In 2016, Mike Tyson attended the IBF convention in Beijing. I write for an English-language daily in China and had interviewed Iron Mike several times before. When I arrived at his hotel, there was a phalanx of security guards trying to keep a couple of thousand screaming fans at bay, but Tyson's people had left word that I was coming so after showing my credentials I was escorted to his suite. Mike was tired from the long flight and really in no mood to talk much, but invited me to accompany him and his entourage on a short hike on the Great Wall the next morning. I thanked him, but said I couldn't make it because I'd scheduled a sparring session for a young female boxer that I was training. "She can spar anytime," he said. "Bring her along."
At 10 the next morning, me and my fighter -- a 105-lb southpaw with a 3-0 pro record --boarded the bus with Tyson and his 14-man posse for the 90-minute ride to the Great Wall. Mike couldn't have been nicer, taking the time to ask my fighter about her goals and encouraging her to keep training hard. Our "hike" on the Wall was cut short because of the thousands of fans who showed up hoping to catch a glimpse of "The baddest man on the planet", but once again the security detail did a great job and we were able to spend about half an hour at the site. When we returned to the hotel, Mike invited me, my fighter and her father up to his suite, where he posed for photos with them and autographed two pairs of gloves.
My fighter retired in 2019 with a record of 8-2-2 (4 KOs), but to this day she says meeting Iron Mike is the greatest thing that ever happened to her ...
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