Mike Tyson: Legendary Heavyweight Champion’s Kryptonite Revisited

Mike Tyson is, and always will be, hailed as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers to enter the ring. At a time when heavyweights tended to be huge humans, the 5’10’’ pugilist from Brooklyn surged onto the scene with rapid upper-body movements, ferocious attacks, and non-stop forward motion. He may have been dwarfed by most opponents, but Tyson was always the intimidator.

This year, the 57-year-old will enter the ring in an exhibition fight made possible by Netflix and “influencer” Jake Paul. The former was embarrassed in a similarly misjudged exhibition fight against Roy Jones Jr. in November 2020, while the latter is yet to put in a performance worthy of someone claiming that they’re a professional boxer.

Regardless, the sideshow will be hyped up tremendously, bringing the spotlight back to Tyson and Paul for any comments made or posts sent out on social media. In this time, onlookers and the opposing camp to “The Baddest Man on the Planet” will likely be delving into the former champion’s kryptonite for promotional material and in-ring strategies.

Tyson’s scared of sharks

Since retirement, Mike Tyson has gone big on cashing in on his pop-culture profile. He’s an icon of boxing, and being such a polarising and popular figure, many entertainment productions are more than happy to get him involved. He’s played parts in films like Ip Man 3 and The Hangover, been the famed final boss in the game Punch-Out!!, and has his own podcast, Hotboxin’.

It was on here that we got the low-down on Tyson’s part in one of the biggest TV events of the year, Shark Week. Partly stacked with real shark documentaries and occasionally featuring pop-culture stunts or mocumentaries, Shark Week’s a big occasion around the world. In fact, there’s even now a Slingo casino game for the monumental season of shark shows! In Slingo Shark Week, it’s all about winning on slot-like bingo while encircled by sharks!

Tyson might avoid this particular Slingo game, given his experience on one of the shows. As he recounted on his Hotboxin’ podcast with Dana White – the UFC president – Tyson became enraged on the trip out. He wasn’t happy with the swaying of the boat with the sharks beneath, even to the point that the crew was a bit scared. The boxer admitted to being “scared to death,” but eventually got in the water to put a shark to sleep the gentle way.

Beating Tyson in the ring

If the Mike Tyson versus Roy Jones Jr. showing is anything to go by, Tyson still has power, but he’s certainly significantly slower. Jones Jr. could, for the most part, see and evade what now look to be very telegraphed power shots. Tyson will continue to step forward, put pressure on, but good footwork can get even a 50-year-old out of the way and ready to throw some counters.

This is a similar tactic to what Evander Holyfield took way back in 1996 when he stopped Tyson in the 11th round. As the legend who also, upsettingly, stepped out for an exhibition fight recently to struggle immensely said, when it comes to Tyson, as reported by Boxing News, you need to fight fire with fire and always be the one to land the last punch. You meet him on his level, show that you’re not intimidated, and take away that part of his game.

Maybe the opposing corner will play on Tyson’s episode with the sharks in some way, but to go for the win against a near-60-year-old, they should look to return fire on the physical side, utilize good footwork, and always hit the last punch.