I was watching this interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyrNrAws6pA and at 13:20 the host says that Mike Tyson in his days as a fighter was often charged with saying things for effect. Mike's time as a fighter was before my day so I'm curious as to what sort of stuff he's referring to here. I presume he's not just talking about typical trash talk since, obviously, it is expected that fighters are gonna talk trash to sell the fight.
Tyson, is a extremly disturbed person, he always has been. He has this tendency to quote mystical figures to cover up his wrong doings!!
Tyson always was disturbed, his after fight interview where he said he was trying to drive his opponents nose bone into his brain was pathetic.
Mike used to say many outrageous things both before and after a fight. And as time went on he became more outrageous. In his book Mike says that he often felt like he was an actor playing a character called "Mike Tyson." This character was an intimidator. "I'm Sonny Liston. I'm Jack Dempsey. I'm cut from their cloth". This character was in fact created very consciously by Cus D'Amato. It was partly to intimidate his opponents and gain a mental edge. It was also partly because boxing is a part of show business. As Cus taught him, it's not enough to hit and not be hit. It's not even enough to win. You must win in exciting fashion. This is what moves the public. And it was also a Cus D'Amato technique for dealing with the fear that every fighter feels going into the ring. It is the same technique of displacement that actors use. The fighter tells himself, "It's not me up here. I'm just playing a character." And this helps him manage his fear. For example when Mike said that he tried to push his opponent's jaw into his brain, Mike did not make that up. He got that from Cus, and said that Cus would have approved of his saying it. When after one fight Mike said "How dare they challenge me with their primitive skills!" he was surprised that no one knew that he was quoting Apocalypse from the X-Men comics. He thought for sure someone who notice that he was just pulling everyone's leg with obvious comic book bravado. But no one even noticed. Mike is also a huge fan of pro wrestling and took a lot of inspiration from its characters, as Ali famously did with the wrestler Gorgeous George. Later in his career Mike went off the deep end with the stuff he would say. Eating people's children, calling reporters little white pussies, etc. Some of that was part of his intimidator act, some was just him being outrageous for effect and to shock people. And some of it also had to do with the way Mike perceived himself. In his personal life, Mike considered himself a kind of Brownsville legend/latter day Jack Johnson. And I guess some of it had to do with his career winding down and the stress and motivational problems he was dealing with. On the other hand, he was also often heavily medicated by doctors, had quite a few of his own dysfunctional issues, and was abusing drugs and alcohol for years. I wouldn't be surprised if someday his book made it onto some kind of "must read" list of the American Psychiatric Association. I think there is more in his book that will interest psychiatrists than boxing fans.
he always said part of being the greatest fighter in the world was being the greatest liar. he always said crazy **** to sell his fights and to keep the publics attention. Tyson knew whatbhe was doing. it was all a show.
This is correct. If Tyson didn't have his crazy persona, and he had to be judged on his performances in the ring alone, his career would have ended much earlier. Certainly no big pay day vs Lewis.
Siri is a short version of his childhood nickname "Sircuse" which was what they called Chicano ranch hands in southern California who would organise small bullfighting shows which were bet on. Tyson resembled his grandfather so much, who was a sircuse, that his grandmother nicknamed him "Siri" or "Sircuse". He has gone by this since he was a small child. Don King changed his nickname to "Iron," which was never what his childhood friends called him. So, he's being honest about that.
This is actually true. I was in the Tyson camp for when he fought Jose Ribalta, and Tyson recounted this story to me. :yep
he gave pitt a pass with givens but supposedly kod wesley snipes in a bathroom listen to the audience cheer when he leaves the stage. i dont doubt for a minute that neither holy, foreman or lennox could generate this much interest or have this much success on stage.