How did Mike Tyson get so famous?

No it was the excitement he brought into the ring. Others, like Duran fought with the same intensity but there really hadn't been an exciting fighter at the level of a Tyson in the heavyweight division in decades. Might have to go back as far as Dempsey to get someone who had that much of a reputation for being ferocious.

When he stepped into the ring you knew someone was going to be knocked out and it was pretty much a given that it would be whoever the opponent was. Then his comments pretty much reflected his behaviour in the ring, and you had "the baddest man on the planet." label which for a heavyweight boxer was a badge of honour.

 

Jim Jacobs and Bill Cayton certainly helped.

Filming his early fights, getting them shown on the media created excitement.

Also it helped Tyson nine times out of ten delivered when the media started to buy into the hype.

The Frazier fight did him a big favour; when a whole fight can be shown as a banner headline to the sports news, you know you are on to something.

Then marrying a pretty actress on a popular show collected even more fans.

With less TV stations around, when Tyson made the headlines it was a bigger deal than now a days. Also his behaviour did genuinely shock some people, people tended be more reserved and infamy does help...

 

With his style and being a heavyweight, he would have been famous in any era.

 

Simple: "Spinal". He fought with a broken back.

 

Yes, never underestimate the power of a good media campaign. Jacobs not only made sure Tyson's fights were videotaped, but got those tapes to local stations all over the country. Add that to the fact that Tyson had a great story and that he was young heavyweight backing up the hype in the ring... it's no wonder he got so famous.

 

Tyson just struck a nerve with the public when he came up. They were circulating a montage of his ko's to all the tv stations so everybody could see what he was doing. And at the time he was this shy, polite kid with the lisp that fascinated people. He was a crossover star before he even won the title

 

I do believe his punch out Nintendo game helped to get his face world wide,the game came out before he was even champion...That time period was the era of the technical boxers,no real K.o boxers were around,when he was at his peak.Thats what made him standout further.Had Foreman stopped fighting bums and fought ranked guys he may have been the only guy with on par power for him to fight in the late 80's and made him even more famous.

 

He beat Mitch "Blood" Green.

 

End of thread. :good

 

Was a whole combination of things. First boxing was huge back then, mainstream and prime time TV. Tyson himself had a dynamic style, fast, explosive, powerful and he physically was very imposing with his muscular physique and thick neck, they knew they had a fighter that fans could get behind.

Then in came down to selling him right. He stood out with his spartan black trunks, no gown or socks just him. Then Jacobs and Cayton got Tyson's early fights televised in exchanged for giving the network access to their huge fight library of old fights. How many fighters careers are aired on nationally TV from the very first fight.

Tyson himself looking right, fighting in an exciting style and getting plenty of media coverage wasn't enough though. Tyson himself was the last component, he knew how to sell himself, he knew how to create an image that would get people to tune in, you think he didn't know what he was doing when he said he wanted to drive an opponents nose bone into their brain? The guy knew how to create a sound bite that would get spread all over the media.

The way he took apart his opponent didn't hurt either. People tuned in knowing a dramatic KO was likely.

 

I think Tyson fascinated the public in those early days because he was ambivalent. He could destroy and be so violent in the ring but outside was soft spoken and came across relatively intelligent. He would say violent controversial stuff about pushing the nose bone into the brain, and then show emotion and humility talking about Cus. He would destroy fighters in the ring, then kiss and help them up afterwards. All this stuff made Tyson an interesting and charismatic sports figure added to his story of coming up from the ghetto and meeting a great trainer. It was all a perfect set up really. Plus as said, he was delivering which is rare, hype that actually has something behind it.

That "Tyson prime" fascinates the public to this day as well, it is somehow entombed and separated from his losses, right or wrong, the general public still think he was unbeatable during that time. Purists know that is unfair but you got to give him credit for capturing the imagination like that, maybe he was lucky in some ways but no other heavy since has been called invincible. The invincible tag fascinates people allied to the blood lust.

I saw a thread a while ago asking if he would have the same impact today, I think it would run riot with all the current media, he would be massive. when you consider today's celebrities, what would be the impact be of someone actually interesting, doing something other than calling themselves a genius and self promoting hype for having no talent?

 

Jacobs and Cayton worked round the clock to get him media exposure, were very media savvy, and the New York city media machine was key to exposure all over the world.
Also, Tyson was fighting regularly. Those highlight reel montage of KOs were seen around the world. Every 2 - 4 weeks you'd see his name in the paper, another win under his belt, or see it on TV.
And Tyson was DIFFERENT to all the heavyweights at that time. Short and blocky and only 19/20 years old.

 

His 11nch peen helped

 

A lot of focus on media exposure, being portrayed as a prodigy fighter of a legendary trainer, lots of alphabet champions and no real ruler of the division as Holmes was getting way too old and it was clear he was not as good as he once was.

Tyson was extremely entertaining, plus he actually could back that up by being a step above everyone at the time.