Still Wanna F**K with Me – Mike Tyson

 

The latest buzz in the world of boxing is the fact that Mike Tyson, once regarded as the “Badest Man on the Planet” is coming out of retirement to fight Jake Paul, a 27-year-old YouTuber turned boxer.

In normal circumstances a physical contest between a fit and active 27-year-old and a 58-year-old coming of retirement shouldn’t be allowed. Although Mr. Paul has only started boxing publicly in recent years, he’s had success against some credible opponents like Anderson Silva and Nate Diaz:

https://news.paddypower.com/boxing/2024/03/19/jake-paul-next-fight/

 

 However, this isn’t “normal.” Back in his hey-day, Mr. Tyson was known for his brutal destruction of opponents. He only discovered defeat when he discovered partying and underestimating opponents. His physical power and speed were legendary. Whilst Mr. Tyson isn’t the youthful force of explosive power that he once was, clips of him training show that he’s still someone that most normal people wouldn’t want breathing at them when he’s in a foul mood. As famed combat sports podcaster Joe Rogan says, “I don’t care if he’s 55, he can still hurt you.”

In a way, this fight is what boxing, a sport that is primarily funded by the fans, needs. There hasn’t been an “electrifying” and “charismatic” champion that drew people in since Mr. Tyson’s hey day in the 1980s. Both fighters are undoubtedly going to make a huge amount of money.

This is, in many ways, a clash of “visions.” Mr. Paul is a young upstart in the world of boxing. Talk to enough boxers and you’ll find that many of them want Mr. Tyson to teach Mr. Paul a good lesson because as far as they are concerned, Mr. Paul is a young upstart who hasn’t paid his dues. As far as many professionals are concerned, Mr. Paul is soaking up the monied fights based on the fact that he’s gained fame as a YouTuber.

While there’s something tempting about smacking up the face of a young, rich kid who thinks he can’t be touched (think “My uncaring elite face” in Singapore), young upstarts are, from a social perspective, a good thing. Reason being – they’re more often than not, the guys who think of something quirky that upends a system, thus creating the disruption and innovation that is a hall mark of progress. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were, as far as the high-powered executives of IBM were concerned, young upstarts who ended up revolutionizing computing. Now, its guys like Evan Spiegel of Snapchat who are upending our relationship with cyberspace.

Say what you like about Mr. Paul but he’s interesting. People who might never had watched boxing are now tuning into watch him fight and in fairness, he’s actually won a number of fights. He can actually fight.

However, there’s one slight problem. Mr. Paul is a nice boy from a well to do family His father is a realtor and his early career was on YouTube playing pranks. Boxing comes across as a hobby to him. In fairness, he’s been relatively successful at it and he’s won fights that nobody expected to him to win. I can sympathise with Mr. Paul in as much as he may be a “rich kid” trying to show that he’s actually got some merits of his own.

However, whilst Mr. Paul has won fights, he’s never really faced anyone who had a hunger to “kill him.” Sure, Nate Diaz and Anderson Silva are good fighters in their own right. However, both were not “angry killers.”

Mr. Tyson is a different story. If you read Mr. Tyson’s biography “Undisputed” truth, you’ll see that here is a guy who may well have been murdered in gang violence had he not found boxing. For Mr. Tyson, smacking people up is the core of his being.

Sure, the current 57-year-old Mike Tyson has mellowed. He’s no longer the angry 21-year-old who became the world’s youngest heavy weight champion. Back then, being heavy weight champion and knocking down everyone in his way was the only thing he had to love for. These days, he’s having fun on his cannabis farm.

However, whilst age can mellow you, it doesn’t really take away who you really are deep inside. Many of the training videos that have been leaked, show that Mr. Tyson still has speed and power. Sure, he may not be as explosive as he was – but he’s still powerful enough as Roy Jones Junior states:

https://www.google.com/search?q=jake+paul+vs+mike+tyson&sca_esv=1f6968c2800695af&source=hp&ei=IgD9ZZDlIqLi1e8PlK-

Mr. Tyson’s last fight was an exhibition in 2020, where he was in it for fun. However, this fight has awakened something in Mr. Tyson. It’s not just his physical conditioning that people notice but his intent to make a point. His hunger to hurt has been awakened as anyone who looks into his eyes from this training montage will realise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9VaIbFTQHU

 

 If Mr. Paul thinks that the 58-year-old Mike Tyson is going to be a case of fighting his grandpa, he will be in for a nasty surprise.

In a way, this comparison between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson is the one that best illustrates the point when I talk about competing people who are less educated and from less privileged backgrounds. In the last decade of being in a working professional environment, I’ve noticed that working professionals have one major flaw – namely the fact that they think their professional status gives them some magical status. This is especially true when they face people who are less “qualified” than them.

I remember being on a project many years ago involving Nestle. The marketing manager of the division we were working with had started out as an office boy. I remember he had something to a business partner who felt aggrieved enough to complain about it to me. My partner dismissed him as “just an office boy.” I shuddered - anyone who climbs from office boy to marketing manager isn’t someone you want to mess with.

Likewise for the people who kept complaining about my ex-wife being an uneducated Vietnamese. This girl clawed her way up from a home town. She came to Singapore, became a business owner and then a beauty queen at the international level. After years in Singapore, she’s setting up in the USA. I think the only person who understood this is my partner in the Chubby Tiger venture who said, “This woman is no joke.”

So, when we talk about what gives people the edge, we’ll talk about things like education, connections, family background and so on. This is where people from comfortable middle class professional backgrounds get lulled into a false sense of superiority. The most crucial fact that everyone seems to over look is will, or desire. You could call it “killer instinct.” Look at Mr. Tyson who trains at inhuman levels (500 daily pushups among many others). He’s focused and the only thing that matters is flattening the other guy. I think of my ex, who entered a beauty contest because she had that ultimate goal of getting into the USA and became a global champion. I think of her focus and the work she put in. It’s that drive that gives people the edge. It’s just too bad HR can’t measure it.