The money rolled in, but as his mental state was increasingly questioned the troubled fighter frittered it away on mansions in Las Vegas, Cleveland and New York.
There was also a fleet of luxury cars, over-the-top jewellery and even a zoo of exotic animals including Bengal tigers with which he liked to wrestle.
His ring career came to a temporary halt in 1992 when he was convicted of raping a beauty queen. The six year jail sentence, of which he served half, didn't do his bank balance any good.
By then he had already been married once, to the actress Robin Givens.
But in a TV interview he admitted that he slapped and even punched her, and the couple were divorced on St Valentine's Day 1989, just one year and seven days after they married.
At the time Tyson was reported to have given his wife a settlement of about £3 million.
His second marriage, to Monica, the mother of two of his children, ended after five years.
Earlier this year he agreed to give her £5million from his future earnings as part of the divorce settlement - money she has no prospect of getting until his finances are back on a solid footing.
As part of the deal, he also gave her his mansion in Farmington, Connecticut, which at one time was on the market for £15 million but can now can be snapped up for £2.5 million.
In typical form, Tyson bought the 17-acre estate - which has 18 bedrooms, 38 bathrooms, seven kitchens, a cinema, a nightclub and gymnasium - on a whim in 1996.
Apparently not caring for the quiet of what is mainly a farming community, he spent only one night there.
Tyson also has financial commitments to other women who have given birth to his children. He has fathered half a dozen in and out of wedlock.
Besides his regular handouts to hangers-on and aides, he alleges Don King cheated him out of cash when he promoted some of his title bouts. Tyson has filed a £65 million lawsuit against the promoter, which goes to trial next month.
He has another looming problem. He faces another spell in jail - up to a year - for allegedly assaulting two men in a brawl in the lobby of a Brooklyn hotel in June.
