Mike Tyson Seems to be a New Man

Mike Tyson at SXSW 2011 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mike Tyson seems to have become a man.   This guy has been through it.   Emotionally that is, for I always thought that he had some issues.  But I didn’t dislike him the way some of America did.  He was a Youth, never close to his mother, Fostered out to an older woman and taught the rules of boxing by Cus D’Amato.  His Foster Mother did say that she knew that Mike needed structure, that he was essentially a good kid but if ever off track, he’d probably explode.  This is the gist of what she said and she seemed to have great insight.  He amassed a lot of money during his young Hey Day becoming the youngest Boxer to win the Championship and with this new found popularity and as he put it, no real confidence but plenty of ego, he courted the pretty little star in Head of the Class, Robin Givens.  It was fun for him to get his entourage and visit her while on the set and I honestly believe that there was an element of love , excitement and attraction there on both parts.  And then when she marries him, she finds him volatile, hitting walls and more or less swinging at her than actually hitting.  I could understand her fear if a Mike Tyson swung at me too.  But it ended in a bad divorce.

He appeared on the View where he gave Barbara Walters and  Whoopi Goldberg exceptionally long hugs.  He goes back far with Barbara Walters because she gave that Interview with him and Robin Givens about the disintergrating marriage.  Mike sat there in 1988, obviously clinically drugged and said practically nothing.  It was weird and sad. They divorced, it was ugly and Mike made some terrible choices down the line.

I may be wrong, but I never believed that he was guilty of the things people accused him of and considering his upbringing and lack of love and real knowledge of his parents, I can understand this young man having behavioral problems.  Years before he was re-married, a relative who has made her life as a Flight Attendant ran into him in Las Vegas.  She had no idea who he was as he continued to say “This is Mike, honey. How are you”.  She said that in person he looked wholesome, was very  clean, smelled good and was a total gentleman.  He invited her to the MGM Grand and she politely told him, they were departing from Vegas.  They weren’t but she is a woman of wise council and returned to her own hotel.  She didn’t know  him and didn’t have a mind to be a Groupie. 

On the View he announced that he has a Play about his life starting later this month.  This man needed structure and  good companionship which he seems to have.  They both rely on the strength of God. He honestly looks different and it radiates.  I could be wrong fut I always had a certain compassion for this young man even though some of the events in his life angered me. But I have also seen his type.  He was strong but mentally fragile.  This type of man needs to trust in someone.  I hope it is God before anything and then his wife and children. Peace.