Tyson was fuelled with so much pumping emotional energy that he would also cry before heading into the ring to eviscerate opponents.
That is the insight from one of his closest friends, recalling Tyson’s mindset and talent on the 35th anniversary of becoming the youngest heavyweight champion in history.
Tyson’s confidante, ex bodyguard and chauffeur Rudy Gonzalez revealed that his ‘dark side’ along with the New Yorker’s raw talent and elite training from boxing legend Cus D’Amato made him unstoppable in the mid 80s.Gonzalez watched the then 20-year-old channel rage, grief and an inner psychological torment to destroy Trevor Berbick in round two to make history in the title fight on November 22, 1986.
Gonzalex said: “One of the greatest secrets with Mike was that he needed to have sex in the dressing room before fights.”I would have to find a groupie, it did not matter who it was. He’d say ‘if I do not get laid I will kill this guy right now.’”Mike had to get laid to disengage some of the strength he had. So I had girls tucked away in bathrooms and changing rooms.”Sometimes he’d go in with them for a minute, bang the s*** out of them, snap his neck and say: ‘Okay this guy is going to live tonight.’”His biggest fear was that he would kill someone in that ring. He knew he could do it.
