Almost 17 years after fighting Tyson, Milligan is still a fighter at heart

After graduating from Princeton with 10 varsity letters and an engineering degree, Henry "Hammerin' Hank" Milligan '81 went on to a successful boxing career that included bouts with the likes of Mike Tyson. Milligan now works as a financial adviser in Wilmington, Del. He recently spoke with 'Prince' Executive Editor Michael Koike.

'Prince': What sports did you play while you were at Princeton?

Milligan: I think I was the last of the three-sport athletes. I got 10 varsity letters in football, wrestling and baseball. In football, I was a defensive back and punt returner. And in wrestling, I made All-American at 190 [pounds] in heavyweight. In baseball, I was the starting third baseman and played some shortstop. I think I hit something like .310 during my senior year.

P: When did you take up boxing and why?

M: I was always very good at one-on-one sports, wrestling especially. I was the state champion a couple of times in high school, and I was an All-American in high school and college.

One-on-one, I always knew I was going to come out on top. I started boxing pretty much right after college. I walked into a boxing ring for the first time on the day after my 23rd birthday.

P: What attracted you to boxing?

M: I have a younger brother, and we would watch it on TV and then we would go down to the basement, wrap towels around our hands and beat the hell out of each other. It was something to do after I was done with the other sports.

I did actually have a tryout with the New York Mets, and they offered me a place in their farm system — on their rookie league team in Utica.

P: When did you fight Mike Tyson?

M: I was the U.S. amateur heavyweight boxing champion. But in the Olympic trials, I lost to Tyson in the semifinals. I knocked out the Marine Corps champion before that. I could always really punch. I was 41-6 as an amateur with 31 knockouts in the first round.

But the thing is that it's so different when you are knocking out everybody and then you go in and fight Tyson.

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I unloaded on that guy, and he didn't blink, and I said, "Oh, that's not good." [Laughs] This was my crowning moment in athletics — it was the Olympic trials, Howard Cosell is doing the commentary, it was live on ABC's Wide World of Sports on national TV. Tyson hadn't even turned 18 yet, and I said to myself, "You know, he's a lot better than I thought he'd be. I'm not sure I want to be here." [Laughs] He hit me and got me with an uppercut late in the second round, and they stopped the fight. They had every right to do that. I was 25 at the time.

P: Describe what it was like to fight someone like Mike Tyson.

M: It wasn't that he hit so hard. I had fought other guys who could hit, like [Evander] Holyfield. It was the fact that I couldn't hurt him. I flat out could punch, but I don't think that guy even blinked. That's not a good feeling. I just remember fighting this big ol' neck. And I couldn't move his head at all when I hit him.

P: What happened after that?

M: The funny thing was that Mike Tyson ended up getting beaten in the finals by Henry Tillman, who went on to win the Olympic gold medal that year in 1984. And I had beaten Tillman for the heavyweight national championship before that. So I could beat the guy who won the gold medal, but I couldn't beat Tyson.

P: Did you turn professional right after that?

M: Yes, I fought pro after that. I even fought for the world title at 190 [pounds]. I lost in the eighth round on a cut. That was December 28, 1993. I ended up being 17-3 as a pro and made a decent amount of money, but not enough to retire on or anything like that. Eventually, I broke my nose, and I said that I had had it with this. So I retired.

P: Do you ever regret not playing professional baseball or pursuing the other sports that you played at Princeton?

M: I wasn't quite fast enough in football. But baseball, do I regret it? Yes, but fleetingly, because I would never have been the boxer that I was. Boxing was probably my best sport. When you are fighting Holyfield and Tyson, you are at the top. I was never going to be that good in baseball. But I was in the upper echelon of boxing. So I think I made the right move.

P: When did you fight Evander Holyfield?

M: I fought Holyfield a few months before I fought Tyson. That was in March of 1984. But that was just sparring. I fought Tyson in June of 1984. [Holyfield and I] were on the U.S. training team. We were training to go over and fight in Yugoslavia. He was the light heavyweight amateur champion and I was the heavyweight amateur champion. I had won that in November of 1983.

At the time, he wasn't near the fighter that Tyson was. But I can always say that I beat the hell out of him when we were sparring. He was actually my best friend at the Olympic training center.

P: You have done some acting in the past. What kinds of roles have you had?

M: I have been in one feature film with Robert DeNiro called "Night and the City," and I had lines with DeNiro in a couple of scenes. I played a boxer. And I had probably eight or 10 national commercials —DuPont, Gillette, [Sports Illustrated]. I put myself through business school at NYU by acting in commercials. I got my MBA in finance in May 1990.

P: Where did the nickname "Hammerin' Hank" come from?

M: "Hammerin' Hank," that was my ring name so to speak. That was a quote from a newspaper reporter who coined that phrase in Wilmington, Delaware, my home town. I was always "Henry" because my father was "Hank," but in boxing, everyone knew me as "Hammerin' Hank."