Long before Mike Tyson stamped his class in the professional boxing scene, he was already a beast during his early years in the sport.
Arguably the greatest boxer of all-time, Tyson dominated the sport in the late 80’s and won major world titles as a heavyweight.
But years before he ascend to legendary status, he has been piecing up opponents inside the ring at a young age.
DAZN USA recently uploaded a video of the boxing GOAT on Twitter, where Tyson, then aged 15, needed only eight seconds to send his opponent to the shadow realm.
Watch it below:
Champ Mentality
Finding huge success in boxing, Tyson said in order to be a champion, one must experience getting beat up first.
“You can’t be a champion unless you’ve been beat up and dragged in the dirt and kicked in your balls,” he told T.I in an interview.
The first time he won the heavyweight title, he did not consider himself a champion as he believes “a champion has to be beat up too.”
The ‘Kid Dynamite’ credited the hard times in the ring, the setbacks, and the moments his back was against the wall for allowing him to discover himself.
“I had to go through what I went through to be who I am. I had to find out who I am to find out who I am not.”
Art Of Fighting
During his glory days in boxing, Tyson revealed he made nearly $400 million dollars.
And for once, he thought of testing his mettle in the Octagon and was aware that he needed to do a lot of work to excel in mixed martial arts.
In an episode of UFC Tonight several years ago, ‘Iron Mike’ admitted he has to be a great wrestler first before shifting to MMA.
“Well, in ’93, I was in prison, so there wouldn’t have been a fight, but there is no way I would have won.”
“I had no idea what was going on with that type of fighting and would’ve been taken by surprise.”
“I would have had to train in that particular art of fighting before that happened.”
“That’s a particular art. You’re not going to go in there with just your hand and not have a great ground game.”
“You also need a great wrestling game to be successful, and you won’t be exciting, as well.”
“You have to have both games. You have to know how to wrestle and box. That’s just the truth.”
(Featured Image Source: Twitter/ DAZN USA)