From Fame to Infamy, There's No Telling What Mike Tyson

From fame to infamy, there’s no telling what Mike Tyson will say at his induction to the Hall The International Boxing Hall of Fame ballot is a formality. Mike Tyson is a lock for induction. Fact is, Tyson is virtually in the Hall already. The building near a freeway exit in Canastota, N.Y., already includes Tyson photos and memorabilia. But the induction ceremony, which on June 12 will also include Julio Cesar Chavez and Kostya Tszyu, promises to be an event that goes beyond the usual parades, handshakes and hangovers. The unpredictable Tyson is liable to say anything when he steps to the podium. When Tyson speaks, controversy or comedy or outrage or insight or nonsense or all-of-the -above is sure to follow. So, too, do headlines, blogs and video. If his boxing career were the only factor in the boxing writers’ vote for the Hall, there might be a reasonable debate about whether Tyson merits induction. In his biggest bouts, he was simply unable to fight through adversity. Not against Evander Holyfield. Not against Lennox Lewis. Without an early knockout scored by frightening power and set up by an innate ability to intimidate, Tyson couldn’t adjust and often couldn’t avoid an emotional meltdown. Five years after his final fight, his name doesn’t appear in many ratings of history’s greatest heavyweights. He is not this corner’s top 10: 1.-Joe Louis, 2.-Muhammad Ali, 3.-George Foreman, 4.-Rocky Marciano, 5.-Joe Frazier, 6.-Gene Tunney, 7.-Holyfield, 8– Jack Dempsey, 9.-Ezzard Charles, 10.–Archie Moore. An argument can even be made about whether Tyson should be considered among candidates for an unranked list of the second 10: Lewis, Sonny Liston, Billy Conn, Larry Holmes, Jersey Joe Walcott, Jack Johnson, Max Schmeling, Jim Jeffries, Sam Langford and – someday – Wladimir Klitschko. What’s undisputed, however, is Tyson’s celebrity. Long after an almost perverse blow-by-blow account of the way he bit off a piece of Holyfield’s ear, Tyson continues to fascinate. When he repeats, ad nauseam, that his life is “a waste,’’ it’s a headline. When he appears in Hangover, he is Hollywood schtick. When he examines his own life in Tyson, there’s dramatic acclaim from sophisticated critics. Perhaps, Tyson continues to capture public interest because he is that proverbial accident-about-to-hit-the-wall. But there is also a child-like, naive quality that has always been there, impossible to obscure or even disguise despite scars, a facial tattoo and predictable profanity. Genuine spontaneity is hard to find these days. In Tyson, however, it is there, like a force of nature. Unlike so many who emerge from the media hothouse with painful lessons on how to choreograph every word, step and gesture, there is still Tyson. That’s why he belongs in the Hall of Fame, which already is full of actors who understood that boxing’s power is defined by more than deadly punches. It’s also about theater. Tyson is real-life drama, complete with a plot full of lines that only he could say. Here’s another top 10 list, a personal favorite of Tyson quotes: 1. – “I’m not Mother Teresa. But I’m also not Charles Manson.” 2. – “I’m just a dark guy from a den of iniquity. A dark shadowy figure from the bowels of iniquity. I wish I could be Mike who gets an endorsement deal. But you can’t make a lie and a truth go together. This country wasn’t built on moral fiber. This country was built on rape, slavery, murder, degradation and affiliation with crime.” 3. – “I really dig Hannibal. Hannibal had real guts. He rode elephants into Cartilage.” 4. – “My style is impetuous, my defense impregnable. I want to rip his heart out. I want to eat his children. Praise be Allah.’’ 5. — “Everyone in boxing probably makes out well except for the fighter. He’s the only one that’s on Skid Row most of the time. He’s the only one that everybody just leaves when he loses his mind. He sometimes goes insane, he sometimes goes on the bottle, because it’s a highly intensive pressure sport that allows people to just lose it.’’ 6. — “I can sell out Madison Square Garden masturbating.” 7. — “I’m the most irresponsible person in the world. The reason I’m like that is because, at 21, you all gave me $50 or $100 million, and I didn’t know what to do. I’m from the ghetto. I don’t know how to act. One day I’m in a dope house robbing somebody. The next thing I know, ‘You’re the heavyweight champion of the world.’ …Who am I? What am I? I don’t even know who I am. I’m just a dumb child. I’m being abused. I’m being robbed by lawyers. I think I have more money than I do. I’m just a dumb, pugnacious fool. I’m just a fool who thinks I’m someone. And you tell me I should be responsible?” 8. – “I’m on the Zoloft to keep me from killing you’all.’’ 9. — “Fear is your best friend or your worst enemy. It’s like fire. If you can control it, it can cook for you. It can heat your house. If you can’t control it, it will burn everything around you and destroy you. If you can control your fear, it makes you more alert, like a deer coming across the lawn.” 10. – “I guess I’m gonna fade into Bolivian.” Bolivia, maybe. But fade or oblivion? Never. On June 12, Tyson will remind us why all over again..

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