Punch-Out speedrunner "took 75,000 attempts over nearly 5 years" landing 1-in-10,000 luck and 21 frame-perfect punches to finally beat Mike Tyson in under 2 minutes

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Punch-Out speedrunner SummoningSalt has spent half a decade focused on the goal of beating Mike Tyson in under two minutes. It took over 75,000 attempts, but he's finally beaten one of the most notoriously difficult bosses in video game history in just one minute and 59 seconds.

If you've ever had any interest in speedrunning, you've probably seen some of SummoningSalt's popular YouTube videos on the scene, documenting world record chases across various games in great detail. He's also an accomplished speedrunner in his own right, holding numerous records in Punch-Out and dominating the NES classics overall record since 2016.

"This is the greatest gaming achievement I have ever accomplished," SummoningSalt says in the description of the YouTube video documenting this record. "It took 75,000 attempts over nearly 5 years. The Mike Tyson fight requires an incredible amount of luck and execution. I hit all 21 frame perfect punches (1/60th of a second), hit 10 perfect dodges and ducks, and got luck that has somewhere around a 1/7,000 - 1/10,000 chance of occurring."

SummoningSalt says on Twitter that he was "in shock" when he set the record, which is why his reaction is pretty low key. "It's over," he calmly said when the final time became clear. "I thought I'd be a lot more excited about this." There's a bit more celebration afterward, but it's not quite the pop-off you'd expect after a five-year journey.

"I have no plans to ever improve this time," SummoningSalt concludes in the video description. "It will be beaten by somebody one day, likely by matching this fight and then getting better luck in phase 3. I have no interest in competing for that, but am extremely proud to have gotten the first sub 2 ever on Mike Tyson." So proud, in fact, that he tagged Mike Tyson himself on Twitter with the news. Tyson has yet to respond.

It took 490 days, but the Super Mario Bros speedrun world record is now 4 frames better – and just 18 frames away from literal perfection.

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Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.