Mike Tyson (person)

People (are) going to say what they say. It has to be for a reason. It's just for a reason. I know sometimes I say things; I offend people. I ask this lady a lewd question because I'm in a lot of pain too. I have some pain I'm gonna have for the rest of my life. And Lewis, I'm trying to give some of that pain to ya'll.

Sometimes you guys have no pride, so no matter what I say, you guys... it doesn't affect you because you don't care about nothing but money. So every now and then I kick your fucking ass and stomp on you and put some kind of pain and inflict some of the pain on you because you deserve to feel the pain that I feel.

I wish that you guys had children so I could kick them in the fucking head or stomp on their testicles so you could feel my pain because that's the pain I have waking up every day.

Mike Tyson was adopted by a boxing trainer, and he was groomed to fight from a young age. Everything he understands about "being a man" he learned from a man who professionally taught people how to fight. Etched into the early adolescent mind of Mike Tyson was the opportunistic aspect of another person's pain, that another individual's hurt was his gain. Vulnerability is to be exploited with violence--and one's own fear must be silenced with it. That's just what Tyson was doing when he saw Lennox Lewis at a pre-fight news conference and went after him, throwing a punch and ultimately biting him on the ankle in a mosh pit of bodyguards; and it's just what Tyson was doing when he repeatedly bit into Evander Holyfield's ear, once he realized and couldn't deal with the fact that he was going to lose the fight. Tyson was upping the violence to dispel the fear he couldn't handle, the fear he'd been programmed to override with frenzied, attacking anger.

I'm just like you. I enjoy the forbidden fruits in life, too. I think it's un-American not to go out with a woman, not to be with a beautiful woman, not to get my dick sucked... It's just what I said before, everybody in this country is a big fucking liar. (The media) tells people ... that this person did this and this person did that and then we find out that were just human and we find out that Michael Jordan cheats on his wife just like everybody else and that we all cheat on our fucking wife in one way or another either emotionally, physically or sexually or one way.

Tyson was psychologically analyzied in the weeks preceding the fight, in order to ensure that he was mentally fit for the match; of course, considering the fact that the match was thought to be capable of pumping up to $400 million into the economy of the lucky suitor city, this was much a formality, with little or no chance of Tyson being barred from competition.

There's no one perfect. We're always gonna do that. Jimmy Swaggart is lascivious, Mike Tyson is lascivious -- but we're not criminally, at least I'm not, criminally lascivious. You know what I mean. I may like to fornicate more than other people -- it's just who I am. I sacrifice so much of my life, can I at least get laid? I mean, I been robbed of my most of my money, can I at least get my dick sucked without the people wanting to harass me and wanting to throw me in jail?

When Tyson was confronted with the doctors' findings, told that he suffered from depression and low self-esteem, compounded (predictably) by issues of anger-management, Tyson shot back with earnest curiosity: "Is that all they said was wrong with me?"

I feel like sometimes that I was born, that I'm not meant for this society because everyone here is a fucking hypocrite. Everybody says they believe in God but they don't do God's work. Everybody counteracts what God is really about. If Jesus was here, do you think Jesus would show me any love? Do you think Jesus would love me? I'm a Muslim, but do you think Jesus would love me ... I think Jesus would have a drink with me and discuss ... why you acting like that?

Now, he would be cool. He would talk to me. No Christian ever did that and said in the name of Jesus even ... They'd throw me in jail and write bad articles about me and then go to church on Sunday and say Jesus is a wonderful man and he's coming back to save us. But they don't understand that when he comes back, that these crazy greedy capitalistic men are gonna kill him again.

Certainly, Tyson has been a victim of exploitation, by Don King in the most celebrated instance, but also by so many other individuals on so many levels--why did Cus D'Amato adopt Tyson in the first place? Was it not to have a shot at training a fighter from a young age, was it not for the opportunity to program a young fighter with the logic and virtues of fighting? Cus D'Amato got just what he wanted from the child he chose.

I want to eat your children. Praise be to Allah.

Tyson's public relations firm, Dan Klores Communications, cancelled their contract with the fighter in May 2002, because they found that having their name attached to Mike Tyson's was bad for publicity.

That's just who I am. I want to have a nice career for my children. I want them to have a great education. I want to fly my birds. I want to live my life. I want to have a drink every now and then. I want to have a charity event every now and then. And every now and then, I want to fornicate and that's just being a human being.

After losing to Lewis, Tyson may be nearing the end of the road. He says he'll fight if the money is right, and the money will probably be right, after so many people tuned into the most profitable pay-per-view event in years. But he's not the same Tyson, and I don't mean that inasmuch as his talent has worn down over so many psychologically trying years and situations, in prison and out. Mike Tyson, after promising to crush Lennox Lewis' skull, told him he loved him after the fight had ended, and couldn't say enough about how inferior a fighter he is to Lewis, and kept talking about his birds, and how all he wanted to do was to fly them. Tyson has mellowed, and has accepted his vulnerability for the very first time, forced to stomach the basic, ephemeral quality of humankind that even the most stubborn, hardhearted people are made to know as they decline for the very first time, as age wreaks its merciless havoc. And as he continues to spiral into decline, it will complete the overcoming of Tyson's obstinate faith in his own invincibility, and he will fall hard, and he will be forced to confront his own smallness, and no violence will save him.

Mike Tyson is an unrepentant rapist. He is at once the victim of a terrible manipulation from a young age, a man who needs to be champion of the world forever and who will never again be, and a vile, hateful man. Like he himself said: he not only suffers profoundly, but wills that suffering upon others--he resents not only his own torment, but resents everyone who lives free of the burden. And as it is with all irreparably bad people, he endures much pain.