In October 2017, Tyson was announced as the new face of Australian car servicing franchise Ultra Tune. He took over from Jean-Claude van Damme in fronting television commercials for the brand, and the first advert aired in January 2018 during the Australian Open. However, the ad was quickly attacked, even leading Tyson himself to describe it as “a little sexist.”
Kiki says he doesn’t wake up at night anymore, not since the toad. Mike says he only smokes dope, never drinks or does anything harder, unless you count the occasional toad hit. He feels like a positive force in his family, in his business.
“Mike Tyson and Jake Paul signed on to fight each other with the desire to do so in a sanctioned professional fight that would have a definitive outcome,” Most Valuable Promotions co-founder Nakisa Bidarian said in a statement. “Over the past six weeks MVP has worked with its partners to satisfy the requirements of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations (TDLR) to sanction Paul vs. Tyson and we are grateful that we have gotten to this point.”
Within a few years, it was gone, and he declared bankruptcy, mainly due to his many addictions and reckless spending. He had hit rock-bottom, sifting his way through a mountain of debt, when, seemingly out of nowhere, he started an acting career and the comeback began.
These decisions aren’t just chuckle-worthy, random choices, though. Back around the time he bit Holyfield’s ear off and got his tattoo, Iron Mike had some severe substance abuse problems. On top of that, he suffered from chronic pain resulting from his boxing career, for which he was prescribed opioids. Those, however, only destabilized him more. Eventually, he turned to pot, and as his current business partner, Rob Hickman, says, “It changed his life. He’s the perfect person.” Tyson evened out, and now he wants to support upcoming weedpreneurs, saying, “I thought about how much good I could do by helping people with cannabis… It was a no-brainer.”
The tattoo drew significant attention before the fight. Tyson took time off of training to get it, which trainer Jeff Fenech would later say was a contributing factor to the fight being rescheduled by a week. Some questioned Tyson’s physical and mental fitness to fight. Experts including dermatologist Robert A. Weiss expressed concerns about Tyson boxing while the tattoo healed; Etienne said that he would not go after the tattoo. (Tyson ultimately knocked out Etienne in under a minute. ) The work—which Tyson and others have referred to as his “warrior tattoo”—was also met with criticism from the outset by Māori activists who saw it as cultural appropriation. In 2006, tā moko artist Mark Kopua in a statement to the Waitangi Tribunal called for “a law that would prevent a Mike Tyson or a Robbie Williams or large non-Māori companies from wearing and exploiting the moko”.
What’s scary for the studio is the request for an injunction to stop the movie’s release. A few years back, Warners was forced to fork over a hefty settlement to the author of the source material for its “Dukes of Hazzard” film when a judge issued an injunction weeks before the film’s release.
During the design process, Tyson and Whitmill collaborated with each other, with Tyson making suggestions on the imagery and symbolism he wanted to incorporate into the design. After several iterations, they settled on the final design, which has since become iconic.
It wouldn’t be the first time Warner Bros. was accused of infringement in a movie. In a 1985 chase scene in Tim Burton’s Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, the studio featured a Godzilla character without permission. The Hollywood studio paid an undisclosed amount to rights-holder Toho after it was sued.
Zhang’s wife, Jiang Huanhuan (蒋欢欢), is a retired starting pitcher for the Henan provincial softball team. They met in 1998, started dating in 2000, and married in December 2006. They have a son, born 2010. Zhang rarely visits his wife and son in China due to problems re-entering the United States.
Zhang protecting up front and Parker looking for a power punch. Lead jab from Parker misses. Zhang lands well on the inside. Zhang is GASSED, but once again Parker can’t seem to cash in. This will be an interesting trio of scores from the judges.
The designs do look very similar. And box what makes the matter dicey for Warners is that the tattoo on the Helms character appears to be a direct comedic reference to Tyson, who appeared extensively in the first film. That might make it tough to argue that the designs are merely coincidentally similar.
Tyson began drawing people’s attention not for being a champion boxer who rose from the streets of Brownsville, but rather to witness the mayhem that came with his presence, Schaap said, including trying to break Francois Botha’s arm during a 1999 match. In 2000, he tried to attack a referee.
Shortly after the Olympics, Dino Duva was invited to Beijing to consult for the Chinese Boxing Federation. In Zhang, he saw not just talent but unprecedented ambition. At the time, Chinese boxers didn’t turn pro. Few of the country’s athletes did. “When you’re a national athlete in China, you get treated very well,” says Duva. “You’re supported by the government. They support your family. They give you bonuses and pay you well. But if you decide to make the move to become professional, they cut you off.” Zhang, Duva says, wanted more.