Probably the most famous Craig Payne, is the former professional boxer (he has a Wikipedia page, so that makes him famous). He also had a fight against Mike Tyson:
Born May 22, 1961, Payne competed professionally from 1985 to 2001. Before turning pro, he was a standout football player at Chillicothe High School in Ohio, graduating in 1979, and moved to Livonia, Michigan that same year, taking up boxing initially as a way to lose weight. It turned out to be a fortuitous decision, at least for a while. Payne won a gold medal at the 1982 National Sports Festival, and the following year claimed the National Golden Gloves super heavyweight title in 1983 by decisioning a young Mike Tyson — the same Tyson who would go on to become the youngest heavyweight champion in history just a few years later. Payne also defeated Cuban boxing legends Teófilo Stevenson and Félix Savón, two of the most decorated amateur heavyweights of all time, at the 1983 North American Championships in Houston.
For a brief stretch, then, Payne looked like one of the most promising heavyweight prospects in the country. Beating Tyson, Stevenson, and Savón in the same year is a résumé line that very few fighters in history can claim.
But the professional ranks told a different story. Payne made his pro debut in 1985, stopping Cleveland Ingram in the second round in Detroit — an encouraging start. Then, strangely, he disappeared from the sport for six years, not fighting again until 1991, by which point he was well past his physical prime. His career afterward was notable largely because he routinely showed up out of shape, sometimes weighing as much as 300 pounds. His most notable professional win during this stretch was a knockout of the previously undefeated Samson Po’uha, but wins like that were the exception rather than the rule.
By the time his career wound down, Payne’s professional record stood at 11 wins, 20 losses, and 2 draws (some sources list slight variations, such as 12-20-1). Across his recorded bouts, he won 8 inside the distance and lost 7 inside the distance, a record that reflects a fighter who could still land a meaningful punch but who lost as often as he won, frequently against limited or modest opposition. In at least one documented bout, the fight was stopped after the seventh round due to an eye injury, the kind of detail that underscores a pro career marked more by attrition than triumph.
Payne’s story is really two stories. As an amateur in 1982–83, he was, briefly, one of the most dangerous heavyweights in America — a man who beat a teenage Mike Tyson and two Cuban Olympic legends inside a single year. As a professional, weight problems, long layoffs, and inconsistent conditioning kept him from ever translating that amateur pedigree into anything resembling a serious career.
Payne died on April 7, 2017, leaving behind a record that, on paper, looks unremarkable — but with that one Golden Gloves victory buried inside it that boxing historians still bring up whenever Tyson’s early career comes up.