told Ring magazine. “It will allow me to reach the level of excitement of taking a world championship away from someone.”

The truth is, this is an captivating world title fight in a division that has seen better days. Once the glamor division of boxing or one of them, the middleweight division is definitely in need of some fresh stars. It’s unclear whether Adames or Williams will be able to fill that void. With that in mind, it would be nice to get excited about the middleweight world again. No doubt Adames and Williams intend to do their part.

Indeed, neither Adames nor Williams are particularly lifeless fighters, which means Saturday’s fight should be captivating. This fight clearly means a lot to both men, so you can expect them to put it all on the line. After all, entire futures are at stake. This kind of thing is good for fight fans, although it is undoubtedly very stressful for the fighters. However, boxing is a stressful profession and such things are to be expected. In compact, it could mean an stimulating Saturday night of fighting.