Mike Tyson interview in the Guardian today.

[Scottrf]

Well, that was boring.

[JamesH]

I thought it showed Tyson's mental fragility, the up and down persona which makes his character interesting to some people. Some days he comes across better than others. He's not right though, as he said during one of his evening shows I went too, "its better than it was, but I'll never have peace inside".

This interview caught him on a bad day. Interviewers can't really win with Tyson, every one knows his story, he's not the easiest person to talk to, and you're rarely going to get an insight missed by the hundreds of thousands of others who have tried before you.

[Newport Daz]

Typical missed opportunity. I can think of hundreds of more interesting questions to ask if given the chance.

[JamesH]

Typical missed opportunity. I can think of hundreds of more interesting questions to ask if given the chance.

Are you thinking like a boxing fan, or like a journalist for a mainstream newspaper whose core readership won't be hardcore boxing fans?

[Scottrf]

Typical missed opportunity. I can think of hundreds of more interesting questions to ask if given the chance.

Are you thinking like a boxing fan, or like a journalist for a mainstream newspaper whose core readership won't be hardcore boxing fans?

Plus it was clear that he only had a narrow scope.

It wasn't really worth publishing.

[Newport Daz]

Typical missed opportunity. I can think of hundreds of more interesting questions to ask if given the chance.

Are you thinking like a boxing fan, or like a journalist for a mainstream newspaper whose core readership won't be hardcore boxing fans?

You're right, I'm thinking like a boxing fan and not a journo. However, I'm sure I could have come up with a better set of generic questions.

[JamesH]

A guy on here who knows his stuff and is passionate about the sport had the opportunity to interview Tyson in person but under similar circumstances in terms of the target readership. Prior to that I may have thought I could do a far superior job than the typical Tyson piece that gets churned out for eternity - but a little empathy made me realise that its probably not the piece the journalist would have chosen to write if it was all down to them. Its not.

Unfortunately the public don't give a rats arse about Tyson's liking for a right hook-right uppercut combo, they are more interested in something that reads like an introduction on wikipedia.

[jonp]

Before Tyson interveiws you are given a set of rules questions you cant ask subjects you cant bring up stuff like that.

[stujones]

He's definately seems to be a human timebomb still - I saw him on that WWF Hall of Fame thing and he was high as a kite.

He's a bit of a nightmare to interview these days - people are really only interested in Mike Tyson the boxer - so questions about "do you miss boxing, are you going to comeback" etc is what he usually gets. The most interesting boxing questions he gets, again relate to himself, in which he is asked to talk about his 80's self and asked to see how he would have fared against Klitchsko etc.

Tyson, as he has said a million times, isn't that same guy, there will never be a comeback, he doesn't even like to talk about his own career at all. He can still be a rivoting guy if you ask him to critique the heavyweights of yesteryear (bar himself).... but he is sick of talking about his own past and his own boxing.

This leaves Tyson already on a "downer" before the Interview has began, and interviewer asking "what the fornicate do I ask someone who doesn't like to talk about himself".... "Hows Paul the Pigeon doing?"

[stujones]

Typical missed opportunity. I can think of hundreds of more interesting questions to ask if given the chance.

Are you thinking like a boxing fan, or like a journalist for a mainstream newspaper whose core readership won't be hardcore boxing fans?

But it is Mike Tyson the boxer is why the editor said - lets roll with an interview with Mike.

Yeah sure, the mainstream readers will not be as interested in discussion of the history of the heavyweight devision than the hardcore fan. But discussion on his career, stuff about "could he beat the Klitchskos" and any comeback talk is what the paper was looking for surely.

Just those little snippets made the article interesting..... Tyson's lost it again is more of story than Tyson being boring and talking openly about Pigeons. Tyson and his councelor sounded like a potential story there!

[loaded_gloves]

The journalist obviously doesn't know much about Tyson/boxing other than the painfully obvious, so just asked him the same stupid questions he must have been answering for years. They must drive him mad, don't blame Tyson for his curt manner at all.

[JamesH]

Just had a look on the Guardian website, it says this is the most viewed article on their site over the past 24 hours.

Newspaper happy.

[Quixall]

Well, that was boring.

Are you surprised, though? Tyson is boring and has been boring for years. We've heard all he's got to say a thousand times before.

Exactly..........

Tyson could get a horse pregnant, beat up the queen and fuk the president's wife and i would just shrug and say "Oh right......What's on tv"

It's all been said and done before. The guy is unnstable and dependant upon what medication he is taking will depend on which Mike Tyson you get. He is either high on something and acting like a hyperactive child or is sullen and dismissive, there seems to be no inbetween. The history on his fighting career has been archived. Now, people seem obsessed with how Mike has supposedly turned his life around and if the guy says something normal, they all stare back at him in amazement and proclaim him a changed man and a nice guy to boot. Tyson is a walking, talking set of contradictions, a very complex and disturbed individual and ultimately he hasn't changed a great deal since the early days, but the fascination with how Mike has supposedly changed his life around is making him quite a bit of money.

[Monte Fisto]

we all have off days to be fair!!

[observer1]

People need to lay off Mike.

Ex-Boxer, Media personality etc. etc. Whatever. Tyson is a human being first.

He has been through alot in terms of losing family and close people, and even made out to be some kind of clown and pathetic joke.

This is the problem with the people and media. Sometimes people and are unable to see passed what the media shows. Whether it's an interview in Guardian, or the News at 10 showing world conflicts.

Try looking at what the individuals feel, not what the media says they feel.

[observer1]

I also wouldn't call him Mentally Fragile either.

Many people here in the UK are clinically depressed over trivial matters i.e. Relationships, body image, social reasons etc. Sadly leading to death. This is a fact.

Tyson on the other hand is some guy has been through far worse from a very very young age.

Obviously he is not some poor kid growing up in a battlefield in Afghanistan, but to call him "mentally fragile" because he was irked alittle is pushing it.

[Final round]

Doesn't surprise me at all the blokes a disturbed individual, one day on top of the world, the next...

[Jon Saxon]

People need to lay off Mike.

Ex-Boxer, Media personality etc. etc. Whatever. Tyson is a human being first.

He has been through alot in terms of losing family and close people, and even made out to be some kind of clown and pathetic joke.

This is the problem with the people and media. Sometimes people and are unable to see passed what the media shows. Whether it's an interview in Guardian, or the News at 10 showing world conflicts.

Try looking at what the individuals feel, not what the media says they feel.

Nah mate he's a mad rapist scumbag lowlife.

[Quixall]

People need to lay off Mike.

Ex-Boxer, Media personality etc. etc. Whatever. Tyson is a human being first.

He has been through alot in terms of losing family and close people, and even made out to be some kind of clown and pathetic joke.

This is the problem with the people and media. Sometimes people and are unable to see passed what the media shows. Whether it's an interview in Guardian, or the News at 10 showing world conflicts.

Try looking at what the individuals feel, not what the media says they feel.

Nah mate he's a mad rapist scumbag lowlife.

Jon, where the fornicate have you been mate ? There is a message waiting for you.

[Jon Saxon]

People need to lay off Mike.

Ex-Boxer, Media personality etc. etc. Whatever. Tyson is a human being first.

He has been through alot in terms of losing family and close people, and even made out to be some kind of clown and pathetic joke.

This is the problem with the people and media. Sometimes people and are unable to see passed what the media shows. Whether it's an interview in Guardian, or the News at 10 showing world conflicts.

Try looking at what the individuals feel, not what the media says they feel.

Nah mate he's a mad rapist scumbag lowlife.

Jon, where the eff have you been mate ? There is a message waiting for you.

check your inbox

[jamesmcdonnell]

Tyson doesn't appear mentally fragile - he's just pissed off with the interviewers frankly banal and asinine questions.

The interviewer appeared to have prepared poorly for the subject he was interviewing. Of course Tyson wanted to talk about his show - it's a PR tour - so the interviewer should have engaged with him a bout his show and what it was like having a new change of direction doing a one man show - and parlayed that into a proper conversation.

Piss poor technique.

[jessi]

Tyson doesn't appear mentally fragile - he's just pissed off with the interviewers frankly banal and asinine questions.

The interviewer appeared to have prepared poorly for the subject he was interviewing. Of course Tyson wanted to talk about his show - it's a PR tour - so the interviewer should have engaged with him a bout his show and what it was like having a new change of direction doing a one man show - and parlayed that into a proper conversation.

Piss poor technique.

X2

[crusader]

To be irked by trite questions is one thing; to feel deliberately antagonised by them is another. I would find the latter response odd if it weren't a Tyson interview.