If he'd been unbeaten going to prison, his career and standing would be easier for me to place.
Couldnt watch it live but when I put the tv on in the morning, my jaw hit the floor.
i didn't see it live either, I caught hbo's great broadcast a week later, still have the tape. so, i heard it on the news, was angry as hell. he was suppossed to be my generations great heavyweight.
maybe wallace matthews was right, maybe we were sold a bill of goods. we fell for it again post-prison, no one thought holyfield had a shot, ron borges made a career by picking holyfield.
also, no one talks about this but all the big brains (arcel, futch, dundee.., etcc.,) all said mike was through at 23, after the douglas fight. they dragged him, i always just thought it was jealousy for not handling such a talent. dundee said that "his body looks old" funny how they all flip flopped when mike got out of prison. people are fickle and mike was good for the sport. His aura persisted past the night with douglas. i remember telling my mom that tyson got kayoed by holyfield, she didn't know anything about boxing but she was shocked and said "you're kidding". I even remember listening to the holyfield rematch, not watching because i was "watching" on scrambled hbo, audio but no visual and listening to the earbite and just hoping he wouldn't do it again after the first bite, sure enough, he does it.
what can we say, mike was hopeless, not hopeless like our family members and friends who just won't listen when we try to help them, but hopeless to ever achieve greatness for many of those same reasons. It used to be frustrating just reading interviews with him, his head was fucked up and one could be forgiven for just thinking he was retarded. No logic would ever get through to him, even in prison you can see his attitude, watch the ed bradley interview and it's exhausting, with all the shit he's going through, he's still not getting it. what a waste.
In many ways, he wasn't any different than my alcoholic sister who died of aids and would only get defensive when I'd try to help her, or my mom who would get angry when I'd try to tell her to respect her own body, or the friends I've had who want my help (money)but don't want my advice. I saw a childhood friend who i told in our teens to leave that alcohol alone, saw him a few months ago and gave him fifty bucks, he called me a million times, after all i've dealt with, i just ignore his calls and yesterday, when i saw him with his sign, begging for money again, i just drove the other way. Like I said, people want to use you but they won't even listen to the simplest shit when you're really sincere.
