From another article: "Tyson loved to watch old boxing films, and became knowledgeable about boxing history and his possible place in it. The films suggested to Tyson and his team the idea that Mike should enter the ring in a plain black garb, like the old champions, setting himself apart from the modern trend of show-biz entrances and creating for himself the image of the no-frills destroyer. " Interesting.
I thought it was partly because Dempsey was his idol...So he wanted to have the black trunks and short socks..
I'm pretty sure he didn't wear any socks until he broke his toenail in one of his fights and then he started wearing very short socks that were too small to be seen.
Well Dempsey mostly enter the ring in white or black trucks. For Willard, and Carp, and Firpo it was white trucks. For Dempsey Tunney 1 it was black I belive. And Dempsey Tunney 2 either had sliver trucks or black trucks. The fight footage made it seem it had black trucks. UNTIL I saw a photo of the fight with Tunney jabbing and Dempsey ducking. The trucks look pretty sliver like.
I don't know why Tyson wore what he wore... I just wish he would have stayed on the "straight and narrow" a while longer than he did!
Problem with this old black and white fights lol. All this time I though Marciano wore Red trucks for the Marciano Walcott fight, only to see a color pic of the fight and they were purple lol.
Guess I had never paid any attention until you brought it up I just looked up a colour print on the net and they are indeed purple.