While Tyson is busy training, Paul is doing the podcast circuit talking about getting a tattoo. In fact, he says he wants to get a tattoo inspired by the Tyson face tattoo. “So I’m just like, f*** it, like, why not just do it because Tyson did it? It’s a story behind Tyson’s face tat is, it was like Wednesday of his fight week, and he just got it, and he showed up to the presser the next day with the face tat and he didn’t tell anybody. So I’m thinking about doing that in honor…”
The unified champion is defined as a boxer that holds at least two world championships of major sanctioning bodies (WBA, WBC, IBF, or WBO) in their respective division. Around 2004, the World Boxing Association recognized three different types: the unified champion (two-titles holder in the weight division or category, obliged to defend the title against WBA’s No. 1 contender in 18 months periodically), the undisputed champion (three-title holder, mandatory defense against WBA’s challenger in 21 months regularly), and the super champion (four-title holder, WBA’s mandatory defense in 24 months periodically). The rules required only one unified/undisputed/super champion per weight class; the purse in the bid would be distributed in a 65/35 ratio in favor of the unified champion. However, along with the changes to “super” status (besides holding more than one title, the super titles were awarded to champions that were able to defend the WBA title 5 times), the term “undisputed” was dropped completely.
In 2020, Bill Caplan of The Ring magazine listed Tyson as number 17 of the 20 greatest heavyweights of all time. Tyson spoke with The Ring magazine in 2020 about his six greatest victories, those over Trevor Berbick, Pinklon Thomas, Tony Tucker, Tyrell Biggs, Larry Holmes, and Michael Spinks. In 2020, CBS Sports boxing experts Brian Campbell and Brent Brookhouse ranked the top 10 heavyweights of the last 50 years and Tyson was ranked number 7.
Round 2: Wilder trying to hold the center a little more to start this round instead of retreating to the corner easily. Wilder tries a right hand as Zhang lands a left to the body. Neither man is jabbing. Zhang gets Wilder to the corner and tags him! Uppercut lands and Wilder covering up here.
My journeys have taken me to some strange places, ranging from the creepiness of an abandoned lunatic asylum, to the quiet, vast emptiness of a forgotten chapel, but nothing quite like the abandoned home of a former professional boxer. After being arrested here in 2013 it was nice to make a return trip, thankfully not ending in a $280 fine, to finally photograph the very odd forgotten structure of Mike Tyson’s abandoned 1980s mansion.
Der Gefängnisaufenthalt hatte bei Tyson sichtbare Spuren hinterlassen. Er hatte zwanzig Kilo abgenommen, darüber hinaus war er zum Islam konvertiert und hatte sich den Namen „Abdul Aziz” gegeben. Auch wenn dieser Name schon bald wieder aus dem öffentlichen Bewusstsein verschwand, war Tysons Umfeld bestrebt, einen grundlegenden Imagewandel des Boxers zu vollziehen, da sich so ungeahnte Möglichkeiten der Vermarktung ergaben. Viele Boxmanager, die seit seiner Haftentlassung um die Gunst Tysons buhlten, beteuerten wiederholt seinen Wandel zum „besseren Menschen”. Tyson selbst begab sich noch vor seiner ersten Pressekonferenz in Anwesenheit seiner vielen Unterstützer – unter denen auch Muhammad Ali war – in die Moschee box in yahoo.com der Nähe des Indiana Youth Centers in Indianapolis, um dort zu beten. Auch Teile der Medien waren bemüht, den Ruf Tysons als verurteilten Vergewaltiger vergessen zu machen. So veröffentlichte die Tageszeitung Dayton Daily News einen Artikel, in welchem fünf Geschworene des damaligen Vergewaltigungsprozesses ihre mittlerweile aufgekommenen Zweifel an Tysons Schuld äußerten.
Later, Takamura called Ippo to meet him at the shrine. Takamura wanted to know if using the shrine actually works, however, Ippo explained that the shrine can’t be defined by probabilities and that one can pray to help reduce feelings of unease. Takamura decided to do an offering, throwing a coin into the shrine. Ippo wondered Takamura was anxious about fighting Dragon, but Takamura expressed his excitement for the match and thought that Dragon is ambidextrous when Ippo noted how Dragon seemed like a former southpaw boxer, planning to just fight it out to see who’s the strongest as always. When Takamura was asked by Ippo what he prayed for, Takamura claims that there are things he can’t control on his own and his strength isn’t enough for, so he wanted to ask for the Gods to help for some peace of mind. Takamura accidentally pulled the string too hard and breaks it. Before leaving, Takamura asked Ippo if he ever thinks that he should give something another try, as he has his boxing and natural talent, asking what is more valuable than those. Without hesitation, Ippo answered with his mother, leaving Takamura to realise that he has to do it on his own.