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Originally Posted by Dpeck100
Great post.
I do have the book but haven't made it very far with it. It is a tough read early on when talking about his childhood. Your post already convinced me I need to pick it back up.
Yes I am a financial advisor and it is amazing what money can do if left untouched. It is easier said than done with the 24 hour news cycle.
Just to out of curiosity I watched some Foreman clips and he fought a bunch of out of shape guys too.
What is interesting to me about the collectability of Tyson is when I first started posting on card message boards it was because I was researching the Tyson sticker and found a post on CU talking about the little bidding war I got into with another collector in 2010 and signed up to comment. I won the sticker for $82 and immediately went and cleaned out Martin Bradford who was the only person with stickers for sale. I bought 4 more of the Panini for $15 to $25 a pop and three of the 88 ones for something similar. I started posting about it and most thought because of Tyson's personal history they had no chance to rise. Thankfully a seller from Cyprus had a hoard of the 86 Panini and I loaded up on pack fresh copies. Myself and another guy from the CU board sent in copies to PSA at the same time and his popped first and was a UK back and mine second which was the first Italian back to be graded. I was thrilled when they ran up initially and shocked when they doubled basically overnight and while they have backed off a little I still think they are under priced relative to other major rookies. Time will tell. I sold off a good number over the years and now have a 10 which I bought, 5 9's, an 8 and a UK 8 and a beater. I am waiting to buy a UK 10 because it isn't the rookie and overtime the market is more broadly realizing it. I get emails from random people asking to buy one of my copies but they are staying in my collection.
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By all means, dive back into the Tyson book. It is hard to put down once he turns pro and gives background on what so many of his opponents were like outside the ring and the craziness that was going on in Tyson's life.
I don't want to give too much away, because it is such an amazing read. But Tyson said Larry Holmes told him that he (Tyson) is not a pimple on Holmes' ass and that Holmes was the real legend. Holmes further told Tyson that he will eventually destroy himself, which Tyson conceded was correct.
Tyson talked about how much it pissed him off to hear everyone talk about what a great guy Evander Holyfield was because he would constantly "talk that Jesus shit." Meanwhile, Holyfield would constantly hit on the break and rabbit punch. As I was reading the book, I would often put it down and go watch YouTube clips to see what Tyson was talking about regarding a particular fight.
Tyson is completely up front in stating that he was an arrogant asshole when he was 21 years old. One of the things he really feels bad about now was Pinklon Thomas sticking his hand out to shake Tyson's hand at the pre-fight press conference. Tyson responded by telling Thomas that he should get down on his knees and perform a sex act just for having the chance to share a ring with Tyson.
The book is very r-rated.
One other quick anecdote is that Tyson talks about Marvis Frazier (famously destroyed in 30 seconds by Tyson) being way too nice a guy to be involved in a scummy sport like boxing. Tyson wrote that Marvis Frazier really didn't want to box, but was only doing so to try and make his father proud.
Yes, Foreman did fight some stiffs. But my post was largely in the context that he was viewed as an unbeatable killing machine by the time he fought Ali in Zaire. Ali was viewed as being old and having no shot at the guy who had completely destroyed Joe Frazier to win the title.