Mike Tyson’s face tattoo is iconic, steeped in mystery. But why did he choose it? As Tyson prepares to face Jake Paul on July 20th, intrigue intensifies. Beyond his face, Tyson’s skin tells stories. Mao Zedong on his arm, Che Guevara on his ribcage.
Originally planned as far back as 2008 but stuck in Development Hell for five years, this Wong Kar Wai take on the story may not have beat Wilson Yip’s version to a release, but what is the best weight division in boxing tonally on the other end of the cinematic spectrum. The film begins with Ip Man (played by regular Wong Kar Wai muse Tony Leung) rising through the ranks of the Foshan martial arts community, before having to leave for Hong Kong. It weaves this together – using non-linear storytelling – with the completely fictional story of Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi), the heir to a kung fu style known as 64 Hands (essentially a derivative of Baguazhang), who’s avenging the death of her father and who falls in love with Ip Man.
61. “We are all great. No matter if you think you’re dumb, fat, been bullied, we all have greatness. You gotta find the courage. It’s going to be hard work, discipline, and the non-cognitive skills — hard work, dedication, sacrifice — that will set you apart. – David Goggins
“Such comments are insulting to myself and the sport of boxing,” he told sina.com in a recent interview. “As a pro, we need to keep winning to earn more money (appearance fees), and a loss results in a huge drop in market value. It just doesn’t make any sense to earn more money as a loser (from a rematch).”
And then there was this comment, “I was recently stuck at a small airport with about 50 people, maybe more. The lady sitting next to me quietly called a nearby pizza place and ordered a bunch of huge pizzas for everyone, including TSA. Sometimes ordinary people do extraordinary things.” For real.
“He’s always going to be the man in a lot of our eyes,” says Ric Flair, the professional-wrestling legend and a friend of Tyson’s, who founded his own cannabis brand, Ric Flair Drip. “But I think he wants to be the man again.”
Failure is an advanced form of learning for Tyson, but he’s hoping to avoid another lesson in loss in north Texas. Tyson does have respect for Paul, who went from performing skits on Vine in 2013 to fighting in his second professional-boxing match on the card of Tyson’s exhibition fight with Jones in 2020. He still calls Paul a friend, even as the influencer has vowed to “knock this old man the fuck out.” But Tyson revels in talking shit and trolling him. Like the time he called Paul “fat and funky” in assessing his opponent’s shirtless physique. Or when he said that a video of Paul dancing when he was sixteen strangely gave Tyson an erection. Two days after he suffered the ulcer flare-up, Tyson couldn’t help but jab at Paul on X: “Now feeling 100% even though I don’t need to be to beat Jake Paul.”
On February 11, 1990, in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history, Tyson lost the championship to lightly regarded James (“Buster”) Douglas, who scored a technical knockout in the 10th round. Tyson rebounded from the loss with four straight victories. In 1991, however, he was accused of having raped a beauty pageant contestant, and he was convicted of the charge in 1992.
But he was big. Not just for his family. For his town. Zhang grew up in Shenqiu, a rural county that sits on the line between Henan and Anhui in the eastern part of the country. He wasn’t athletically gifted. Wasn’t so athletically inclined, either. When he was 12, his father, concerned about his weight, suggested Zhang try sports. Kayaking was popular. Zhang liked it. But the first time he squeezed his 6′ 1″, 190-pound frame into one he felt the water splashing into the sinking vessel as he paddled.
Zhang later found out various errors in his preparations. During his one-week COVID-19 quarantine in Miami before the bout, the hotel provided him only two meals a day. Unfamiliar with Miami’s high humidity, Zhang’s water intake during his stay at hotel was insufficient and he suffered from severe dehydration. Compounded by a drop in fitness from staying in the hotel during quarantine, he lost 9 pounds. Zhang had been unconcerned with his weight loss since it was not an issue in the unlimited weight class. His doctor also concluded that his excessive consumption of Chinese tea during training was partially responsible for his iron-deficiency anemia. When Zhang was discharged from hospital, his first words to his managers were the Chinese idiom, fang hu gui shan, lit. “a tiger let go would come back at the village hard”, referring himself as the tiger. Since then, Zhang hired a nutritionist, quit smoking and has stayed away from tea during training and in the immediate run-up to boxing matches.
2024年6月1日、サウジアラビア・リヤドのキングダム・アリーナで、マッチルーム・スポーツとクイーンズベリー・プロモーションズによる5対5の対抗戦の大将戦としてデオンテイ・ワイルダーと対戦し、5回1分51秒KO勝ちを収めた。本来はアルツール・ベテルビエフ対ディミトリー・ビボルの世界ライトヘビー級4団体王座統一戦の前座として行われる予定だったが、ベテルビエフの負傷で統一戦が延期されたためメインイベントに繰り上げられて行われた。