Dangerous Dogs or Stupid People?

 

This morning I got a message from a friend about the former heavyweight champion of the world, Mike Tyson. Mr. Tyson has allegedly been filmed punching another passenger on a plane. More of the story can be found at:

https://www.tmz.com/2022/04/21/mike-tyson-repeatedly-punches-man-face-plane-bloodies-passenger/

 

I grew up watching Mike Tyson in his prime. His reputation was such that the guys he fought had already lost before they entered the ring. I remember his fight against Michael Spinx, who was a restable fighter who had beaten a former heavy weight champion (Larry Holms) enroot to facing Mr. Tyson. The fear in Mr. Spinx was obvious and it only took a matter of seconds for Mr. Tyson to end his misery.

Mr. Tyson was so fearsome that he actually terrified men who were bigger and stronger. Since I was living in the UK at the time, the fight that comes to mind was the first fight against Frank Bruno. The fight turned out to be like a Singapore election. The fact that Mr. Bruno lasted five rounds was considered a victory of sorts. Mr. Bruno did get one good hit (which Mr. Tyson did admit was the hardest he had been hit) and many of my friends talked about the boxer who nearly beat Tyson. However, the result was a forgone conclusion. Mr. Bruno ended up as a bloody mess at the end of the fight:

 

 

 

Well, they ended up meeting again. Despite having spent a few years in jail, Mr. Tyson ended up doing more damage to Mr. Bruno. Whilst Mr. Bruno put up a brave fight for five rounds in the first fight, this time he could only manage three rounds and after the beating he received, he was advised by doctors that he should retire or risk going blind from too many beatings to the head.

What’s particularly interesting about this fight was the fact that Mr. Bruno was actually a bigger and physically stronger man. He had a 9 cm advantage in terms of height and he outweighed Mr. Tyson by a good 12 KG.

 

 Taken from Wikipedia

Mr. Bruno had the size advantage but Mr. Tyson had something more powerful – the psychological advantage. He terrified people he fought and he enjoyed going in for the kill, whereas Mr. Bruno did not.

To put it crudely, most us would happily meet up with Mr. Bruno for a drink and for a friendly chit-chat. His image was that of a gentle giant. In his spare time, he did pantomimes (saw him in Aladdin in the West End.) Sure, you wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of one of his punches (British TV once did a study, which stated that a punch from Frank Bruno would be like being hit by a motorbike at 30 miles an hour) but he was not the type of guy who would throw a punch at you for no reason.

Mr. Tyson by contrast was by contrast, has never been known for being gentle. He was devastating in the ring and his personal life was turbulent. Violence followed him out of the ring. One of the more famous incidents being a 1988 street brawl with Mitch Green, whom he had previously outpointed in the ring. The fight in the ring was a boxing match. The fight on the street was more “interesting.” Mr. Tyson fractured his hand in the process of rearranging Mr. Green’s face:

 

Mr. Tyson was simply someone most of us would not want to meet in broad daylight let alone in dark lane. He’s the type of guy who could turn violent over nobody quite knows what and if he can damage Mr. Bruno and Mr. Green, who are big well built hardened fighters, one can only imagine what he could do to the rest of us. The man had a reputation of being a beast rather than a normal human.

He did mellow. Mr. Tyson eventually met defeat at the hands of Buster Douglas and while he did make an interesting comeback, he was not quite so fearsome. After the “spanking” he got from Lenox Lewis, his lust for the kill in the ring started to mellow and in 2005, he retired. Mr. Tyson has reinvented himself as an actor (Hangover) and a marijuana entrepreneur. His reputation has mellowed.

However, whilst Mr. Tyson has mellowed for all, he remains who he is – which is a beast at heart. He’s no longer the all-powerful 21-year-old who became the youngest heavy weight champion in history. However, at the age of 55, he’s still physically imposing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I9Iv89xQPc

 

 I tend of people who get into alterations with Mr. Tyson like people who claim they get savaged by Pit Bulls. As much as they may be gentle, they can also snap. Still remember a report in the eighties about a pit bull savaging someone. The guy admitted that they were teasing the dog until it snapped and savaged one of them. The dog is undoubtedly dangerous in that it has a vicious side. Its bread to fight. As such, you should respect the fact that it will do as its nature. Don’t go and tease it until it snaps.

You could say the same is true for Mr. Tyson. He can be very friendly. However, when he asks you to leave him alone – leave him alone. Don’t do things like throw bottles at him and then expect him to sit there and take it:

Whilst I don’t doubt that there are dangerous dogs and animals, there are probably an equal number of stupid humans who think nothing of provoking fights without understanding that there are consequences. If a pit bull is minding its own business, leave it be – don’t provoke it. In what world do you expect people to lie there and take things whilst you goad them on? That is not the law of nature.