In my opinion Mike Tyson is one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. Forget about all his anticts and mood swings. The raw ability that Mike Tyson had was immense. When he was in his prime he was unstoppable. Mike Tyson still holds the record for the youngest heavyweight champion in the history of the sport. Even the great Muhammad Ali said that tyson was the best, he even said he thought Tyson would of beaten him. When Tyson was young and had good influences around him, people like cus d amato, Jim Jacobs, Kevin Rooney, Teddy Atlas. This was when Tyson was at his best.
Tyson was a hero to most in his early days, even me. The excitement of watching a Tyson fight was unbeleivable. He immediately trys to knock the other guy out! You can't take those early days away from him and i think a lot of people think that too, and that's why so many people still love and respect him today, no matter what bad things he has done.
Tysons biggest error is his mental state and how easy he was to be brainwashed. Robin Givens, Don King and many others changed tyson. They bred hate, Don King turned him racist by saying being black is bad and went on about slavery and how the white man has been screwing blacks over for hundreds of years.. This was all just to get Tyson on his side so he could have control over him and the money earned from his fights. And it worked.After this period in Mikes life he was never the same fighter, although he did have some great wins. But he was so mixed up mentally, people just seemed to want him for what he had, he didn't know who was genuine and who wasn't.
In that respect i feel sorry for Tyson. I know that a lot of things Tyson did, like biting Evander Holyfields ear for one is his fault and he brings it on himself. But how can you expect someone who's had Tysons life to act normal.? All Tyson knew was Chaos. He had no real friends.
In some ways you got to feel for the guy.
The whole point of this post was regarding Tyson as he is today. I was quite saddened when i watched an up to date video on him earlier today, he seemed as if he was on medication. Very quiet and very calm, but too much, like he had been drugged. He just didn't seem the same.I really hope Tyson can find some peace at this stage of his life and be surrounded by true people that genuinely care for him. I wish you well Mike.
Tyson is definately in the top ten greatest from ALL eras of heavyweight boxing, No doubt.
