Mike Tyson, an Imperfect Human Being

A post by "Blake the Megalomaniac" To see more posts click here

I enjoy Mike Tyson and ever sense I listened to him interviewed recently [Mike Tyson Interview] I now not only like him but I pity him too.  While I wanted to refrain from posting on Tyson until after I saw the relatively new documentary based on his life entitled (naturally), “Tyson,” I couldn’t resist.  The movie was released in too few theaters to make it easy enough for me to get to see so once I get the time and energy I will see it because I heard it’s awards material.

Regardless, now I have fodder for my stance (if only somewhat) on the recently married Mike Tyson who also recently lost his daughter, Exodus Tyson.   Here’s a snippet of what had me in a defensive stance from “the mothership’s” Dan Rafael:

“So let me get this straight: Just two weeks after the horrible accidental death of his 4-year-old daughter, Exodus Tyson, Mike Tyson got married? Tyson got hitched for the third time — to Lakiha Spicer, who is not the mother of the toddler — in Las Vegas last Saturday night. I know people mourn in different ways, but doesn’t the timing strike you as extremely odd? How do you go from the death of a child, the saddest of all days, to marriage, which is supposed to be the happiest of days, in just two weeks? . . .”

I’m angry because the writer is better than this.  How hard is it to pile on Mike Tyson after everything he’s done wrong and all that has happened in his life? Answer: Simple.  You criticize Tyson on his marriage two weeks after a death because you know no one will disagree; it’s Mike Tyson for Gods sake.  Well, I disagree. He is a felon, he is a savage, he is crass, but he is obviously mentally ill.  A functioning manic depressant who’s never done anything by the book.  He doesn’t have a politically correct bone in his body. So how does this marriage not make sense when you think about it?

A certified idiot savant.  A genius in the ring and a unmitigated disaster outside of it.  The man who sports a tattoo on his face, who was the youngest man to ever win and unify the WBC, WBA, and IBC world heavyweight belts, and who bit off part of Evander Holyfield’s ear (which if you misremember he was justified in doing because Holyfield consistently headbutted him in both their two fights) went from champion to felon to sideshow and is now a completely clean and sober, trying to live a path on the straight and narrow.

So while he piles on Tyson choosing to continue to paint him as a lost soul and remember him for abnormal behavior, I choose to remember him as a great boxer, wordsmith, and just like the rest of us, an imperfect human being. No one can tell another person how they should grieve for a lost loved one especially not an ESPN boxing analyst.

Food for thought, u do the dishes . . .