“Everyone has a plan, until they get hit in the mouth.” Mike Tyson
Of the many elite athletes I’ve watched perform their craft over the decades – in person and over the airwaves – Bo Jackson, Keith Jackson, Matt Jones, Michael Jordan, Greg Maddux, Pete Sampras, Deion Sanders, Mike Tyson, Serena Williams and Eldrick Woods are at the top of the list.
I’m partial to individual sports and the athletes that play them, because as a former PGA Tour caddie, I know all too well how lonely it can feel on the golf course, when a player is stinking it up on a Sunday afternoon, coming down the stretch in front of thousands of fans on hand and millions more around the world, watching them on the idiot box. There is simply nowhere to hide.
But players of team sports are surrounded by teammates – players they can rely upon to bail them out when they fail, get hurt and/or need a breather or a simple, mid-game pep talk. Not soloists. They barely even get any timeouts. The only help they can hope for is that their opponents play poorly, or Lady Luck somehow shines on them that day. Other than that, it’s solely up to the individual to play the best, or hit the shot, or sink the putt or do whatever it takes to win, when the game is on the line.
Even MJ, who was always so clutch down the stretch and deserves to be mentioned near the top of every best-athlete discussion, had Scottie “No Tipping” Pippen, perhaps the second-best player in the NBA at the time, along with a bench fulla quality, veteran substitutes, who knew their roles and how to get the most outta them.
But if asked to narrow my list down to one, single athlete and name my overall GOAT – Mike Tyson gets my pick, hands down, every time.
He was the undisputed, baddest man on the planet for a good long while, who would KO you with either hand in the blink of an eye. Not to mention that his foes were scared spitless of him. I’m talking about giants, as all of ‘em were at least half a foot taller and 50 pounds heavier than the 5’10” 222 lb. Tyson. Hard to believe a teenage kid from the Catskills with a pronounced speech impediment and fear of crowds would go on to become, arguably, the best, pound for pound professional boxer, ever, and eventually turn the entire sport on its ear (sorry Evander).
He won his first Heavyweight Championship belt at the ripe age of 19 years old, and by the time he was 21 he had collected the other two belts and solidified the heavyweight title for the first time in years. Tyson’s reputation was growing as that of a very bad man whose punches felt like mule kicks. Iron Mike took on all comers and regularly beat each one of them without mercy, customarily reducing them to lumps of lifeless flesh in a pile on the canvas with a ref standing over them, counting to 10.
He was scheduled to fight Jake Paul this summer, but the fight was recently postponed, cuz Tyson had a health issue arise. Paul is around 30 years younger than the 57-year-old former champ and holds a distinct size advantage, but Tyson was always smaller than his opponents, at times much smaller, but always walked away victorious. Except for that one night in Japan, against Buster Douglas when Iron Mike showed up ill-prepared and outta shape, allowing the challenger to capture lightning in a bottle, knockout the champ, and take his titles.
Despite the fact that Mike hasn’t fought seriously in some time, most pundits expect him to crumple this YouTube sensation in an early round. And if the videos I’ve seen of Tyson training are an indication of his commitment to this bout, and he can fully recover from his recent medical condition – it should be an early night for Jake Paul.
WPS!