“I don’t succeed when I make a guy a champion,” hall of fame boxing trainer, Cus D’Amato, once said. “I succeed when I make that fellow champion of the world and independent of me. When he doesn’t need me anymore.”
It’s been almost 30 years since Mike Tyson’s first world title fight. Cus didn’t live long enough to witness his protégé become champion. ”Iron” Mike may have exhibited menace and maturity inside the ring, but outside of it, he was a vulnerable young man, who still needed the guidance and stability his father figure provided. Equipped with such shrewd, compassionate tuition, Tyson would almost certainly have coped far better with the pressures and temptations that are inevitable when catapulted into international superstardom – his fighting prime would very likely have been extended. As was the case in early life – when growing up in crime-ridden Brownsville, in eastern Brooklyn, New York City – Mike was again, forced to learn the hard way.
