Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson
Michael Gerard "Mike" Tysonis an American former professional boxer. He held the undisputed world heavyweight championship and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF heavyweight titles at 20 years, 4 months, and 22 days old. Tyson won his first 19 professional bouts by knockout, 12 of them in the first round. He won the WBC title in 1986 after defeating Trevor Berbick by a TKO in the second round. In 1987, Tyson added...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBoxer
Date of Birth30 June 1966
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
In order to be a friend to anybody, you have to be a friend to yourself. If you're not a friend to yourself, there's no way you're gonna have any friends.
I don't want anyone to have to interview me. I wish I didn't have to talk too much about myself.
I'm not a good-looking guy. I don't care if my nose gets mashed.
I felt the same fear in my first fight as I did in my last fight. It never goes away.
I was very dedicated and serious about fighting. I'd read about all the fighters. I found out where they came from, knew about their mothers and their fathers . . . I just read all about their lives, their training.
I didn't come from a household where my mother dragged me outside and said, "You'd better fight." My mother wouldn't let me fight. I was not an aggressive kid.
Things can change. Life is all a learning process.
Emotion is more than just anger. When I am performing, I need emotion, but I need control, too. Emotion drives the best performance and is necessary, but it must be controlled. I believe Fedor [Emelianenko] does that. I do too. We may look different in how we do it, but we both do it.
People look at me as some bruiser, but I want to entertain people. I want people to applaud. I want to be the cause of people being happy, their emotions changing, to tell me I did a good performance.
I have to always make sure I don't stay in one place and spend too much time one subject. I have my wife tell me [through an earpiece], "Come back! You're taking too long on that subject." I need to be reeled in.
On stage it's just a wild setting - we have a big screen - hecklers, I'm fighting. It's entertainment, but I want to pierce [the audience's] souls and have them think about what I have to say.
I'm trying to figure things out in the world. No one knows what this life thing is all about - there's no manual. Just trying to figure it out.
People tell me I'm a comedian, but I don't approach acting from that perspective. I do know that everything in life has to do with your timing and perception. You have to be comfortable with the rhythm that you're in. You can't just jump into a fast rhythm if yours is slow. You might have to pick up the pace but in your own particular way. It has to do with personality, too.
I never think of physical fighting. It's always spiritual. Fighting is spiritual.