Mike Tyson is an enigma is every sense of the word.
The guy once known as The Baddest Man on the Planet shot to fame after becoming the youngest ever heavyweight champion in history at just 20 years old.
With that fame and money came a lot of mistakes and Tyson was constantly scrutinised throughout his life.
Whether it is for all his talent or not, Tyson is still one of the most famous men alive today.
In his prime, he was a formidable character. Easily one of the most intimidating boxers of all-time, he beat most men before the bell had even rung.
Speaking with legendary rapper Eminem, Tyson described what he was thinking as he made his way to the ring sporting a look like he wanted to murder a man!
He said: “It’s really orgasmic. I’m not nervous, I’m scared. Because I’m a scary guy. I’ve been bullied and picked on all my life. I’ve been abused all my life.
“People did anything they wanted to me, so I have a natural fear of not being safe. That’s just who I am naturally, it’s in my life, it’s who I am.
“So now I’ve got this weird, self-confidence in violence and stuff, so now I’m sadistic. I’m afraid I’m going to get hurt, so I’m an animal now.
“Not only do I have to do it [hurt this guy before he hurts me], but I have to do it spectacularly so people want to watch me do it again. The more I hurt them, the more spectacularly I hurt them, the bette my life would be and that’s how my mindset was.”
Tyson also explained that the trainer he had in his early years, Cus D’Amato, would encourage the violence.
“Cus [D’Amato] loved hurting other fighters. He loves breaking their ribs, their cheek bones, their eye-sockets; he loved to see how people worked under those circumstances,” Tyson said.
Tyson is the proud owner of 44 knockouts in his career and many have cited him as the most powerful puncher they’ve seen, but Iron Mike claims it wasn’t the power of his punches that did the damage.
“I got a lot of credit for my punches, but it wasn’t so much the power of my punches as it was the accuracy. I was fast, so I got the punches there before the other punches got there.
“Someone like George Foreman is a hard puncher, but he just pounds you. Hits you in the arm and the shoulder and f**** you up.
“I was more precise, everywhere I hit you there is a reason and normally I get the right results – most of the time. The objective is for the guy not to see the punch, those are the punches that knock you out.”
