Tyson - A pure entertainer

Which people? And when did they notice?

I'd say 1986 and '87 it was clear.

 

pre jail, everyone knew when there was a Tyson fight coming up. I think Joe Blow would be hard pressed to name a current HW Champion now.

 

What I loved about prime Tyson was that he was a perfectionist. I remember the Tucker fight and even though he fought very effectively you could tell he was disappointed by his performance, he always wanted to get better and improve. The attitude he had was inspiring, beautiful even. I think it’s tragic how he fell apart and lost it so early on.

He seemed easily influenced, whoever he was around he became. With Cus he was a boxing savant, with his old hood pals he was a street rat, hustler wannabe. He seemed to have that drive to be the baddest street thug on the planet, which is strange considering he could have been the greatest fighter ever. I remember reading his book, he discussed how he got out of training to bang a load of prostitutes like it was something to brag about. That stuff annoyed me because his outside lusts interfered with his being a great fighter, he had a great opportunity but squandered it.

I still think its a tragedy because a part of him wanted to be the perfect fighter, untouchable, but that part of him was destroyed by his demons and addictions. The only thing you can really say for him now is that he was one of the most exciting fighters ever, maybe not the best but you can’t take away his impact on boxing and culture. For a time Tyson was boxing, in a bigger way than Holy and Lewis ever were.

 

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But plenty of guys did try fighting Tyson on the inside. That's how it can be seen that Tyson wasn't much good there. Unfortunately for them his opponents weren't great on the inside either.
Not sure where this idea that people didn't notice Tyson's flaw for 10 years is coming from.

 

Tyson used make front page in the red tops back in the day. What boxer can that be said of from the past 15 year?

 

Sorry ,but you don't attack the body and follow up with uppercuts at mid range.

How many guys in the 80s did he destroy on the inside? Nearly all of them.

He may of looked like a mid range fighter but only because his opponents were all in retreat.

Post prison his inside game was gone completely

 

Unforgiven....u reckon Mikey Boy is a homo ?
Wow...interesting call !
Mike the 'Bite'queen.

 

A Tyson fight 87-90 packed more electricity and excitement than any other sporting event or star could hope too since.

 

I'd say he's TRI-***ual .... he'll try anything.

It puts me in the same bracket as Mitch Green ... who might be well be homo too !

No homophobia or hatred on my part here, I just think it's part of Tyson's nature or something from his formative years - and could well be the source of a lot of his confusion and his admitted struggle to have a self-identity.
He was possibly teased about it in his early years - 'little s*issy boy' they called him. No one knows exactly what else Tyson was exposed to at an early age, from men in his broken home. His fighting fury comes from somewhere.
(Cus D'Amato and Jim Jacobs are a whole other chapter. It might be gossip - but those guys - especially Cus - acted in such strange ways to attract it.
Cus took the 'all-male environment' thing to another level, and had an obsession with the minds and bodies of young men, for better or for worse -and at least liked to sleep in the same bed as Floyd Patterson.)

Tyson's rampant promiscuity - and his preoccupation with talking about it. The sadistic statements. These things all add up.
His CONSTANT s*exual threats towards MALE opponents and MALE journalists. From early on.
His admiration of Razor Ruddock's lips.
People can write this stuff off as 'ghetto talk' and 'prison talk', but it's undoubtedly GAY TALK too.