At the time, the face work created quite a buzz for varied reasons. However, no one can deny that, over the years, it has become a part of the Mike Tyson identity. Jake Paul might have bona fide reasons to honor the boxing great. But whether it will find acceptance among fans and followers, time alone will tell.
An hour before it kicked off, the line for fans to file into the Apollo snaked around 125th Street and 8th Avenue. They wore New York Knicks hats and Tyson T-shirts with screen prints of his face splashed across the chest. The crowd, undoubtedly, was more sympathetic toward Tyson, who hails from the Brownsville neighborhood in east Brooklyn.
Rachael A. Carmen et al. in the Review of General Psychology posit that Tyson’s face tattoo may be an example of “body ornamentation as a form of intimidation”. Charlie Connell and Edmund Sullivan in Inked describe it as having become “instantly iconic”, while Vice’s Mitchell Sunderland ranks it as one of the two things Tyson is best known for, alongside biting off part of Evander Holyfield’s ear. Marie Hadley, in A History of Intellectual Property in 50 Objects, writes that the tattoo “has been described as one of the most distinctive tattoos in North America”. Its stature has increased over time, aided by Tyson and the 2009 comedy The Hangover, in which it is prominent on Tyson, who appears as a fictionalized version of himself. The tattoo has become strongly associated with Tyson and has made his persona more distinctive.
He told Fox Sports: “My first impression was that I’ve never had a tattoo in my life, but I thought we are fighting in a week and when you get a tattoo you can’t fight because they snap up and it wouldn’t be healthy to do that.
Tyson knows that people are describing his decision to take the fight as the aging boxer’s version of a midlife crisis. He gets sensitive when reporters ask if he’s still got it, or when skeptics suggest the bout is a gimmick event that isn’t real. He simmers down a little when he reminds himself that most of those who question him have never stepped into the ring themselves. Still, his inability to say no to a fight—a mindset D’Amato instilled in him that has stayed with the kid from Brooklyn—has even surprised Kiki, he admits.
If getting a face tattoo isn’t strange enough, Tyson also has an original tattoo of Chinese leader Mao Zedong on his right arm. For those whose history is a little shabby, Mao Zedong was the founder of the People’s Republic of China. He remains a controversial figure, with the majority of Chinese citizens believing him a great leader for ending decades of civil war and reuniting the country as one, while the rest of the world sees him as a dictator whose rule resulted in the deaths of close to 80 million people through his policies.
His famous facial tattoo, which appeared in 2003, has become one of the most recognizable elements of his image. The tattoo, which is a pattern covering part of his face, symbolizes the profound personal and spiritual changes that Tyson underwent during that period. Mike Tyson tattoo meaning is that this tattoo reflects his inner measures and desire to maintain his individuality. It became a leading part of his public image, attracting attention and evoking a different behavior among fans and critics. The tattoo also symbolizes his transformation and desire for a new beginning, a kind of visual reminder of his complex and multifaceted life journey.
“Even our own voices are out of our control. They imprison us in the name of pandemic prevention and restrict our freedom…If we cannot obtain the truth, if we cannot break their monopoly of the truth, the world will be meaningless to us.”
On the left side of Tyson’s torso is a tattoo of another communist leader, this one being the great Che Guevara. The tattoo is a copy of the famous Guerrillero Heroico photograph taken by Alberto Korda on March 5, 1960. It’s quite a large tattoo that takes up a lot of space on the left side of Tyson’s body.
Mike Thomas spent 23 years on staff and 16 years as the sports editor at The Herald News in Fall River, Mass., before joining Sportscasting in 2020. Mike has a deep knowledge of and passion for the NFL and NBA, and he excels at interviewing sports celebrities to find out their Super Bowl picks. A New England Newspaper and Press Association award-winning columnist and an avid sports memorabilia collector, Mike enjoys keeping up with all the sports news and the works of former Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly. You can find more of Mike’s work on Muck Rack.
