Gervonta Davis has slammed Mike Tyson for choosing to face Jake Paul, but the heavyweight legend won’t care about the 30-year-old’s criticisms if his recent remarks on his legacy are anything to go by.
Boxer Davis, who is facing Lamont Roach in March of next year, was speaking to the media while promoting his bout. And he didn’t hold back in his assessment of the fight.
Tyson’s reputation was called into question following the blockbuster bout in Texas, in which he was defeated in eight rounds by YouTuber turned boxer, Paul. The clash was self-styled as a collision between a young pretender and a legend of the game, yet it failed to ignite and left fans feeling deflated due to Tyson’s laboured performance in the squared circle.
Who told Mike Tyson to fight anyway?,” Davis said. “Yeah, it tarnished Mikes legacy. It definitely did. For some money.” When asked if he thought Tyson ruined how people view his career, Davis doubled down adding: “Yeah, he did. He definitely did.”
However it appears Tyson isn’t concerned with his legacy at all. An interview with 14-year-old interviewer Jazzy, who asked the 58-year-old about his thoughts on his past achievements and how he wants to be remembered, went viral due to the former heavyweight champion’s raw candour.
“What do I care about my legacy?” Tyson said when asked. “I never knew what a legacy was and people started throwing that word around so loosely. A legacy sounds like ego to me. I’m going to be dead soon.
“Who cares what somebody is going to think about me when I’m dead?’ he asked. “We don’t talk about (notorious cult leader) Charles Manson. No one cares about nobody when they’re dead and gone. I’m just passing through. I’m going to die and it’s gonna be over. Who cares about legacy after that?
“We’re nothing. We’re just dead. We’re just dust. We’re absolutely nothing. Our legacy is nothing. Can you really imagine somebody saying: ‘I really want my legacy to be this way when I’m’ you’re dead? Who the f–k cares about me when I’m gone?”
Davis’ remarks were not exclusive to Tyson however. Taking to social media, the world No.2 in the lightweight division slammed Paul too, branding him a “bozo” for not getting the “job done” over an ageing Tyson, a dig possibly in relation to the fight going the distance. While Davis’ savage comments seem to be water off a duck’s back for Tyson, there have been whispers that ‘Iron Mike’ has tarnished his reputation from other quarters.
NBA icon ONeal, while known for his skills on the court rather than in the ring, also panned the fight. During a recent episode of The Big Podcast, the former LA Lakers star expressed his disappointment in Tyson taking on the fight and claimed that legacy is important to sporting icons.
“I felt like I got robbed,” ONeal said of his experience of watching the fight. “Great people like us, were remembered for what we do, and what we did. So the fact that Mike was putting out the 15-second clipsI love Mike, but hes 58. “I could put out a 10-second Instagram clip, cut it, and I can make myself look like (San Antonio Spurs basketballer) Victor Wembanyamabut that doesnt mean I can get out there with the young boys.”
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