MASB said:
Intelligent? I'm not mocking here, but what has Tyson done over the years to show that he is intelligent? Now, admittedly, making alot of mistakes doesn't necessarily make one smart or stupid, but you would think if he is pretty intelligent, he would have used some of it along the way to modify his behavior and not do half the stupid stuff he's done. I've heard some people say "Oh poor Mike's in debt. Poor him." Poor him hell! All the money he's made over the years, if he hasn't learned to manage it by now, there's no point in feeling sorry for the guy. He's had opportunities that many have not and has by and large thrown them away. It's hard to feel sympathy for people like that. Now you can chalk some of that up to him possibly being naive and letting others manage his affairs in a bad way, but if it has been consistently mismanaged without him taking charge himself, then that's ultimately his fault as well.
Now I'm not saying you're wrong about him being intelligent, but I've never really heard of that and I'd be interested in knowing what he's done to show that. I haven't exactly made a study of Tyson's life, so I'm sure there's plenty of room for him to have displayed it without my knowing.
Anyone that saw Tyson come up during the 80's saw that he had a great knowledge, respect and appreciation for the history of boxing, and was extremely well spoken. So that's why I say he's an intelligent guy. I did not say he was filled to the brim with common sense...that's a completely seperate issue.
Ghost said:
And wtf is with all this sympathy for tyson? the guy is a convicted rapist, oh but its ok because he feels bad about it now *rolleyes*
Right. And OJ was cleared of murder charges, so I guess he's a great guy! Roll your eyes back a little more, so you can see how small your brain is.
The fact that Tyson was convicted on a he said/she said case, with the accuser being someone who'd once falsely accussed another person of rape before, doesn't exactly scream "OMG HE'S GUILTY!!" to me. Quite the opposite actually. So you're fucking right I feel sympathy for him...there isn't much worse then going to jail for a crime you didn't commit, and I've always believed that's what happened there.
And then there's the fact that Tyson generated BILLIONS for the boxing and television industry, brought PPV to the fore, and yet has none of that money anymore. It'd be nice if an industry that's dined off his ass the way they did with Tyson would take a bit more care of him, but I realize that isn't the way it works.
I also remember seeing how humble the man was after the Lewis fight. Usually most guys in his position who talk a lot of shit before a fight and get their ass handed to them would run to the back and hide in shame. But Tyson not only stayed on camera for much of the aftermath (either in the ring or in the back), he stated repeatedly that Lewis was the better man, though would still want the opportunity to fight him again. You almost never hear a boxer say that his opponent was better than him, even when it's completely obvious. It showed me a different side of Tyson, one that shows he can be brutally honest when he wants to be...again, a far cry from many of the people who judge him.
DJ_Tet said:
Tyson had a great quote "I didn't rape that girl, but I figure that I did enough bad in my life to deserve what I got." That's the most honest I've heard from an athlete.
That's the one quote that's always stuck with me. Only a man of intelligence could be so brutally honest with himself.
Now having said all that, I've considered him for years to be the most overrated boxer in the last decade, a man who hasn't won a meaningful fight since at least '96 (and probably '91), yet was being picked to beat Lennox Lewis of all people. And some of the stuff he's done has been pretty fucked up. But as someone said, he defines a tragic figure to me, maybe as much as any individual in the last quarter century. It's easy to forget what he was like when he was world champ at the age of 20, when there was no hint publically of his violent persona or rage outside of the ring. In fact, his ability to turn on the switch in the ring and turn from a meek, softspoken man into a total animal is what added to his aura. And I think the rape conviction, along with the death of Cus, sent him down the wrong path.