Thursday, April 2, 2020

"Iron" Mike Tyson

Throughout the 1980s to the early 2000s, one of the most infamous names in boxing was that of “Iron” Mike Tyson. The menace in and out of the ring was notorious for his unmatched speed, strength, and ferociousness that caused him to do a number of outrageous things, including biting of the ear of Evander Holyfield. However, the life of Mike is one of the great struggles that are more somber than many know.

Born on June 30th, 1966 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, Tyson was born into a damaged household, living with his mother, brother, and sister. He was frequently bullied due to his voice, fascination for pigeons, and physique, which caused him to resort to a life of crime. By the age of 13, Tyson had been arrested 38 times. While in ann alternative, Tyson was discovered by a center counselor and former boxer named Bobby Stewart. Stewart was a close friend to former boxer Cus D’amato who would eventually reinvent Tyson to becoming the boxing machine. After his mother died at 16, Mike Tyson’s legal guardianship was granted to Cus and the two would train and watch fights. Tyson won both the 1981 and 1982 Junior Olympics, and would later become the youngest Heavyweight Champion at age 20.

Although his boxing career would sweep the world by storm, so did Tyson’s lavish, and sometimes reckless life, and trouble with the law. During his boxing career, his total earnings were around 700 million dollars. As a kid coming from the ghetto, Tyson would later admit that he was immature with his money, buying seven million dollar chains, owning tigers, buying multiple cars at once, and other issues he had. Another factor in his extreme spending was his promoter, Don King. Their long term business relationship suddenly became apparent that King was using devious methods to take more money. In 1998, Tyson sued King for $100 million, and the two settled out of court for $14 million.

Despite the crazed nature of his career, Mike Tyson is still able to be successful with his one-man show “Undisputed Truth”, podcast, and recreational marijuana business. For the last 15 years since he retired, Tyson re-established his reputation from a “ferocious” fighter to a beloved figure in pop culture.
Mike Tyson was knocking out grown men at just 12 years old, says ...




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3 comments:

  1. Mike Tyson was an absolute beast in the 1980s -- He has always been a legend in boxing among the likes of Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier,and Jack Dempsey. In fact, he was such a popular figure in the 1980s that he even had his own video game. In 1987, Punch-Out!!!, orignally titled Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, was "boxing fighting game" released for the NES or Nintendo Entertainment System. In the game, you faced Mike Tyson in the last fight as a superboss with insanely powerful punches. This game was a testament to the rise of the entertainment console as well as Mike Tyson as a legend in boxing.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch-Out!!_(NES)

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  2. As you mentioned in your blog, Mike Tyson was extremely into Pigeons at a young age. Tyson said himself, "the first thing I every loved in my life -- the pigeon." Tyson has his own pigeon coop in New Jersey, and collects many of the pigeons with the best bloodline. Tyson has said himself that he can go to his pigeon coop and spend hours staring at the birds flap their wings and hop around. He even enters his pigeons into pigeon racing competition. Yet, Tyson is still a novice at flying the birds.

    https://www.espn.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=5996694

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  3. I think this posts does a great job describing Mike Tyson's early life and his rise to stardom. As mentioned in the post, Tyson was a great fighter throughout his career. He had 44 career knockouts, tied for 11th all-time, and 22 of those came in the first round. He also won a title with just 8 punches and another one in just 91 seconds. Because of his great career, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and The Ring magazine placed Tyson at number 14 on the list of greatest heavyweight of all-time.

    Sources:
    https://www.espn.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/120595/mike-tyson-turns-50
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Tyson

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