Back when Mike Tyson first showed up in public in 2003 with his now-instantly recognizable tribal face tattoo, the first reaction of many folks was, “huh?” followed by, “why?” followed by, “seriously though, why?” But let’s be honest: was anyone going to make fun of him to his face and risk getting detonated by one of Iron Mike’s fists? No, sir. Not only was Tyson still the #1 dude who you did not want to get into a brawl with (and also the man with the most disproportionate “intimidating presence: intimidating voice” ratio), he had bitten off a bit of Evander Holyfield’s ear during a boxing match back in 1997. Tyson was considered volatile, as well as loose, cannon.
Know of boxing’s consensus favorite heavyweight and youngest champ Mike Tyson? Sure you do. Do you know that he is facing a 9-1 (6KOs) YouTuber boxer next? You just might. Did you know he has 44 career knockouts till now? Or that he once bit a peer’s ear off during a bout? That is a famed affair. What about his iconic face tattoo? Of all the above, that stands out as his selling point.
Paul gets his face tattooed in a video, and he gets up to show it’s the same tattoo Tyson had on his face for years. In addition, Paul confirmed that he is fighting Mike Tyson and expressed his enthusiasm for the fight. Furthermore, Paul imitated Tyson’s infamous words to Donovan ‘Razor’ Ruddock about making him his girlfriend. Subsequently, Paul mimicked a few more of Tyson’s famous quotes and stated, “My style is impetuous. My defense is impregnable. I want your heart. I want to eat his children. On the 20th, I’ll come out victorious.”
Tyson, who is 30 years older than his opponent, is among the greatest boxers of all time and the first heavyweight to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBC and IBF titles. He has not fought in a competitive bought since 2005, however.
He has gone to Federal District Court in St. Louis to ask a judge to stop Warner Brothers Entertainment from using the tattoo in its posters or in the movie, which would amount to stopping the film from being released, as well as to demand monetary damages for what he calls “reckless copyright infringement” by the studio.
“That’s the real question: the copyright act balances the copyright owners’ rights and not stifling the creativity of the owners — it would stifle creativity to not be able to make a parody,” Mr. Harkins said.
Zhang could not access high-profile matches to make himself known under Roc Nation until they parted ways in 2019. Zhang won 19 back-to-back low-profile fights under the Roc Nation banner. Zhang wanted better-known, tougher opponents with bigger payouts, but Dino Duva didn’t do it. Zhang was particularly upset once when his promoter organized a match at a high school basketball court with a portable dressing room which spectators could see in yahoo.com into. Zhang felt he was not taken seriously by his promoter. He was paid around $7,000 for his pro debut, and some of his earlier pro fights were paid $2000 and $5000. When Shawn George became Zhang’s head coach in 2017, George was upset by how the promoters saw Zhang as a novelty act along the lines of Nikolai Valuev. Dynasty Boxing’s minority owners, brothers Tommy and Terry Lane, believed Zhang would become “the Yao Ming of boxing” and clashed with Duva over his lackluster promotion of Zhang.
Zhang’s fight with Jerry Forrest was on the undercard of the super-middleweight title fight between Canelo Álvarez and Avni Yıldırım. Although Zhang started strongly, scoring three knockdowns in the opening three rounds, Zhang completely gassed out from the fourth round and Forrest was able to battle his way back to earn a majority draw. The final scorecards read 95–93 Forrest, 93–93, and 93–93, with the irregular scores owing to a point deduction against Zhang for excessive holding. Many fans thought Zhang vs. Forrest was a better fight than the main bout.
3. The tradition of boxers getting tattoos can be traced back to the early 1900s when sailors returning from their journeys would often have tattoos to showcase their adventurous spirit. Boxers, seeking to exhibit strength and toughness, adopted this trend, and it became popular within the sport.
Before 2014, Zhang was a typical product of the Chinese state-centric sports development policy known as juguo tizhi (举国体制), with all his training schedule, coaching, insurance, housing, and meals arranged and paid for by the Henan Provincial Combat and Weightlifting Center. Hence, few Chinese boxers turn pro. The Henan Provincial Department of Sports secured public institution positions for athletes like Zhang should they retire in China.
On the night of July 22nd, 2024, X user @LilNoNameFR posted and deleted a series of videos, archived by archive.ph, in which he scrolls through Snapchat DMs allegedly between himself and Tyson. He also included videos of Tyson talking and making inappropriate jokes with minors in a Discord voice chatroom. In the post, he claims to have been 14 at the time and that Tyson was 22. The videos were reposted by X user @GuntNews later that day (shown below).