By John F. McKenna (McJack): A new and gentler “Iron” Mike Tyson was enshrined into the International Boxing Hall of Fame on June 12, 2011 along with Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez, Russian born Australian Kostya Tszyu, Mexican trainer Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain, referee Joe Cortez and Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone for his “Rocky” movies. Threatening weather could not keep thousands of boxing fans from attending the event.
This writer was fortunate enough to see both Mike Tyson and Julio Cesar Chavez on the same night on December 8, 1990 in Atlantic City. Chavez, who was 90-0 at the time fought on the undercard when Tyson KO’d Alex Stewart in the 1st round. Chavez KO’d Kyung-Duk Ahn in the 3rd round on the same card.
I remember watching “Iron” Mike fight as a seventeen year old amateur and instantly became a fan. Even then he displayed awesome punching power. I remember turning to one of my friends and exclaiming “this kid is going to be the next Joe Louis. I never thought I would see a fighter who could punch like that again.” Louis was always my favorite fighter and still is to this day.
Mike Tyson was an exciting fighter to watch. I liked everything about him and his style of fighting. He fought with a ferocity that was a lot like his idol Jack Dempsey. The story of how Tyson went from rags to riches after trainer Cus D’Amato began to mentor him is the stuff of legends.
In his remarks to the crowd at the induction ceremony Mike became emotional. He said “All this stuff started when I met Cus D’Amato and Bobby Stewart (a social worker who introduced him to D’Amato). “I was in prison because I was always robbing people.”
When Tyson began speaking about Cus he choked up and could not continue. It is unfortunate that D’Amato died when he did. Mike was still very young and be became a valuable commodity. It was very painful for me to watch Tyson’s fall from grace.
Some of the complexities of Mike Tyson the man continue to emerge. He has appeared in the “Hangover” films and reality shows which explore his love of training birds. Of course he is also a noted boxing historian.
Despite Tyson’s fall from the pinnacle of pugilistic success that he so quickly attained, “Iron” Mike has millions of fans who remember the glory days and wish him well.
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