Many regard Mike Tyson as one of the biggest punchers of all-time.
Deontay Wilder, George Foreman and Joe Louis also get mentioned frequently.
Punching power can’t be taught but certainly there are schools of thought that suggest correct technique and speed assist.
Not many ever talk about accuracy however. Precision.
Tyson on his podcast when asked by rapper ‘Eminem’ real name Marshall Mathers revealed the secret sauce:
“It wasn’t my punching power. It was the accuracy. I was fast so I got the punches there before the hard punchers got there. (George) Foreman is a hard puncher but he just pounds you. Hits you in the shoulders, arms and ***** you up. But I am precise on hitting you. Everywhere I hit you there is a reason. Mostly I get the right results. Most of the time. The objective is the guy doesn’t see the punch. Those are the punches that knock you out.”
Not many would have put Tyson and Mathers in the same universe but an insightful coming together to say the least.
The old memory isn’t great anymore and find myself forgetting things all the time these days, have to set reminders all the time now just to function in life, but one recalls a gentleman from county Limerick in Ireland one time mentioning that all-time best Irish writer Seamus Heaney (maybe W.B. Yeats 2nd) said before he died (2013) that Eminem was one of the greatest poets the world had ever seen.
High praise from a former Nobel Prize winner no less.
While awards mean little, Heaney was a cut above the rest in his niche.
33rd birthday today and found myself going back over some of his old work. Heaney was quite brilliant. One of the few from that world, creative, academic, literature, music, Hollywood and so forth, that I respect properly and totally.
All theoretical, limited and tragically flawed (like all humans) meanders ultimately, not absolute. God is the only truth. Aspects of humans can’t come close to God as alas, humans are limited but nonetheless, some useful learning at times can be done and wisdom further acquired from them on ad hoc basis matters of business. Otherwise you’d just be a machine.
Much prefer taking just a small bit of inspiration from people in the engineering world these days like Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg. That said, they do not get everything right, no one does, and people should always make their own minds up on anything after using discernment.
Heaney, unlike many in that previously mentioned space, whether in acting, writing, screenplay writers and so forth, while humble, still engaged worthless and meaningless fame.
If you look at some of the greatest actors and producers of modern humanity, people like Italian-American James Gandolfini was very different. The main man. A gentle giant and a genius in his work. Caring little for modern human interpretations of what news and acclaim mean. The best for us in this regard. The greatest ever. Maybe.
A superb scene here from the unassuming, well-spoken gentleman from New Jersey:
The cost of a new life is your old one and letting go of and forgiving a country you may dearly love, in order to move on to whatever God has planned in a country and work you love even more, and consider home, and the people you consider family. Genesis 2:24. No matter how much some people don’t want to let go of you or see you go. You have to.
Home is where the heart is. Very true. Nothing worth doing is easy and there is a price to be paid for everything. You can do whatever you want to in life really. As long as you sacrifice and put in the work. Simple.
As for Tyson with his explanation to Eminem above on punching power, he is a bit poetic in his own way.
Boxing is called the sweet science for a reason. It is a thinking man’s game. An art.
One can get a bit too deep thinking at times. Tyson never did this at his best.
In his younger days he was a boxer developed on consistent routine and discipline. Surrounded by a small tight circle. The right people around him.
When one gets to a certain point in life you don’t need new friends or new people in your life. Other than your family and small circle.
Be civil and respectful to all people but it is your family that matter most.
All in all, a very enjoyable podcast with Tyson and Eminem. Highly recommended.
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