The author of this column, a brotha, let Mike have it. The choices crack me up.
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Posted on Mon, Jun. 10, 2002
Tyson's act phony as a three-dollar bill
By JASON WHITLOCK
Columnist
Had Mike Tyson won his overhyped showdown with Lennox Lewis on Saturday night, what do you think he would've held during his post-fight interview?
A. His young child as he thanked Lewis for giving him the undeserved opportunity.
B. His crotch as he dropped F-bombs on the media members he thought disrespected him before the fight.
Besides being a washed-up bum, a convicted rapist, an ignoramus, an ungrateful, disloyal traitor and a coward hiding in bully's clothing,
Mike Tyson is a drama queen.
That's the lesson we should've learned from the Lewis-Tyson prefight hype, in-ring (tail)-whipping and postfight child-holding Mr. Nice Guy routine.
Tyson could easily fill in for Susan Lucci as Erica Kane on ABC's "All My Children." Tyson will go to any length to stir up trouble and keep himself at the center of attention.
No one should be amazed that Tyson conducted himself like a gentleman following Lewis' eight-round masterpiece. Lewis beat the fool out of Tyson. And Tyson was simply doing what he had to do to remain a remote candidate for a future big-money fight.
His ghetto caveman act had turned off nearly everyone. So Tyson, in true Erica Kane fashion, flipped to a different personality. He turned into a humble family man who has a great deal of respect for Lewis and Lewis' family.
I'm calling bull manure on that.
Had Tyson won, had Tyson landed one meaningful punch, had Tyson's nose, eyes and mouth not been pulverized into mush, he would've called Lewis every four-letter word in his immense jailhouse vocabulary. Instead, having been properly embarrassed, Tyson tried to take the high road. He needed a map, a compass and a team of bloodhounds to find it, but Tyson acted like a sane human being, which caused some longtime boxing scribes to praise Tyson for taking his beating "like a man."
Excuse me. There was no other way for Tyson to accept the beating Lewis handed out. Had Tyson erupted and done something illegal, he probably would've earned a lifetime ban from boxing in the States. And we all know Tyson wants to keep fighting. He begged Lewis for a rematch immediately after the fight.
Tyson will continue to be boxing's greatest con man (yes, a better con artist than Don King) as long as a foolish public keeps buying his feel-sorry-for-me act. That's his most effective con. Pity is Tyson's currency.
Tyson's fan base is made up mostly of people who feel he's a victim of Don King's manipulation, a racist Indiana jury, Robin Givens' gold-digging and/or an impoverished, parentless childhood. His fans feel like there's something noble about rooting for an "underdog."
It's been 15 years since Tyson was an underdog. It's been two decades since Tyson was an impoverished, directionless child. God blessed Tyson with a surrogate family and a career that made him rich and powerful. Tyson, at the behest of Givens, ignorantly deserted the very people -- his original management and training staff, Bill Cayton, Jim Jacobs and Kevin Rooney -- who helped orchestrate Tyson's rags-to-riches story.
Tyson loves to brag about being from "the streets." He doesn't even follow the rules of "the streets." Tyson isn't loyal. And he chose a gold-digging groupie over money.
Why Captain Tyson enjoys hero status among youthful tough guys is beyond my ability to comprehend. Tyson is a phony, as big a phony as the sports world has ever seen.
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© 2001 kansascity and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.kansascity.com
rematch??
A waste of money!
Fraud
I'm soooo happy!!!!!!
Hybrid Mode
