Mike Tyson: Likeness

“None of my friends have any respect for me. … No, most of these people thought of me like… some money….”

Mike Tyson

http://www.maxboxing.com/Goldman/eddieg071603.asp
On his fans

Money , People

“Being a champion opens lots of doors—I'd like to get a real estate license, maybe sell insurance.”

Mike Tyson

http://jco.usfca.edu/boxing/desert.html
On boxing

“I've been a prima-donna. I was taken care of since I was 13. That's why I am the way I am today. I was spoiled, like a brat. I had anything I wanted. That's crazy to be that way all your life. Everybody's taking care of you, but manipulating you at the same time. Very few people have a life like that. Most people have to work like slaves their whole lives. I've never had a job in my life. What I know how to do is hurt big, tough men — in the street and off.”

Mike Tyson

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2005-06-02-tyson-saraceno_x.htm
On himself

Life , Men , People , Way

“I'm not used to sensitivity any more. When I see people cry when I lose, save your tears. I don't know how to handle people crying any more. I lost my sensitivity like that. Please, you embarrass me when you cry because I don't know what to do when you cry. I don't know what to say.”

Mike Tyson

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2005-06-12-tyson-retire-talk_x.htm.
On his fans

People , Tear , Cry

“I like the hip writers: Fitzgerald, the guy who committed suicide, Hemingway, all those guys. Some of them were alcoholics and drug addicts but they had fun. They were real people. They formed the culture of American literature. Hemingway admired Tolstoy, Tolstoy admired Pushkin, and Mailer admired Hemingway. It all flows down. The greats are all connected. One day I'm gonna write a book myself. The first chapter will be about what a rough deal my momma got. She believed in you guys and your society.”

Mike Tyson

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/boxing/3026999/Boxing-Tysons-complicated-world.html
On literature

People , Alcohol , Books , Guy

“I'm the best ever. I'm the most brutal and vicious, and most ruthless champion there's ever been. There's no one can stop me. Lennox is a conqueror? No, I'm Alexander, he's no Alexander. I'm the best ever! There's never been anybody as ruthless! I'm Sonny Liston, I'm Jack Dempsey. There's no one like me. I'm from their cloth. There's no one that can match me. My style is impetuous, my defense is impregnable, and I'm just ferocious. I want your heart! I want to eat his children! Praise be to Allah!”

Mike Tyson

Interview with Jim Gray http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4l0ZyKmeNE (2000).
On Lennox Lewis

Children , Heart , Clothes

“After his final fight: "I felt like I was 120 years old. I feel like Rip Van Winkle right now."”

Mike Tyson

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2005/06/12/1390287.htm
On boxing

Feeling , Fight

“Don't be surprised if I behave like a savage. I am a savage.”

Mike Tyson

http://www.usfca.edu/~southerr/boxing/fury.html
On himself

“There's no one perfect. … Jimmy Swaggart is a lascivious creature, Mike Tyson is lascivious - but we're not criminally, at least I'm not, criminally lascivious. You know what I mean. I may like to fornicate more than other people - it's just who I am. I sacrifice so much of my life, can I at least get laid? I mean, I been robbed of my most of my money, can I at least get a blowjob without the people wanting to harass me and wanting to throw me in jail?”

Mike Tyson

http://espn.go.com/boxing/news/2002/0503/1377497.html
On himself

Life , Money , People , Perfection

“At 20, reflecting on Cus D'Amato: "Cus was my father but he was more than a father. You can have a father and what does it mean?—it doesn't really mean anything. Cus was my backbone…. He did everything for my best interest…. We'd spend all our time together, talk about things that, later on, would come back to me. Like about character, and courage. Like the hero and the coward: that the hero and the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero uses his fear, projects it onto his opponent, while the coward runs. It's the same thing, fear, but it's what you do with it that matters.”

Mike Tyson

http://www.usfca.edu/~southerr/boxing/tyson.html
On his family

Fear , Feeling , Courage , Time

“You guys would rather be with someone else who's equal to your status in life. Tiger Woods, or somebody. I comes across as crass, a Neanderthal, a babbling idiot sometimes. I like to show you that person. I like that person. He makes you want to come and listen to me.”

Mike Tyson

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml;jsessionid=CEDUJVE3P05PLQFIQMFSFFOAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/sport/2002/05/01/sotys02.xml&page=2
On the media

Life , Guy , Personality

“People say 'Poor guy.' That insults me. I despise sympathy. So I screwed up. I made some mistakes. 'Poor guy,' like I'm some victim. There's nothing poor about me.”

Mike Tyson

http://jco.usfca.edu/boxing/rape.html
On himself

People , Guy

“One morning I woke up and found my favorite pigeon, Julius, had died I was devastated and was gonna use his crate as my stickball bat to honor him. I left the crate on my stoop and went in to get something and I returned to see the sanitation man put the crate into the crusher. I rushed him and caught him flush on the temple with a titanic right hand he was out cold, convulsing on the floor like an infantile retard.”

Mike Tyson

http://www.tv.com/mike-tyson/person/76381/trivia.html
On himself

“What I want in a woman is protection. Loyalty. Companionship. Loyalty, friendship, companionship, ferociousness. I want her to protect me, and have my back to the bitter end. If I have a fight, I want her to jump in. Even if I'm winning; even if she's ninety pounds. I like strong women—not necessarily a masculine woman—but I like strong women. I like strong, say a woman who runs a C. E. O. corporation. I like a strong woman with confidence—massive confidence—and then I want to dominate her sexually.”

Mike Tyson

As stated in documentary film, Tyson.
On women

Women , Friendship , Confidence , Strong

“I didn't know how to be any other way. I felt like one of those barbarian kings just coming to conquer the Roman Empire.”

Mike Tyson

On himself
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/05/19/sotyson119.xml

Way

“Do you want to talk to me? Or what do you want to do with me? Watch my eating techniques here? How I gorge the chicken? How I eat like a barracuda?”

Mike Tyson

http://www.maxboxing.com/Goldman/eddieg071603.asp
On his fans