You can say a lot of things about Mike Tyson. But after hearing him look back at his career, one thing you can't call him is a person who sugarcoats the truth.
Robert Littal of Black Sports Online reported that Tyson had some unflattering things to say about himself in a candid interview. As a warning, some of what Tyson said does contain foul language.
I was an *sshole, a spinner, a madman, an obsessed madman, a retarded psychopath, an unrestrained piece of s**t. I was a smug slimeball. I thought I was the king of the world...There will never be a boxer who swallowed more pills than I did. I never thought that I would make it to 30. I’m glad that I’m still alive. Boxing made me crazy.
To say that's refreshing is a vast understatement. We too often see people do wrong and then have nothing but excuses, trying to deflect blame. Tyson's not doing that here. Frankly, everything he said is right.
When you go beyond the obvious physical gifts that he had, there was very little to like about Mike Tyson in his prime. He was an unstable maniac.
But no matter how egregious his actions were, he can't do anything about them now.
We can't change the rape that he was convicted of committing, and spent time in jail for. We can't go back in time and have him not bite Evander Holyfield's ear, or take back when he said he wanted to eat Lennox Lewis' children.
None of those moments did anything to endear Tyson to anyone, but they're in the past.
But he's not coming out and saying that these were all terrible misunderstandings, or saying that he was misquoted, or anything even remotely close. No, Tyson is shouldering all of the blame for his past.
There's a lot about Tyson that you wouldn't want anyone to follow. But this interview is certainly something that we can all learn from.
Yes, humans all make mistakes. Some more than others, but we all make them. Those mistakes are compounded when the person making them does everything in his power to justify them.
That's not what Tyson is doing here. If we're going to look back at criticize him for what he's done in the past, we have to at least acknowledge that he's doing things the right way now.
Dwayne Roloson Jon Sim Jason Arnott David Clarkson Patrick Davis Tyler Eckford
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