I’m not a Nice Person: Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson is not a nice guy, and he is not at peace. Those are his words. The words of a former world heavyweight champion. The words of a brutal fighter once proclaimed (fairly) as the “baddest man on the planet”. The words of a fighter who chewed a chunk out of an opponent’s ear. The words of a father, husband, podcaster and convicted criminal.
There was a time when Tyson was a simple being – 40 years ago, perhaps. So purely violent and destructive was the boxer that he was arguably as one-dimensional as he was single-minded. Nowadays, things are more complicated.
The American, who still holds the record for being boxing’s youngest-ever world heavyweight champion, is older now. The 58-year-old did his time in prison — from 1992 to 1995 after being convicted of rape, plus nine months in 1999 for assaulting two motorists — and served his ban for biting into Evander Holyfield’s ear. Despite his troubled past, Tyson is loved by many boxing fans for the memories he gave them during his prime; he’s treasured for the sense of wonderment he drilled through their TV screens and into their living rooms with vicious, merciless strikes in the 80s and 90s. Punches that altered the lives of Tyson’s opponents and audiences, in different ways.
Watching Tyson at that time might have been akin to staring at fire up close, finding yourself absorbed by the flames. You wouldn’t want to touch them, of course, but their power speaks to something primal. Tyson spoke to something primal in other humans. So, it feels as though there
