Mike Tyson

There are many types of competency outside of the criminal arena. Indeed, in some professions — law enforcement, medicine and commercial aviation, among others — one must also be fit (or competent) to practice. In 1998, at the behest of the Nevada Athletic Commission, Mike Tyson underwent a series of evaluations to determine whether he was mentally fit to box. Due to a Nevada Supreme Court ruling, this is one of the most extensive sets of publicly available competency resources. (Thanks to clinical psychologist Leonard Holmes for compiling these materials at about.com.) As Dr. Holmes notes, there is an irony to asking psychologists, psychiatrists and neurologists to determine whether someone “is sane enough to compete in a sport which involved inflicting temporary brain damage on your opponent.” 12/1/16 UPDATE: The below links to Mike Tyson’s reports have gone dead. I am searching for new ones. (If you know of any or have access to these valuable reports, please let me know, via the contact form on my home page.) In the meantime, a summary report is available HERE via The Smoking Gun.

Summary evaluation, Ronald Schouten, MD, JD

Neurology report, Jeremy Schmahmann, MD

Clinical psychology evaluation, David Medoff, PhD

Neuropsychology report, Thomas Deters, PhD