How did Mike Tyson become an icon?

Go back and watch the Mike Spinks fight, make sure you see the walk in. The guy was scary, he had a scary style. Not only that but he was in the tabloids every single week for something. He was a major celebrity and a A level athlete.

I was really young when Mike was at his peak, but I remember about 3 things from the TV in the very early 1990s - George Bush, The Simpsons, and Mike Tyson. I had a baby sitter that made me and my friends leave the movie theater early because she wanted to get home to watch some Tyson thing on TV. I kind of forgot about that until you posted this, but Tyson was everywhere you looked back then.
 
He isn’t an icon. Hope that answers your question.

The guy literally has a character shaped after him in face and voice in The Simpsons. That's about as big as you could get in the 90's.

Also, moments like these:

61cf57c7377a45e69456f103d14de019.gif


followed by these:

fzSIO6o.gif


And of course all the crazy shit he said and did. The gorilla quote is especially great lol
 
Simple question: what are the reasons Mike Tyson became a cultural icon, as opposed to his heavyweight contemporaries? There have been more boxers better than him, but people tend to compare either legends or up-and-comers to Tyson most of the time, like he's the benchmark or something.
go ahead and tell us about these boxers who are/were better than Tyson at hw...please, list some names.
 
Tyson was/is an icon for two simple reasons: he was not only the best hw of his generation, but he was absolutely explosive in dominating the rest of the field...add to that his colorful personality, menacing demeanor in the ring and wild ways outside the ring, he was the perfect champion for the 80's.
 
for many people of my generation, he was thought of before he unraveled as our Louis/Dempsey/Ali. As much as i loved Ali, i can remember feeling like Tyson was mine. he showed so much promise, he was like the Titanic of fighters, people would call him invincible, the greatest ever, then it all fell apart. Many of us didn't abandon him ever and we sat through some stomach churning beatings. i still say he should have been the greatest heavy ever. Still, others say that he actually overachieved (sharkey, are you out there?) and they have a case, a man with 72 inch reach in that era, reputedly shorter than his listed 5-11.5, would always have some disadvantages but he was so much faster than the rest, so much more focussed. there was no sight in sports like him in the corner before a fight, Larry merchant said it was a cross between a tiger pacing and a bomb waiting to explode, but i always remember him pushing the padding of his gloves tighter around his knuckles before the opening bell, twitching his neck and doing that weird kick thing (which i later learned was a 52 blocks move).
Nice insight
 
The guy literally has a character shaped after him in face and voice in The Simpsons. That's about as big as you could get in the 90's.

Also, moments like these:

61cf57c7377a45e69456f103d14de019.gif


followed by these:

fzSIO6o.gif


And of course all the crazy shit he said and did. The gorilla quote is especially great lol

Wrong order i'm afraid
 
The guy literally has a character shaped after him in face and voice in The Simpsons. That's about as big as you could get in the 90's.

Also, moments like these:

61cf57c7377a45e69456f103d14de019.gif


followed by these:

fzSIO6o.gif


And of course all the crazy shit he said and did. The gorilla quote is especially great lol

McNeely had them trapezius flexed
 
The guy was a straight up psycho with mad boxing skills, youngest heavyweight champion ever, and most important of all a great promoting and marketing team behind him. Recipe for success.
 
His personality and demeanor perfectly matching up with his vicious boxing style.

He looked the part, and played the part. Looked like a killer. Was a killer. Simple as that really. If another mean mugging motherfucker comes around and starts knocking all his opponents out in one round, that guy will get all the attention as well.
 
Simple question: what are the reasons Mike Tyson became a cultural icon, as opposed to his heavyweight contemporaries? There have been more boxers better than him, but people tend to compare either legends or up-and-comers to Tyson most of the time, like he's the benchmark or something.

Cause when he was in his Prime, pre drugs, entourage etc., he was a killer....he had the combination of incredible speed, explosiveness, movement and power that was never seen before in that division, he was an anomaly cause he wasn't a huge HW but was still KOn bigger guys like it was no big deal. A well conditioned, focused Mike Tyson was a very scary man, even Lewis said he woulda lost to him had they fought in the 80s
 
Go back and watch the Mike Spinks fight, make sure you see the walk in. The guy was scary, he had a scary style. Not only that but he was in the tabloids every single week for something. He was a major celebrity and a A level athlete.
A lot of people dont realize how good Spinks was at that time. Now, he is best known for being KO'd by Tyson, but he was an undeafeted Olympic gold medalist, multi weight champion and popped Larry Holmes' cherry and prevented him from equalling Marciano's 49-0 record.

And the way you describe him kind of reminds me of Conor, being this celebrity like figure always in the tabloid, having meteoric rises and the parallels between Spinks and Aldo (both undefeated and dominant for years), and how Tyson/Conor had them beat before they got in the ring and made it look easy.
 
I think the consensus here is that the guy was a mere 5'10.5 and rarely or never weighed in past the 220 pound mark....thats insane if you think about how much power he generated and then look back at some of the giants he fought. He was pretty much a blown up cruiserweight at best, but was absolutely destroying HWs.

Takes a real man to fight guys bigger then you. He not only did that every single time, he laid waste to em in devastating fashion. In the end, the drugs, partying and crazy lifestyle is what defeated him, not any boxer.
 
mike tyson was fukn electric!! no one had ever seen a hw move as fast and hit as hard as mike. he was youngest hw champion in history.. has that thing called death touch.

when cus died i really feel thats when he basically didnt care anymore. lll always remember people complaining that they arent buying his ppvs anymore because he knocks everyone out to quick and its a waste of money but all of them would sure as shit continue to keep buying them because it was impossible not to!! he had this crazy excitement and aura about him. i remember he was making like $20 million a fight and back then $20 million was like $500 million now. just mind blowing money. thats my memory of watching mike. will always be my favorite boxer of all time.

when he lost to douglas, i legit cried my eyes out. i think i was in the 5th grade. that loss is still a painful memory that will live in my heart for the rest of my life.
 
I think the consensus here is that the guy was a mere 5'10.5 and rarely or never weighed in past the 220 pound mark....thats insane if you think about how much power he generated and then look back at some of the giants he fought. He was pretty much a blown up cruiserweight at best, but was absolutely destroying HWs.

Takes a real man to fight guys bigger then you. He not only did that every single time, he laid waste to em in devastating fashion. In the end, the drugs, partying and crazy lifestyle is what defeated him, not any boxer.

this is the fkn truth man!!! i really feel in my heart that if cus lived for another 10 years and kept tyson in check, he would have never lost. thats just my opinion. great post bro!
 
Tyson came along the right time


After the golden era of heavyweights and in the fab 4 era
 
Go back and watch the Mike Spinks fight, make sure you see the walk in. The guy was scary, he had a scary style. Not only that but he was in the tabloids every single week for something. He was a major celebrity and a A level athlete.
As a kid,the allure was not if he would win,but if someone was going to actually die this time.
 
tyson had everything.

interesting personality. he would say whatever came to his mind, zero filter.

anyways i dont really follow boxing but are there HWs that can shadowbox like tyson? they just look slow and plodding.


4e73bfef-17f3-4c4e-9b14-da25fd723d68.gif
 
tyson had everything.

interesting personality. he would say whatever came to his mind, zero filter.

anyways i dont really follow boxing but are there HWs that can shadowbox like tyson? they just look slow and plodding.


4e73bfef-17f3-4c4e-9b14-da25fd723d68.gif
Everyone’s shadow boxing looks quicker. You can’t box like that with someone smacking you round the chops.
 
Everyone’s shadow boxing looks quicker. You can’t box like that with someone smacking you round the chops.

He was still very fast....probably the fastest HW I've ever seen. HWs now look sluggish in comparison....just big lumbering mounds of goo
 
Back
Top