How tennis changed life for Mike Tyson and family

Legendary boxer Mike Tyson is a happy man that his daughter Milan took up tennis as a sport.

He says that he is grateful for tennis because it changed his family’s life in many ways.  He says that with an impeccable boxing career, tennis ‘broadened his horizons.

He met many people through the sport who have had a positive impact on his life. And for Milan to play tennis, it is just more than making money.

Tyson insists his daughter is absolutely committed and dedicated to tennis.

Milan Tyson Playing Tennis

Milan Tyson. Photo/Law of fists

“Our whole life has changed over tennis. I thought we were doing well and everything and everything we were doing were making money, but that’s not bigger than my daughter playing tennis.  She’s bigger than everything in our life now,” Tyson says.

The former boxer says Milan shows a lot of discipline. She gets up, cooks her meals, takes a shower and goes to the gym every day at 7 or 8 am. She stays there until 4 pm.

Tyson says he is proud of having someone in his family who understands that sometimes things don’t always go your way. That’s what life is about, he says adding that sometimes one has to handle misfortune when things don’t go as planned.

He is thrilled by Serena Williams’ art on the court. Nothing fascinates Tyson more than seeing the 23-time Grand Slam champion play. He has another shot at watching her play in Melbourne next year during the Australian Open.

Mike Tyson Boxing Career

Far from tennis, Tyson’s legacy is in boxing. The ferocity that came with Mike Tyson fights is still dumfounding more than a decade since he retired. Understandably, his wildness stemmed from street fights he got involved in at a tender age. This is the making of the legendary yet controversial boxer who fighting is for his second name.

By the time he took the ring formally, Tyson had over 150 bouts in the street. And this is what made him a towering heavyweight boxer.  His striking speed was topnotch, thanks to his Brooklyn neighbourhood where he fought to survive.

During a Hotboxin’ podcast, Tyson confessed that “I had around 150 street fights. That’s probably why I didn’t do to0 bad in boxing. That’s all we did in Brooklyn, is fight.

What Made Mike Tyson a Legendary Boxer?

Back in the 1970s, this New York neigbourhood’s backstreet was awash with all sorts of criminal activity. It needed a tough soul to make it through and this is what built Tyson’s ferocity and boxing bravado.

Tyson is a self-confessed drug user, a trade he dabbled in for the first time as a teenager. Sadly, he never grew out of it and was at one point arrested and charged for being in possession of cocaine.

But this wouldn’t be the first time Tyson was arrested. Records show he was arrested 38 times by the time he was 13 years old. Then, he could take out 20-year-old men yet he was just a teenager.

However, his stellar boxing career wasn’t gone without controversy.

Mike Tyson with daughter, Milan. Photo/YouTube

History hasn’t been fair to a dozen athletes and former American boxer Mike Tyson is a classic example. Ever since the rape, controversy hit Tyson in the ’90s, he never recovered – he courted controversy consciously but without care.

Admittedly, the 55-year-old biggest controversy dates back to 1992 when he was convicted of rape. It remains his biggest controversy because it came moments after a huge knockout.

Tyson who once owned tigers as pets towered unopposed as the world heavyweight champion from 1987 to 1990. However, luck slipped his side after little-known Buster Douglas knocked him out in 1990. This went down as a phenomenal upset in ‘Iron Mike’s history.

As if this wasn’t enough, Tyson would see the walls of a prison in 1992 after pleading guilty to rape. He was tried at Marion County superior court for raping 18-year-old model Desiree Washington in an Indianapolis hotel room.

The teenager is a former Miss Black Rhode Island and was preyed on by the Brooklyn-born boxer in 1991.

When Thomas Richardson, and ER physician who examined Desiree after the incident took the stand; Tyson’s fate was sealed. His testimony was consistent with that of Virginia Foster who was at the time Tyson’s chauffeur.

While all this happened, Tyson’s career hang by the thread but he couldn’t do much to save his face. His date with fate was due and in the end, he was sentenced to six years in prison