Mike Tyson's mentor Nelson Cuevas passes away due to coronavirus, legend pays tribute

Mike Tyson started his amateur boxing career at Nelson Cuevas’ gym ‘Apollo’ before developing into the youngest undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Nelson Cuevas was a legendary welterweight boxer who ended his career on a quick note and started helping out young fighters at his gym. Often considered as a contemporary of Mike Tyson’s old manager Cus D’Amato, Nelson Cuevas soon became a prominent name in the New York boxing circuit.

Nelson Cuevas produced a lot of young talents from his gym at the Bronx and Mike Tyson spent a lot of time over there during his amateur boxing days. Unfortunately, 80-year-old Nelson Cuevas passed away after dealing with coronavirus earlier this week. Mike Tyson expressed his condolences towards the boxing veteran through Instagram.

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Nelson Cuevas death: Mike Tyson mourns over mentor's passing away

Mike Tyson addressed Nelson Cuevas’ death with a heartfelt message on Instagram and clarified that Nelson passed away after dealing with complications of the coronavirus pandemic. In the caption, Tyson revealed that he had his first fight at Nelson Cuevas' Apollo gym. According to Tyson, Nelson Cuevas used to be one of Cus’ fighters when he was younger and when Cus had his Catskill fighters come down to the Bronx gym, Nelson Cuevas used to protect Tyson and his other teammates fiercely from them. "I remember us kids would be so excited because when we had an exciting fight he would buy us soda and a mini hotdog in a biscuit because he knew we didn’t have money." wrote Mike Tyson in the post.

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Mike Tyson further stated that his early days with trainer Nelson Cuevas were the “best of his life” as he continued writing, "It was the best years of my life being around Cuevas and watching the Puerto Rican fighters. They were such showmen. I tried to personify their machismo showmanship. People that knew Nelson knew he was nobody to mess with. I love and respect him so much. Being around him during my amateur career was the best time of my life. Rest In Peace. End of an Era."

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(Image courtesy: Boxing News online.net)