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Tatchell vs Tyson

11:29 / 05.06.02

not content with being duffed up by mugabe's henchmen, peter tatchell (human rights campaigner) is trying to set up a meeting with mike tyson to press him to stop using homophobic taunts.

tatchell's a brave bloke! tyson has been 'accusing' lennox lewis of being gay for a while. including the rather dubious "i'll fuck you in the ass you fucking faggot. i'll fuck you in the ass til you love me."

um, tyson sounds rather obsessed, don't you think? but this is just for information - not sure we really need to go into how closet cases can turn out to be the most violent homophobes.

11:58 / 05.06.02

Good luck to Tatchell.

Big Furry Bear

12:08 / 05.06.02

I may have been dreaming this on the radio last night but I think it happened yesterday...

Seemingly, Tatchell et al were protesting outside Tysons training camp as Tyson was leaving.

Tyson then walked up to Tatchell, gave him a big hug, said something like 'I love you, man, I'm not a homophobe' and left, leaving Peter Tatchel lost for words (for once).

Does anyone know?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

12:31 / 05.06.02

I have a funny feeling this actually happened (note- while it's my job to read papers, I tend to cheat when it comes to the sports sections) though you may have dreamt the hugging part.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

12:57 / 05.06.02

Sorry to stay on the Tyson rather than Tatchell part of the thread, but something also occurred to me while reading about this in the papers- much as I'm not a violent man, and I've never had a desire to watch people kick shit out of each other just for the hell of it (well, okay, just for money, really, but the point still stands)- was I wrong to get a sudden frisson of excitement at the thought that "Hey. If I knew Tyson was gonna lose, I'd love to see him have the living shit kicked out of him?" Cos I did think that.

I don't know enough about boxing to know if Tyson's whole "evil monster" thing is par for the course (said he, mixing his metaphors with those of golf, which he also knew fuck all about), or even staged (though a sexual assault charge has to be kind of hard to fake- especially if it was to WIN you popularity), but even if it is-

Hell, I'd love it if Jamie fucking Theakston kicked fuck out of him. And I hate that man, too.

Sometimes Tatchell bugs me (yay! I got back on topic!), but in the main, I have to say I admire his courage, and, even when he's bugging me, it's not because I actually disagree with him.

Actually, Tatchell beating the shit out of Tyson I would definitely pay money to see.

Big Furry Bear

13:00 / 05.06.02

Here it is

Not dreaming after all.

13:04 / 05.06.02

the thought of tatchell and tyson dukeing it out is surreal. then again, so's that news report.

i am sure none of this is for real. my pmt is just kicking in really badly (or brilliantly i suppose)....

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

13:05 / 05.06.02

Hey, even if it ain't real, it's a good reality to live in for a while, huh?

13:17 / 05.06.02

oh yes, it's working well for me right now!

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

22:23 / 05.06.02

Tyson is a big psycho bully with no boxing skills whatsoever...and when he is in danger of being beaten, makes sure to get disqualified. The fact that he is a homophobe is no more of a shock to me than the fact that he beats and rapes women. He is an animal who is allowed to do such things because he performs for us.

I have made sure that not a dime of my money has gone to support him, even not getting the WWF PPV that he was one. And I'm the biggest Wrasslin mark on the board.

Ghods, I miss Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard.

11:41 / 07.06.02

I just saw something on "Today" about some comment he made to a female reporter, saying (and I'm paraphrasing) "I only answer questions from women if I'm fornicating with them." Personally, I hope Lewis cleans his fucking clock. Sartre lover my ass...

ONLY NICE THINGS

12:58 / 07.06.02

Althouygh he deserves a certain amount of credit a) for not sending his security people to kill Tatchel and b) for the best heckle ever, for its pure surrealism, to Bonecrusher Smith.

"I know that you're a transvestite, and that you like me."

He does seem to see the world in a very sexual way...

13:06 / 07.06.02

So he's in tune with his inner penis. Hasn't stopped him being severely fucked up though.

13:21 / 07.06.02

not to harp on ancient history, but it's the whole biting thing that really bothers me. The punching and the taunting of opponents, that's all part of the game, but biting another boxer?

I don't know whether it's badly repressed sexuality or savagery....

13:28 / 07.06.02

It pissed me off when they bent the law to let him fight in England the last time. Just goes to show that money talks. One set of rules for rich psychos ey?

09:11 / 08.06.02

Tyson is a big psycho bully with no boxing skills whatsoever...and when he is in danger of being beaten, makes sure to get disqualified.

Im going to assume that you never saw Tyson fight until well after 1988. The reason anyone cares about him at all is because he was the real deal.

The fact that he is a homophobe is no more of a shock to me than the fact that he beats and rapes women.

Why? Because hes a fighter? Because hes black? Because he was raised on the streets? Because he spent part of his youth locked up?

He is an animal who is allowed to do such things because he performs for us.

He only gets away with shit because the people he abuses (in automobile accidents, street fights, alleged rapes, or whatever) settle out of court and drop criminal charges. If any of those people turned away from the money he would be back in prison. You can honestly blame the victims for this one. It seems like the whole world wants to see Iron Mike snap. No one cares about the man, just the spectacle. I know this isn't going to go over well here but... I'm skeptical of any woman that says she was raped by Tyson after he was released from prison. Hes more famous for being a convicted rapist and general nutcase than he is for being a boxer at this point in his career. Why would anyone go up to his hotel room? Is he offering milk and cookies? Or do they see dollar signs?

Anyway, Mike looks fat and Lewis is the better boxer. Lewis in 6.

09:16 / 08.06.02

believe it or not, bio, some women are still incredibly naive. you are sounding awfully like you're saying 'she asked for it'. plenty of women can't get as far as court with rape cases. and it's not because it never happened. but i do remember one of the kennedy clan (White Man!) being tried for rape at around the same time as tyson was. i thought both were guilty as hell, tyson got gaoled while the kennedy (White and rich!) was aquitted.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

09:22 / 08.06.02

Umm... "He only gets away with shit because the people he abuses (in automobile accidents, street fights, alleged rapes, or whatever) settle out of court and drop criminal charges. If any of those people turned away from the money he would be back in prison. You can honestly blame the victims for this one."...
possibly true in the case of getting away with it. However this doesn't escape the fact that he actually did this shit. For which, unless I'm missing something, you CAN blame HIM for.

09:28 / 08.06.02

I was saying it was their fault he got away with it...

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

12:19 / 08.06.02

Yeah, fair enough. All I was saying was any guy does that kind of shit I'm not gonna like. I'm sure he's a very impressive boxer, but I know very little about the sport, because it just doesn't appeal to me. I was merely commenting on my impressions of him as a person. Fuck, for all I know, Lewis has a whole bunch of kid's skeletons walled up in his house.
Tyson just strikes me as a deeply unpleasant individual, and, even if a lot of it's bravado and hype, I don't like that.
Not entirely sure why I care, actually... I hate boxing more than I hate football.

(Sorry- web fu not up to much after that recent electrical storm- I'd dearly love to have put a smiley at the end to say I wasn't trying to piss anyone off, but didn't know how. So just take my word for it.)

05:17 / 09.06.02

Haha. Tyson lost. Knocked out in the 8th round. heehee.

05:17 / 09.06.02

Haha. Tyson lost. Knocked out in the 8th round. heehee.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

05:34 / 09.06.02

Yeah. I must admit to having felt a certain smugness when I heard that. Hope it really hurt.

05:57 / 09.06.02

tyson knocked out? that was a bit gay of him.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

06:11 / 09.06.02

ah-boom-TSCH!

10:17 / 09.06.02

Did anyone else actually see the fight?

10:36 / 09.06.02

The honest truth from ESPN.com:

He was never what he should have been, and often a lot less than he and his followers believed him to be. But in defeat, Mike Tyson was something he had never been in victory.

Brave, sportsmanlike, and in a way, even noble.

I felt sad for him.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

13:16 / 09.06.02

So he's never gonna get to fuck Lewis up the ass until he loves him? Poor little bunny.

13:23 / 09.06.02

well tyson *did* say he wanted another 'go' at lewis..... perhaps he didn't mean in the boxing ring!

i'm sure lewis' ability to smash the fuck out of another man has proved beyond doubt his heterosexuality. all's well.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

13:40 / 09.06.02

People beating the shit out of each other has never seemed to me to be a spectator sport either (or, indeed, any kind of sport... or, actually, any kind of a good idea)... I didn't really care about who won. I'm just glad the worst man lost.

And again. I hope it hurt.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

17:09 / 09.06.02

GOOD boxing is a sport, with strategy, finesse and scoring. Just watch one of Ali's fights from the early 70's or a Sugar Ray Leonard fight from about 1979 to 1981. Tyson was never a good boxer...he had a hell of a punch and coudl fight, but in the ring with a boxer, he always failed.

Do I feel sad for him?

In an early interview (1991?) he said the best punch he ever threw was at his wife.

I don't feel sad for people who think that way. And for all the talk about his "bad upbringing", the person who found and trained him was someone who worked with kids and brought them onto the straight and narrow...and when he died, Tyson let his inner thug out.

But then, I'm one of the people who feels that Tyson killed boxing as a sport and turned it into the brutal sideshow he wants it to be. And I actually remember when George Foreman was considered the most "thuglike" man in boxing.

20:08 / 09.06.02

There's always the problem with criticising Tyson in that you are buying into the media stereotype - the "bad" black man, violent, sexually predatory etc. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who can't stand him because he appears to epitomise their worst fears about black men.

But then again, there are a lot of anti-semites who criticise the Israeli government because it's full of Jews. (I had the unfortunate experience of reading David Duke's website recently.) That won't stop me from criticising it for the valid reasons. You have to take a stand at some point.

I'm not sure I can agree that "Tyson killed boxing as a sport and turned it into the brutal sideshow he wants it to be" though. I think there are quite enough people interested in the brutal sideshow aspect that he and his promoters were just satisfying the demand.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

02:04 / 10.06.02

Then I guess we disagree....I feel like an old man saying that it was a sport when it was Ali fighting and Cosell making it seem all the more dignified. There was always the sideshow aspect of it, but Don King was able to hook up with Tyson's people and ruin the respectability the sport had worked so hard to have during the 60's, 70's and 80's.

And am I buying into racism, or is Tyson doing his best to BE that stereotype? I can't answer that, to be honest, becauseas much as I like to think that I am enlightened, I may have racism in my mind because I, like most homans, fear the "other" and was raised in an area of the country where all I heard as a child were horror stories about how evil the black man was. I had comics and TV to counter-balance that, and over half of the people who work at the group home I am the director of are black (which is the first time I have ever even worked at a group home with that kind of ratio), but who knows what goes on the deepest darkest corners of my mind.

Looking over Tyson's past, he skated on a LOT things that would have gotten a non-rich celebrity in jail many times over, but when it finally got to the point when Don King and his people couldn't contain it anymore he went to prison...and was treated like a celebrity there as well.

Just by watching his post-fight interview and knowing the boxing business as it is now, I'm fairly sure he's done in the sport anyway. He's not an unstoppable monster anymore, and there's no other reason promoters will pay him the big money.

07:32 / 10.06.02

I just saw some reporter hold up the front page of the paragon of reporting excellence (aka The Sun

) with a picture of Lewis and a headline that read "I DID IT FOR THE QUEEN"

(lurches towards puke bucket)

07:41 / 10.06.02

snort. which queen would that be?