Mike Tyson On Fear Part II

At the end of my previous installment on Mike Tyson I linked to a clip from the 2008 documentary called Tyson where Mike describes in a sort of stream of consciousness style the various thoughts that are swirling around in his head as he got ready for a big fight. The important lesson that I took away from that clip was  that even a fighter of  Tyson’s caliber and repute still had a lot of self doubt and fear.

Recently I came across another great clip on Mike Tyson. The following is a short documentary (~3 minutes) on Mike Tyson where he talks about his career and his relationship with Cus D’amato, as well as his fight against Larry Holmes (which I referenced in my previous post). I urge you all to take a few minutes out of your day and watch this clip and pay particular attention to what Tyson has to say from around the 2:45 minute mark:

“In order to show courage there has to be fear, and that’s why we have courage, because we are afraid. And that was the most successful part about me, I was so in touch with my fear, I was ferocious and blood thirsty, I hated and dread losing.I had been a loser all my life, my mother’s a loser, my father’s a loser, and I’m frightened still. That’s just how it is in this world of fighters, the fighters are never who they appear to be”

After having watched several documentaries and countless interviews I’m still amazed at how thoughtful and intelligent Mike can be. There’s no question he has lived life in the fast lane and that he’s got a lot of wisdom to share. Most people are so used to seeing Mike as a complete savage that they are oftentimes shocked that he could produce sage like wisdom.

Anyway, enjoy the clip:

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