He used to be filled with rage and aggression, now he seems happier and almost timid. I loved watching him box but he lived through some hard times and I'm glad he's doing well now. It's strange because in an interview he said he had almost no money left. Did he ever reveal what happened that changed his outlook on life? I could use some of that happy he's got.
The only thing I have heard him speak of was his conversion to Islam. I believe he found religion when he was in prison. As far as what happened to him and his ability - it all started down hill when Cus D amato passed away. Cus was like the father he never had and was his coach in both fighting and life. After Cus passed away - Tyson started hanging out with people who honestly didn't know a lot about fighting. He broke away from Kevin Rooney and I feel that was his 2nd major blow. I will never forget his loss to Buster Douglas......in between rounds his cornerman did not even have an ice pack. They filled a rubber glove with cold water and put that on his head in between rounds. WTF??!!!?? That was a sign of things to come. Tyson has spoken openly about surrounding himself with people who just wanted to leach off him and really didn't know that much about boxing. It is too late for me to bring up Don King.....:icon_evil As far as his rage - I suppose it can decrease over time. I know a lot of people who were pure evil in their 20's....you run into them 10 years later and they have completely changed. I really believe that prison had a big effect on his life. Whatever happened - he seems to have mellowed out quite a bit.
He has aged and matured rather gracefully compared to a lot of other fighters. He has children who look up to him as a role model and a parent. The previous post that mentioned Cus D'amato and Don King hit on a lot of crucial points. His one-man show will be coming to my city soon, I will be very excited to see it. Reviews from the premiere in New York were mixed, but most critics agreed that Tyson himself was entertaining to watch.
He was a man suffering from Bipolar disorder who had an extremely high level of testosterone. Combined that with Cus D Amato passng away and add to all of this Robin Givens and that is all folks.
He is a totally changed person, and he attributes it very much to his family and his wife for helping him become that way. In a couple of interviews he always mentioned how the death of his 3 year old daughter got him to realize that he needs to get a grip on his life and that's when he started changing. In fact he is almost a totaly different personality from what he used to be, and he does not like talking about his boxing past at all. I've seen lots of interviews where he never answers questions about the "iron" mike and mentions how he doesn't like that person. Like he said, boxing was something that turned him very dark because of his ego, and his demenour had to be very violent in order to be the best in the world, and that's why he said that retiring was the best thing he ever did in order to get his head right because if he was still boxing his ego would turn him into an outrageous person again.
This. Sometimes guys are simply deterred from living recklessly. Not that they've had some transformation of heart or mind.
I don't know really, people age differently. He's probably not that much different now but he has done a lot to change his public image. When he was young he had a lot of issues, maybe the biggest was the rage that many underpriveliged feel, that's a rage that won't go away with money, it just won't. I also think part of it was the intense media scrutiny he was under. Recently I saw an experiment with a guy who just followed random people around with a camera, they really didn't react much better than Mike used to and that was from one instance. Also, I don't think mike was really ever that bad, I think a lot of it was for show. I would buy the whole testosterone thing but I've grown up with mike, always had a problem with my anger only it hasn't seemed to ever stop or slow down, but you know the experts do say that most violence is committed by young men, hard to argue with that stat.
I listened to him during a tour he was doing in the UK in 2009 and he attributed his wife and religion to changing his life
It always amazes me how PED'S are never mentioned, these can change your attitude big time, especially if your already an agressive person. His handlers said he was on gear quite openly, steroids for breakfast or something like that. He's not in that world any longer so the result is the opposite.
that's possible too, which trainers said that, i've heard nothing but weak rumours but it wouldn't surprise me. But take it from me, you do not have to be on roids to be full of rage and wanting to lash out, I never really have when I shouldn't have but I have to watch myself, and i've never touched drugs. Then look at all these maniacs running around with guns, I doubt roids has anything to do with that. It's a violent country, founded on violence, it's not going to just up and stop.
ya, not just those guys but he took some absolutely humiliating beatings and that's a long way to fall. It's not like some bum getting kayoed, when a Liston or Foreman gets stopped it changes self perception drastically. And I really don't think he's changed that much, let someone get in his face and fuck with him and see what happens, he doesn't live the same anymore.
