Mike Tyson Says Mayweather vs. Pacquiao ‘Like A Library’
Heading into quite possibly the biggest boxing match of all-time when Floyd Mayweather faces Manny Pacquiao this Saturday night (May 2, 2015) from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, all-time great former heavyweight champion “Iron” Mike Tyson has noticed quite the significant shift in the current culture of the pugilistic arts.
Tyson met up with members of the media for a scrum this week (courtesy of Bloody Elbow), during which he focused on the fact that Mayweather and Pacquiao were both very cordial towards each other in the lead-up staredowns to this weekend’s spectacle. The polarizing legend stated the obvious that it was quite a departure from his testosterone-fueled days as a brutalizing titleholder:
“They are very nice and very polite. It is almost like, I don’t want to say church, but like a library. Maybe I’m a Neanderthal. I want to kill the other dude, not be near them.”
Known for his thunderous and once-in-a-lifetime knockout power in the ring, Tyson represented boxing in its purest, primal form – a brooding slugger who wanted nothing more than to figuratively take his opponent’s head off.
These days, Tyson has noticed that fighters like Mayweather and Pacquiao are all about the financial aspect of fighting, something that they’ve obviously gotten very good at. “Iron” Mike clarified that his situation was much different, and even though he didn’t want to hurt his opponents, he simply had a massive talent for doing just that:
“Boxing is different from when I boxed. These are businessmen up here. I manufactured – a natural born killer. I want to win and hurt people. I don’t like hurting people but I’m just so damn good at it.”
Indeed boxing is much different today, and even though most believe that Mayweather vs. Pacquiao came a few years too late, it’s hard to argue that there has been this much excitement for a boxing match since Tyson was wrecking the heavyweight division with a seemingly endless stream of jaw-dropping knockouts.
Are you excited for this weekend’s match, or has your excitement for the sport waned in this era of more professional pugilists?
