Fight Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr .: 7 Iron Mike facts that will blow your mind

Why Saturday fights again: 7 facts from Mike Tyson that will blow your mind

Of course, the facts won’t blow your mind. But the title had to be simple.

Because in the night between November 28 (Saturday) and 29 (Sunday) it is finally that moment again. Mike Tyson is back in the ring. The 54-year-old is fighting 51-year-old Roy Jones Jr. Everything you need to know (e.g. how to watch the fight in Switzerland) can be found here.

But now to Tyson’s interesting facts:

Tyson’s first fight was over a pigeon

Mike Tyson spent his early years in New York. He lived in an apartment at 178 Atlantic Avenue in Brownsville, Brooklyn with his sister, brother, and mother. The father had left the family when Mike was two. The Brooklyn area was one of the most feared in the country.

Tyson was considered a shy boy who was often mocked for his high-pitched voice and stammering. His biggest hobby was breeding pigeons.

It was also his love for birds that made him fight for the first time: an older boy had stolen a pigeon from him. When Tyson asked him back, the culprit tore off the animal’s head and hit little Mike with his lifeless body, so that the blood splattered. Tyson’s mother encouraged her son to finally fight back. That he would someday become the most feared thug in the world was not yet evident: “But I think I beat the boy,” Mike Tyson said in a recent interview.

Coca-Cola at the age of 11

Tyson’s mother was an alcoholic. In an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, the former world boxing champion said his mother had already filled him with alcohol at the age of “eight or nine” to put him to sleep. Tyson first smoked marijuana when he was 10. At eleven it was the cocaine turn. Tyson still has a great affinity for drugs, especially psychedelics. He also got into the lucrative marijuana business. We will talk about it later.

Mike Tyson’s drug stories were made public by Steve-O (“Jackass”) among others. The former stuntman now appears as a comedian and, with Tyson’s consent, often and happily recounts how he consumed cocaine for three hours locked in a bathroom with the boxer. History has traveled the world. The two met again years later – in the closed ward of a psychiatric ward. They have remained friends to this day.

Discovered in the youth house

After various arrests, according to Wikipedia there are more than 38, other sources speak of just over ten, Mike Tyson ended up in the youth home of the Tryon School for Boys. There he learned about a boxing program led by former professional boxer Bobby Stewart. Tyson begged for a shot, Stewart only gave him the chance on condition that it didn’t cause any problems. After two weeks of impeccable behavior, Mike was allowed to stay. As a result, her academic performance improved. Mike particularly enjoyed reading. Within a few months, it skipped three levels of performance.

Mike Tyson also displayed iron discipline in boxing training. Stewart’s colleagues caught the boy mistreating the punching bag in the dark at three in the morning. Stewart realized that a guy with such a work ethic would go a long way.

Bobby Stewart was a student of legendary boxing coach Cus D’Amato, who previously trained both light heavyweights José Torres and heavyweights Floyd Patterson into world champions. D’Amato had previously opened a new boxing studio in the 10,000-anime Catskill nest, 100 miles north of New York, and took the tough guy under his wing.

Hypnosis as a child

Cus D’Amato took his young protege to hypnosis. Tyson was then 12 or 13 years old. Mike was taught to focus like an animal on the essentials: to destroy his opponents. This mentality would accompany and dominate Tyson for many years. What D’Amato could not teach him before his death: how to free oneself from this indomitable desire to destroy.

Rehabilitation with toad venom

Mike Tyson’s activated elemental force would dominate his life for a long time. In positive as in negative. Tyson, who seems extremely thoughtful today, says the attitude that made him the youngest boxing world champion in history is not socially compatible. While celebrating success in the ring with it, Tyson has failed in life. Marriages with Robin Givens and Monica Turner ended in disaster. In his 2013 bio “Undisputed Truth” Tyson claims to have caught Givens red-handed with Brad Pitt. Givens continues to deny the incident to this day.

In 1992, the then world champion was sentenced to six years in prison for raping an 18-year-old beauty queen. He was fired in 1995 due to good leadership, but problems persisted despite winning the world title again. In 2003, Tyson had to file for bankruptcy. His hundreds of millions of dollars in earnings were gone and he had over $ 20 million in debt.

When asked how he managed to turn the wheel, Tyson repeatedly claimed he was reborn when he first consumed DMT – an extremely potent hallucinogenic tryptamine alkaloid, which is also found in Colorado toad venom. During this trip he killed his ego: “At first I thought I was going to die. I realized that I’m nobody. My expensive clothes, my luxury, are worth nothing. And then I came back and I was just filled with love for this world. ”

Has (had) a nine to five job (as a cannabis grower)

In an interview in January 2019, Mike Tyson stated that his life was perfectly normal. He lives in Newport Beach, Los Angeles with his third wife Kiki and two of their seven children. In the morning he goes to the office and arranges deals for his cannabis label Tyson Holistic. In the evening he goes back to his family and plays with the children.

According to Fox Sports, Tyson makes a million a month selling his cannabis products. Covering an area of ​​1.6 square kilometers, 100 kilometers north of Los Angeles, Tyson and his partners want to offer a recreation center, a hotel with a stage and various options for glamping (glamorous camping).

Tyson never really wanted to fight again

In 2019, Tyson categorically ruled out a return to the ring. This would revive his old ego and he didn’t want it, he explained on Joe Rogan’s podcast # 1227. He didn’t like old Mike and had taken care of him. Mike Tyson didn’t even box in practice. On his behalf, his training consisted of jogging on the treadmill.

Why Tyson is returning to the ring isn’t entirely clear. Tyson officially stated that his training sessions on the treadmill suddenly went from 15 minutes to two hours, he was no longer satisfied with his weight, he no longer fit in his old clothes. Tyson’s brother then came up with the idea of ​​fighting Bob Sapp. Nothing came from the fight – but the idea was born.

Perhaps Tyson also won the battle exchange: he and his opponent Roy Jones Jr. are said to receive ten million dollars each for the eight two-minute rounds. Depending on pay-per-view (PPV) sales, this amount is expected to increase to 20 million. And the chances are good. Without providing any data, the organizer claims that the “Thriller” social media APP is generating unprecedented digital PPV sales. Thriller is a competitor of Tiktok.

Boxing fans in Switzerland can only watch the match via a VPN channel and for $ 49.90.