What I Like About Tyson

I never much liked Mike Tyson. Don’t get me wrong he was a killer in the ring but i never much cared for him as a person. That was until I caught a clip of him on CNN being interviewed by Opera. In the interview he reveals much about him self, his struggles as a pro boxer, but more so as a human in a real world.

As a child Tyson suffered from being bullied, and from this he developed low self esteem which led him to drug abuse and a determination to never let himself be hurt again. His persona developed and he was determined to protect himself in all avenue of life. What I like so much about watching this interview was that here was a man who had lost everything, his money, career, house and two marriages and was jailed for 3 years.

And being all of this, of being stripped of all he was, he was forced to face himself. “Tyson” is a movie that Sony released about his life and experiences. But What really catches my attention is how I identified with him, with his struggles and putting up a defense. In some ways my life was not all that different a story from his. Having experienced similiar abuses as a child I too had put up a defense,  a coping mechanism to help yourself feel protected, so that no one will hurt you again. The problem with this is that often times it makes a person more sensitive to life. All in all, the interview was great, if you get a chance to check it out, do.

And for me not liking Tyson as a person, well I have to say that this has changed because i can see the defense he’d put around himself and see the humanity behind that very defense. And this make me like him all the more.