Interesting, candid interview with a prime '88 Tyson

Great interview. Thanks for sharing.

 

For all the Tyson fans...

Mike Tyson – Evander Holyfield III: Coming Soon?


On January 16, 2010, the 4-Time Heavyweight Champion, Evander Holyfield, 42-10-2, 27 KO’s, returns to the ring to take on former title challenger Frans “The White Buffalo” Botha, 47-4-3, 28 KO’s, for the lightly regarded WBF Heavyweight Title. It will be over a year since the controversial decision loss to then WBA Heavyweight Champion Nikolay Valuev and most expect the “Real Deal” to overcome the Botha challenge, leaving the question: What’s next?

As we have found out, retirement is not an option, but there is one that is being discussed at the current time: Mike Tyson. Should Holyfield defeat Botha, the demand is there for a third encounter between Tyson and Holyfield. The lack of star potential in the division makes it a hot sale and a victory for either man would launch them right into a title opportunity.

Does Mike Tyson want to come back? He is currently being wooed by Don King to return to the ring, and why not? King made a bundle off of Iron Mike, and Mike, on paper, made a bundle with King. The magic is there. King knew how to promote Tyson. When he returned to the ring after being incarcerated to face the no chance Peter McNeeley, King sold the fight and it received record buy rates. Bob Arum, long time rival of King, noted that the promotion was “genius.”

Tyson has not fought since June of 2005 and is not getting any younger. His last defeat was his most humiliating, a sixth round stoppage loss to Kevin McBride, a big and lumbering mediocrity that would not have lasted thirty seconds with a prime Tyson. At this time, little to no training mixed with drug problems and a lack of enthusiasm for the game made this loss inevitable. Tyson said after the fight that he didn’t love the sport anymore and wasn’t going to dishonor it again, but things have changed since 2005.

This year a popular documentary was released entitled “TYSON,” featuring a controlled yet candid interview with the former champion. He spoke of his problems and how he has changed over the years. He changed his public image to many. Since Tyson hooked up with King, the negative press was nonstop. His public displays were front page news and his statements to the press were strange and disturbing at times. His in ring antics, featuring head butts, attempts at breaking his opponents’ arms, and of course biting, had put him into a category between thug and animal. When Lennox Lewis stopped him in 2002, the bully was bullied, the animal was put down…but Tyson through this movie has began to chip away at that image and presents a normal picture…as normal as Mike Tyson can get.

Another positive check in the publics’ eyes was the Oprah special where he gave another candid interview and made piece with Evander Holyfield, face to face. They were friendly amateurs in the boxing game and became professionals on a collision course, starting in 1988, when Holyfield moved up from the cruiserweight division with Mike Tyson in his sights.

Holyfield – Tyson was originally set for 1990, the bout after Tyson was supposed to stop the unremarkable Buster Douglas in a round or two, but the defeat by the 42-1 underdog, made the bout between he and Evander pointless. Holyfield wanted the title and defeated Douglas for it quite easily, leaving Tyson to feed on Henry Tillman and Alex Stewart while he waited, both first round knockout victims.

In 1991, Holyfield – Tyson was signed. Evander had just defeated George Foreman by decision, but few considered him the best heavyweight in the world. Mike Tyson, with four straight wins since his loss to Douglas (Tillman, Stewart, and Razor Ruddock twice) was seen as the destroyer and the rightful champ that just had a bad night. This bout in 1991 would settle it, but a **** allegation would scrap it, although a rib injury was cited as the reason. Tyson would go away for four years and Holyfield would march on, defeating Bert Cooper and Larry Holmes, before losing to Riddick Bowe. He’d regain it against Bowe in 1993 and then lose it immediately after to Michael Moorer. In 1995, Holyfield would get stopped for the first time in his career by Bowe in the eighth round, leading for the majority of the public and press to call for his retirement from the sport.

In 1995, Tyson would return to the sport and easily remove the overmatched McNeeley from the ring, capture the WBC Title over a petrified Frank Bruno in three, and then capture the WBA Title with a first round stoppage over an equally terrified Bruce Seldon, setting the stage for the final showdown between Tyson and Holyfield. Most saw it as a mismatch and feared for Evander’s safety.

To the shock of most, Holyfield was able to hang tough and actually began to beat Tyson. The four bouts that Tyson registered after his release from prison may have hurt him more than helped him, going a total of eight rounds since his release. Now, having an opponent with a pulse, he couldn’t pull the trigger and began to wilt under the pressure, succumbing in the eleventh round.

For pride’s sake, most fighters that lose want an immediate rematch to prove that they didn’t really lose. They just had a bad night and their opponent was lucky enough to capitalize on it. The rematch with Holyfield is something that Tyson didn’t seem to want, and when he made it into the ring, he had a concerned look on his face. Don King made a bundle with both Holyfield-Tyson encounters, but Tyson is a star and the bigger paydays are always with a star like him. Holyfield sells tickets, but Tyson could fight anyone and people watched. King wanted Tyson to have the title back.

It was called “The bite heard across the world,” and when you look at the moment when Iron Mike bit the ear of Holyfield, you can immediately jump up and say “ban that man from the sport!” Most jumped up and screamed it when Tyson bit not only one, but both ears of Evander, but the bite doesn’t tell the entire story.

Evander Holyfield is one of the dirtiest fighters in boxing history. He has made his head his third punch, and on that night in 1997, he continued to bash it into Tyson’s face. Tyson’s anxiety over the fight coupled with the dirty tactics of Holyfield and the choice of referee Mills Lane who noted that Evander was his “favorite fighter,” were enough to drive Tyson over the edge and created that ugly scene. That is the last image that the public has of Tyson-Holyfield II, and where we have left off.

Where does Tyson-Holyfield III begin?

If Don King and Mike Tyson are serious about going after Holyfield should he get past Botha, Iron Mike needs to get into shape. King has agreed to pay for the training camp for Tyson and the time away from the sport may have gotten the former champ interested again.

Tyson should not just jump right into this fight, unless the goal is to just get a big payday, which is not entirely out of the question. It does appear though that King wants Tyson in a long term deal where he can guide him through carefully selected opposition and find a champion that he would have a chance with, although it’s hard to imagine him having much of a shot at this point in his life. King may recognize that and may use Holyfield, a spent force, as a measuring stick to see where Tyson stands.

Here is an RSR prediction. Holyfield beats Botha and you will hear the return of Mike Tyson announcement. The public still wants the third fight between these two, King can certainly sell it, both fighters need the money, and there are those that still have the gleam in their eye and the hope that Tyson can recapture the magic and come back to rule the division that he once did. It may just be a hope or a dream, but this is boxing and when you punch like Tyson, anything is possible.

 

Sorry...

Not interested...

 

Great interview. thanks for posting.

 

Sorry about the hijack just thought Id put them together. I prefer to remember Tyson when he was a real fighter myself. Sorry again. :good

 

Yes.... No more super fights between faded legends. The trend of the last 20 years, needs to die sometime....

 

Don't worry, it's not going to happen anyway. This was the talk and thought in 2007/2008. Holyfield thought it would happened and said he "figured Tyson would be in shape otherwise how could he fight if weren't in shape." Tyson at the time was coming off his drug rehabilitation and balooing 260+ pounds in weight.

 

"My motto is either to kill or be killed... I try my best to put his head right in the audience."

 

Kill or be Killed goes all the way back to Jack Dempsey. Maybe even farther.

 

It is interesting to watch an interview with Tyson from this part of his career. Mike is a fascinating personality, and for his malaprops and verbal blunders it is clear that he was an intelligent and self-aware man. Truly a tragic character. It will take a writer of genius to do him justice, but if the right one comes along and takes Mike as his subject we could be in for a treat.