Known as ‘The Baddest man on the planet’, Mike Tyson has never been afraid of any competitor in the ring. However, there was one man that could put the former boxing champion in a cold sweat.
The sheer thought of facing Mike Tyson in person can leave any man in fear and trepidation. The Baddest man on the planet is a former heavyweight boxing champion whose unbridled power could suppress any contestant in the ring.
Throughout his career, the legendary American boxer had experienced the vicissitudes of life, having attained several accomplishments and prizes but also suffered from heavy criticism and even imprisonment. What set him off from any other famous boxer, is the seemingly no-fear attitude that Mike expressed when facing his opponent.
Regardless of his reputation for being fearless, Mike Tyson is actually afraid of one person only, who he luckily never encountered as a competitor. Read on to find out more about Mike’s career and who’s his worst nightmare.
Who is Mike Tyson?
According to Sportscasting, Michael Gerard Tyson was born on June 30, 1966, in New York. At age two, he was abandoned by his father, leaving him alone with his mother and two siblings. Unable to cope with the high living expenses of New York, Tyson's family moved to Brooklyn, a neighborhood notorious for its high crime rate.
It was at this slum that Mike learned his first fighting skills by participating in criminal gangs on the street. By the age of 13, Tyson had been arrested more than 30 times, which got him a ticket to the reform school Tryon School for Boys. Sportscasting reports that at this reform school, he learned the basics of boxing from counselor Bob Stewart, previously an amateur boxing champion, and the rest is history.
From a juvenile delinquent, Mike Tyson rose to stardom at the age of 20, when he became the youngest heavyweight boxing champion in the world. Sportbible writes that Mike’s boxing style was a delicate mix of speed and strength, which made him a real contender in any fight. His extraordinarily rapid reflexes and quickness allowed the young prize hunter to dodge opponents’ attacks, before delivering his signature right uppercut. It was his aggressiveness in the ring that subdued many fierce competitors and gave him an edge in every fight.
This is the only man who could scare Mike Tyson
While Mike Tyson’s life has been full of ups and downs, his signature no-fear attitude was the most stable symbol of the former champion. However, in his book Iron Ambition: My Life with Cus D’Amato, Mike Tyson revealed his one and only fear: his first-ever trainer, Cus D’Amato. He wrote:
I was petrified when I was alone with him. If he called me – ‘Mike, I need to talk to you’ – I didn’t feel good going over to him. That’s when he’d start giving me his detailed criticisms of my fights.
According to Biography, D’Amato is credited as the man who helped Mike Tyson unleash his potential as a world-class boxer. The late manager would set a rigorous training schedule that laid the foundations for Mike Tyson’s fighting techniques. Unfortunately, D’Amato passed away in 1985, just before Tyson rose to stardom with his heavyweight championship.
