1/5/2023 0 Comments Mike tyson 12![]() ![]() ![]() Frank Bruno appeared the very definition of abject terror when he faced Tyson for the second time, walking to the ring in a manner befitting a condemned man approaching the gallows, twitching and shaking and repeatedly crossing himself. His first comeback match ended after 89 seconds when Peter McNeeley’s trainer, fearing for his fighter’s life, signaled surrender. Soon after Tyson was released from prison in March of 1995, it was evident that neither his defeat to Buster Douglas back in 1990, nor his time away from the ring, had done anything to erode this ability. As proof, consider the fact that more than half of Tyson’s career knockouts were secured in the opening round. ![]() Tyson’s explosive power and rattlesnake quickness may have been the ostensible factors in his notching 26 stoppage wins in his first 28 bouts, but in fact his most lethal weapon was his unique talent, honed on the streets, for turning an opponent’s knees to water before the bell had even rung. It wasn’t just the bulging muscles and those dark, hate-filled eyes it was the aura of menace that radiated from his every gesture, the sense that the normal laws and restraints of society didn’t apply, that no one could be certain what he might do at any given moment. As a boxer, his reputation preceded him and after he turned pro Tyson made intimidation an essential part of his ring success. The law of the jungle, kill or be killed, was all he knew and he had adapted accordingly. ![]() To understand this aspect of Tyson’s talent, it’s helpful to recall that he was forged by the meanest streets of Brooklyn, New York, arrested thirty-eight times before he was even 14-years-old. Even when the former “Kid Dynamite” had lost much of his raw talent to time, self-indulgence, thuggish sycophants and Don King, he could still freeze an opponent’s heart with little more than a menacing glare. Arguably no boxer understood this better, or implemented fear tactics more effectively, than Mike Tyson. From the jungles of our primitive ancestors, to the boardrooms of today’s suit-and-tie warriors, the ability to demoralize an antagonist without resorting to physical violence remains a key weapon in the struggle for dominance. ![]()
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