The Truth and Mike Tyson
When the day’s boxing news consists of Jose Canseco and Mike Tyson it only confirms that the sensational matters more than the substantial. At least there is a Wednesday Night Fights on tonight. What’s that you say? There are no fights tonight? They’re being pre-empted by baseball and the NBA playoffs? Ughh.
Nonetheless, since Jodie at b5’s Gossip on Sports mentioned Iron Mike we are b5’s official boxing blog must say something as well despite the fact that Mike’s more gossip than boxing at this point anyhow.
I’ve always loved Mike Tyson. When his name comes up in a bar conversation I’m one of his legions of blind supporters. In fact I passionately defended Iron Mike last Wednesday to no avail.
Here’s a little secret: at this point we Tyson backers don’t even believe what we say. We’ve been repeated the same excuses and the same plaudits for so long that even we understand their (and our own) ridiculousness. We defend out of habit and out of unerring dedication.
But just as we don’t believe ourselves we also don’t believe our hero. We’ve taken his “I’m going to eat his children” and “I’m gonna stomp on your testicles” comments with a wink and a nod for a long time now. We know they’re just (poor and desperate) showmanship and not the Mike Tyson we knew as the greatest heavyweight we’d ever seen.
As a pro wrestling fan his post-championship career arc is familiar. For the last ten years he’s been an R-Rated heel and now he’s making his play for redemption. Who knows if what he has said in the Tyson documentary is true. Does it even matter? We fans never know when Mike’s being truthful about his past but, really, we don’t care. We’ve never believed his versions of history anyway. How could we? They’ve been clouded by so many things.
For more about the lying allegations check Ron Borges’ article in the Sweet Science and
for an empathetic middle-of-the-road perspective check out SC on BadLeftHook.com.
Photo Source: Newscom.com
Tags: Documentary, Jose Canseco, Lies, Mike Tyson, TruthRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Boxing
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