After eight months, Mike Tyson shows no signs up giving up his vegan diet. You can click the link to read his thoughts on the vegan thing if that’s what grabs you, but I’d rather quote these two responses:
I studied every fighter in history, at my manager’s house up in Catskill, ’cause he had all the greatest fights on film, he had every last one of them, and I watched them all, every night. They were all so vicious, man. Jake LaMotta, Henry Armstrong, Carmen Basilio. Sugar Ray—God, he was vicious. But Jack Dempsey more than anyone. All these guys let you know they wanted to murder you, and they’d take shots from you, over and over and over, get beat senseless, just so they could get theirs in. Sugar Ray maybe most of all. But Jack Dempsey? He wanted to maim you. He didn’t want you dead. He wanted you to suffer. He wanted to shatter your eye socket, destroy your cheeks, your chinbone. That’s what I learned from Mr. Dempsey, and I believe I learned it well.
and:
I read [Chairman Mao's] book when I was in prison, man. Down in the hole. They thought they were punishing me in that little room—no toilet, no bed. I got myself put down there so I could read Chairman Mao and not have to deal with all that prison bullshit. The thing that stuck from his Quotations book: “No investigation, no right to speak.” If you aren’t going to look deep, just shut up.
Tyson is a masterful communicator and one of the great interviewees of our time. Compared to Tyson, Hemingway’s best characters are dumbed-down milquetoasts.
None of Tyson’s boxing opponents were half as formidable as the fighter’s own personal demons. Despite the catastrophic mistakes he made years ago, I believe that Tyson is well on his way to transforming himself into a wise and decent person. (Via Ecorazzi.) Link.
