The Story of Mike Tyson

Vocabulary

Boxing Career

Mike Tyson is widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time. He was born in New York City and began his sport at the age of 13.

Tyson turned pro at just 19, and a year later in 1986, he became the youngest world champion.

However, his life and career has had many ups and downs.

From 1992 to 1995, Tyson served three years of a six-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting a woman. He resumed his boxing career soon after his parole.

In 1996, Tyson regained the boxing championship title. Later that year, he gave it up, but later regained it.

Then he was sent back to jail for assaulting two people following a car accident in 1998.

Finances

During the 20-year span of his career, Tyson’s total income exceeded $400 million.

What did he do with all that money?

Part of it went to the salaries of up to 200 people. These included bodyguards, chauffeurs, chefs, and gardeners.

Here are a few examples of Tyson’s purchases:

• Nearly $4.5 million on cars and motorcycles
• $3.4 million on clothes and jewelry
• $7.8 million on “personal expenses”
• $140,000 on two white Bengal tigers and $125,000 per year for their trainer
• $2 million on a bathtub for his first wife, actress Robin Givens
• $410,000 on a birthday party
• $230,000 on cellphones and pagers during a three-year period from 1995 to 1997.

By 2004, before his 39th birthday, Tyson was $38 million in debt…

Essentially the more money that came in, the more went out.

The purpose of this is not to shake a finger at Mike Tyson. It’s to alert you of the dangers of Parkinson’s Law, or the temptation to spend more when you make more.

Questions

1. Mike Tyson was very quick to master boxing. Is this correct or wrong?

2. Was Tyson also a violent criminal? What did he do?

3. Tyson become a rich man. True or false?

4. Did he invest his money wisely, save it or wasted it?

5. What was Tyson thinking about? Describe his attitude regarding money.

6. What is the moral or lesson of Mike Tyson’s life?
 
 
A. Is boxing a popular sport? Is it controversial?

B. I know people who are like Mike Tyson. Yes or no? Describe what happened to them.

C. Do you know people who are thrifty or frugal, or “miserly” or “stingy”?

D. Do most people have enough money saved? Is going into debt good, bad, neither or both?

E. What should people do?