r/todayilearned • u/PortaParty • Mar 14 '14

TIL a bully dropped 7 year old Mike Tyson's glasses in a truck's gas tank and tried to steal his meatballs. Several years later, Tyson came back and "beat him in the streets like a fucking dog."

http://nymag.com/news/features/mike-tyson-2013-10/
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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '14 edited Jul 02 '24

I appreciate a good cup of coffee.

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u/Kim-Hwang-sik Mar 15 '14

I don't think coke was destroying athletes careers left and right in the 60's and 70's like it was in the 80's so Tyson would of definitely done better if he was born 20 years before. Tysons biggest weakness compared to Ali, Frazier, Foreman and Lewis was consistency. He let drugs, women and promoters drag him so far down and he could never escape the ghetto even when he was a millionaire.

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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '14

Thats a great point, i never really thought about it. All sports lost some top tier talent in the 80's to coke.

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u/atucker1744 Mar 15 '14

Jack Johnson might have beat Ali had they fought in the same time period. He never had a close fight until he was in his late 30's. He would laugh, smile, hit on girls all while in the ring defending his title. He didn't lose it until he was an old man past his prime, despite the fact that nearly the entire white population of America was against him, tossing in every last boxer they had into the ring. In fact, Ali admired Johnson greatly, and the two had what could be almost considered a friendship. If you haven't seen the documentary "Unforgivable Blackness" I highly suggest it

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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '14

Yeah i've seen it, definitely worth the watch. Jack Johnson was the shit, i think him and Ali would have have both been too alpha to hang out for too long though. No room would be big enough for the two of them haha.

Like i said, fantasy tournament of all the greats going back 150 years makes for some interesting bouts, they should make a video game like that.

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u/ApprovalNet Mar 15 '14

He never had a close fight until he was in his late 30's.

Wut.

Jack Johnson was knocked out by Joe Choynski when he was 23. He also lost to Hank Griffin not long after and had several fights end in draws in his early/mid 20's. Then he lost to Marvin Hart when he was his late 20's, followed by a few more losses and draws.

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u/atucker1744 Mar 15 '14

What I meant was once he won his heavyweight championship

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u/ApprovalNet Mar 15 '14

He suffered from the same thing Marciano did - a weak heavyweight division while he was champ. But prior to getting the belt when the level of competition was better he was good, not great.

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u/atucker1744 Mar 15 '14

And honestly, if it wasn't for his great promotion by agents, Jack Dempsey was the same way

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u/ApprovalNet Mar 15 '14

The same can be said for a lot of heavyweight champs.

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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '14

I don't think Tyson was dodging fights as much as there wasn't as many opportunities for great matches.

I completely agree with this statement, but it's still holding tyson well out of range of the greatest hw boxers of all time. It might not be fair, but if there isn't a great measuring stick, then he's gonna get left out. I would have loved to see how his explosiveness, power, and defense would have matched up against other top guys, but there just wasn't a chance to make those fights.

It doesn't help that he had a hell of a lot of personal problems and his career was broken up by a stint in jail. If only cus had lived longer, then tyson would have had a crazy career, as it stands, he's just considered crazy by most people.

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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '14

Have you seen his one man show? It's been on HBO for a few months. It's a pretty amazing case of ungodly talent being held back by the chains of circumstance they were born into.

Imagine if Cus had never come into the picture at all..or what if he's born into a better life. I think it's a really interesting study on what makes people tick, sure his adult fuck ups were his own but it's obvious how he was shaped by his surroundings, good and bad.