He took third place at the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Chicago, thus qualifying for boxing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where he won a silver medal. His fight was the last event of the 2008 Olympics. His coaches were disappointed he missed the publicity that would have accompanied the final gold medal for China. Despite that, he attracted a lot of attention by being the first Asian to win an Olympic medal in the unlimited weight class. At the 2012 Olympics, he was defeated on points in the quarterfinal by Anthony Joshua, the future unified heavyweight world champion.
Picking up where he left off in their first fight, a confident Zhang flattened Joyce with a right hand toward the end of the round in front of the Londoner’s home crowd. The win and the manner in which he delivered it might earn Zhang a world title shot in 2024.
In January 1999, Tyson returned to the ring for a match against the South African Francois Botha. This match also ended in controversy. While Botha initially controlled the fight, Tyson allegedly attempted to break Botha’s arms during a tie-up and both boxers were cautioned by the referee in the ill-tempered bout. Botha was ahead on points on all scorecards and was confident enough to mock Tyson as the fight continued. Nonetheless, Tyson landed a straight right hand in the fifth round that knocked out Botha. Critics noticed Tyson stopped using the bob and weave defense altogether following this return. Promoting the fight on Secaucus, New Jersey television station WWOR-TV, Tyson launched into an expletive-laden tirade that forced sports anchor Russ Salzberg to cut the interview short.
Trying to restore his marred image of a bloodthirsty animal in vengeance, Tyson made a clean-up effort. He fought some undistinguished opponents before standing tall against Andrzej Golota. Meanwhile, he was twice sent to jail for his involvement in the road incident where he assaulted two motorist and traces of marijuana being found in his body.
Zhang could not access high-profile matches to make himself known under Roc Nation until they parted ways in 2019. Zhang won 19 back-to-back low-profile fights under the Roc Nation banner. Zhang wanted better-known, tougher opponents with bigger payouts, but Dino Duva didn’t do it. Zhang was particularly upset once when his promoter organized a match at a high school basketball court with a portable dressing room which spectators could see in yahoo.com into. Zhang felt he was not taken seriously by his promoter. He was paid around $7,000 for his pro debut, and some of his earlier pro fights were paid $2000 and $5000. When Shawn George became Zhang’s head coach in 2017, George was upset by how the promoters saw Zhang as a novelty act along the lines of Nikolai Valuev. Dynasty Boxing’s minority owners, brothers Tommy and Terry Lane, believed Zhang would become «the Yao Ming of boxing» and clashed with Duva over his lackluster promotion of Zhang.
In March 2011, Tyson appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to discuss his new Animal Planet reality series Taking On Tyson. In the interview with DeGeneres, Tyson discussed some of the ways he had improved his life in the past two years, including sober living and a vegan diet. However, in August 2013 he admitted publicly that he had lied about his sobriety and was on the verge of death from alcoholism.
Zhang used that size advantage to bully Wilder and smother him on the ropes. A southpaw, Zhang was able to connect with right hooks that scored time and again as Wilder cocked his vaunted right hand back but rarely let it go.
Zhang’s fight with Jerry Forrest was on the undercard of the super-middleweight title fight between Canelo Álvarez and Avni Yıldırım. Although Zhang started strongly, scoring three knockdowns in the opening three rounds, Zhang completely gassed out from the fourth round and Forrest was able to battle his way back to earn a majority draw. The final scorecards read 95–93 Forrest, 93–93, and 93–93, with the irregular scores owing to a point deduction against Zhang for excessive holding. Many fans thought Zhang vs. Forrest was a better fight than the main bout.
Neben dem veränderten Training übten auch die zunehmenden Probleme im Privatleben einen schlechten Einfluss auf Tysons weitere sportliche Entwicklung aus. Nachdem er bereits 1987 wegen sexueller Belästigung einer Frau und Körperverletzung bei einem Rockkonzert angeklagt worden war, zog sich Tyson im August 1988 bei einer Schlägerei mit seinem früheren Gegner Mitch Green einen Bruch der rechten Hand zu, was zu einer Verschiebung der Titelverteidigung gegen Bruno führte. Außerdem musste Tyson vermehrt gegen Übergewicht ankämpfen – angeblich verlor er vor dem Kampf gegen Bruno über 20 kg Gewicht. Auch in der Ehe mit Robin Givens gab es wiederholt Probleme, die immer öfter in der Öffentlichkeit ausgetragen wurden. Dazu gehörten Vorwürfe von häuslicher Gewalt seiner Ehefrau und seiner Schwiegermutter gegenüber, eine von seiner Ehefrau vorgetäuschte Schwangerschaft sowie ein Autounfall Tysons, der als Selbstmordversuch dargestellt wurde. Im September 1988 erklärte Robin Givens vor laufenden Kameras und neben ihrem Mann sitzend, dass ihre Ehe mit dem Boxweltmeister die „pure Hölle» und Tyson manisch depressiv sei. Dies habe mit seiner Kindheit in Brownsville und dem schlechten Verhältnis zu seiner verstorbenen Mutter zu tun. Außerdem warf sie dem früheren Mentor von Tyson, Cus D’Amato, vor, er habe Tyson zwar perfekt auf ein Leben als Boxer vorbereitet, aber nie auf ein Leben außerhalb des Rings. Ihr Mann sei nur darauf fokussiert worden, Weltmeister zu werden, aber nicht auf die Folgen, die dieser Titel für das Privatleben mit sich bringt. Tyson schien von den Aussagen seiner Ehefrau überrascht zu sein. Wenige Tage nach diesem Fernsehauftritt flüchteten Givens und ihre Mutter aus dem gemeinsamen Anwesen in Bernhardsville (New York). Im Februar 1989 wurde die Ehe zwischen Tyson und Givens geschieden.