There was a time when Mike Tyson was the most feared man in the world (this was before he made a guest appearance on Italy’s Dancing With The Stars). He was “Iron Mike” or “The Baddest Man On The Planet”, a knockout specialist with boundless rage, a sexual assault conviction and a piece of Evander Holyfield’s earlobe lodged between his teeth. “I want to rip out his heart and feed it to him.” Tyson once said of opponent Lennox Lewis “I want to kill people. I want to rip their stomachs out and eat their children.” He was a monster.
Fast forward to 2010 and not only is the general feeling toward Mike Tyson no longer fear – it’s actually closer to pity. Photographer Danny Wills captured the eerie remains of Tyson’s abandoned NYC mansion and we felt sorry for the guy. In 2005 Tyson did the unthinkable and admitted defeat – “My whole life has been a waste – I’ve been a failure” he said.
The humanization of Mike Tyson was truly complete though, when he made a cameo in this Bradley Cooper flick and cut Joe Jonas’ hair. That’s the domain of Jim Carrey not reformed baby eaters. Combine that with his heart-breakingly candid documentary Tyson and you have the portrait not of a monster but of a very fallible human.
Fallible as in it’s hard to remove face tattoos. Just like it’s hard to remove Youtube footage of your guest appearance on Italy’s Dancing With The Stars.
