How Mike Tyson and Cus D’Amato saved each other from the door of death
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D'Amato and Tyson before the latter's first professional fight
A few other Mentor-Student relationships are as known as the one shared between Cus D’Amato and Mike Tyson. Both these people met each other at a turning point in their life and have since gone on to change the course of boxing history. However, they both needed each other more than they initially knew.
By the time D’Amato met Tyson, he was arguably a former shell of the coach he was. He still commanded the same respect as the young coach who trained world champions like Floyd Patterson and Jose Torres, however commercially he was far removed from his golden years.
Tyson on the other hand was on one of his many stints in juvenile halls across new York when he met Bobby Steward, a former professional boxer who was working as a counselor for detained youths. When Tyson was around 13, Steward, having taught him all he could advised that Tyson move on and seek the tutelage of D’Amato.
After witnessing him soar for a few rounds D’Amato saw something in the teenager that the world was yet to feast on. He believed Tyson had an inner monster that could help him,“Reign like the gods ” in the words of D’Amato himself. At that point, D’Amato made his life’s goal to see this troubled boy become the youngest boxing champion ever, and he’d keep denying death’s door until he saw it happen.
Speaking on Tyson, D’Amato once said, “I keep saying, I owe him a lot but, he doesn’t know what I mean, but I’mma tell em now what I mean, if he weren’t here, I probably wouldn’t be alive today. The fact that he is here and doing what he is doing, as well as he’s doing it, and improving as he has, gives me the motivation and interest to stay alive.“
Related: The time a 13-Year Old Mike Tyson was almost shot dead by legendary coach Teddy Atlas
Cus D’Amato adopting Mike Tyson saved him from falling victim to the streets
However, this didn’t go one way either. While Cus found a mental motivation in Tyson to keep pushing through life, Tyson was saved by cus, by literally restraining him to the singular world of combat. Tyson who was often detained for robberies and other offenses was certain he’d not live long.
He had reasons to believe so, as more than half of his friends were already dead to street violence before Tyson met D’Amato. To prevent the same from happening to a pupil he thought the world of, D’Amato made arrangements for Tyson to grow up around him, in his own household.
This would break off Tyson’s pattern of repeated incarcerations and focus him solely on the goal of becoming a world champion. Apart from literally saving his life, Cus was instrumental in Tyson’s image of being this indestructible warrior.
Also Read: “Get him for me” – When Mike Tyson fulfilled Muhammad Ali’s only wish of beating Larry Holmes
In his personal life, Tyson was a rather sensitive individual and he’d often have D’Amato to console and correct him during such moments. Glimpses of this emotional side to Tyson can still be seen today every time he reminisces about D’Amato.
After establishing a healthy base for his future star, D’Amato would depart the world at age 88. Tyson would honor his memory by shortly becoming the youngest champion in heavyweight history a few months after his death.
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Jerin Mathew
(713 Articles Published)