“I feel like a b*tch,” Boxing legend Mike Tyson details the void retiring from boxing left in him
Mike Tyson [Image Source - Hotboxin' with Mike Tyson, YouTube]
If a fight fan were to be asked about the most iconic people to have ever entered the boxing ring or the MMA octagon, without a doubt, Mike Tyson would affront that list.
Unlike Muhammad Ali, more than the technique itself, Mike Tyson’s skillset was based largely on his indomitable one-punch knockout power. Known as a ‘killer’ within the ring, Mike Tyson’s knockouts are no joke – that is, before landing the fearful jab, hook or uppercut, his opponents could be seen to showcase the dread of the blow in their eyes.
That makes for good television viewing, but only Mike Tyson knows about the suffering that he has gone through because of it. To step into the ring each time with the intention of battering one’s opponent puts immense pressure on the psyche. In a podcast with Sugar Ray Leonard, he shared some of the details of his struggles (especially after his retirement from the sport), saying, “I’m a f***ing student of war. I know all the warriors – from Charlemagne to Achilles (the number one warrior of all warriors). From there, Alexander, Napoleon, I know them all, I read them all. I studied them all. I know the art of fighting.That’s all I ever studied.”
He continued, “That’s why I’m so feared. That’s why they feared me when I was in the ring. I was an annihilator, that’s all I was born for. Now, those days are gone. It’s empty. It’s nothing. I’m working on being the art of humbleness. Can you be with me? Because, I’m not that person anymore, I miss him, sometimes I feel like a b*tch. I don’t want that person to come out. Because, if he comes out, hell is coming with him.
A brief look at the worst tragedy Mike Tyson has encountered in his life
For a man who put fear in living souls’ eyes and battered skulls for a living, to now, wherein he espouses spirituality and peace, Mike Tyson has really come a long way. However, all of this didn’t transpire without the mental churning that he went through in his life.
Mike Tyson, with wins over Larry Holmes and Michael Spinks, used to be one of the richest sportsmen in the world, but he lost all that to the vices that accompany fame and money. That, however, is not the worst of the pain he has faced. In 2009, tragically, “Iron” lost his four-year-old daughter, Exodus to a freak accident.
Admittedly, across interviews in the decade that has passed, Tyson has repeatedly expressed how the tragic accident pushed him to his worst. Despite the absolute worst a human can experience, Tyson, rallied back in life to fight for the things that really matter – that are, love, humility and peace. In a return to what he knows best, “Iron” also came back to fight (albeit, in a friendly bout) Roy Jones Jr. last year.
Udayan Mukherjee
(382 Articles Published)