Mike Tyson has enough self-inflicted damage to last him three lifetimes, but somehow that just isn’t enough for some people. Between the rape charge, ear biting incident, and cocaine bust, you would think that the media doesn’t need any extra reasons to pile on…. but they do.
I witnessed two cases of unwarranted Tyson bashing tonight that irked me… just a little.
Over at Yahoo! Sports boxing blog, theres an entry titled “Taebo, a huge diamond & death threats … must be a Tyson story”.
The story centers around a man who once bought a mansion from Mike Tyson 9 years ago, and is now being investigated by the feds. The new mansion owner tried to re-sell the mansion (and a huge diamond) to undercover federal agents who let him know they were using drug money. The problem with this story is that it has absolutely nothing to do with Mike Tyson, yet it’s being ran in the “Sports” section and bears his name in the title.
Do you think you’ll ever see Yahoo! running an article that says “Man who once shook hands with Rocky Marciano murders child”?? Probably not.
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The second instance was during tonights telecast of Margarito vs. Cotto, Mike Tyson was sitting in the crowd with two of his kids enjoying the fight. Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant gave Tyson a shout out as he appeared on the big screen, and the crowd gave Tyson an applause when they seen his image on the jumbotron. Lampley went on about how it was good to see a dad and his kids watching boxing, and that Mike was a brilliant student of the game.
Being the cynic that I am, I KNEW somebody was going to say something to completely ruin the warm and fuzzy moment. My fears were confirmed when Max Kellerman blurted out something to the effect of “considering some of Tyson’s rocky past, seeing him in this capacity is good to say the least”. Kellerman didn’t exactly say anything over the line, but it’s wack that Mike can’t even enjoy an honest night with his kids without someone making reference to his past. That tiny comment is almost saying “hey hey wait a minute, don’t forget he’s a bad guy…”.
Even the good deeds will be followed with a sly comment for all eternity.
“WOW, Mike Tyson saved that poor kids life! It’s a good thing he didn’t rape him and bite his ear… you know, because he DID do that in the past”.
