Nintendo Power actually offered readers $500 if they could TKO Tyson and take a picture of it. I don't recall anyone taking them up on their offer.

DC blizzard of ‘95, I’m 14 and stuck at home with my family for a week waiting for the snow to melt. After winning Tecmo Super Bowl with just about every team, I decide to re-visit Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out (a game I gave up on years before). Three days later, I TKO’d Iron Mike at 2:58 in the 3rd round. I’ve never played…

He bounced around baseball because he screwed up his shoulder, which is often a death sentence for pitchers. While I tend to agree there’s more to this story, I’m not sure it’s fair to draw it from the case you’ve made here.