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
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.
I don't want to be remembered. As long as my kids remember me, I'd rather be forgotten by everybody else.
I hate to cry and I hate to sound like sour grapes, but no one ever listens to me. No one ever hears what I have to say.
The mind is a real dangerous neighborhood to travel by ourselves.
As human beings, nobody gets out of this world free. We all have to do some suffering before we leave.
What was most important was the knowledge [aspect] of the fight. I learned this early on and just told myself to "upgrade my mind." That's just what I wanted to do my whole life.
If my children will live a better life than I did by my getting brain damage, by my being brain dead, then let it be.
I ain't never loan friends money; I give it to 'em and I don't expect to get it back. Even when he says, "I'll pay you back," I never expect it. If he gives it back, then hey, that's a feather in his cap, but I don't expect to get it back.
You can't be everybody's friend, you can't save the world, I learned this word: self-preservation. Once you do that, you can be friends with people, but how would you be a friend to anybody if you're not a friend to yourself.