Transcript of Mike Tyson on Discipline, Power, and the Cost of Greatness

I was scared to death of him. I was scared to death. That's why I didn't do no stupid shit.

How does that make you feel?

We did it. Ali, we talk about your mother, your sister, that is sexy. Why are you fighting?

Muhammad Ali in his prime with Angela Dumbi. Mike Tyson, his prime. Customado. What happens? What does that look like? What is that all about? Hey, welcome to the Sean Kelly Unblinded podcast. We're causing people to see what they don't see about how to grow their money, their time, their magic, with absolute integrity. We're here today with a master of masters. We're going to introduce in one second, Mr. Mike Tyson. My name is Sean Kalge. We are right now the number one business podcast and Apple podcast in the world. That's what I heard. We're all going to be the undisputed champs there, Mr. Mike Tyson. We're going to give you a quick intro, if that's okay. Yeah, Tink, please. Who's this man?

Today, we welcome a living myth, a man rose from the storm-sweoped streets of Brooklyn to become the youngest heavyweight champion in history. Mike Tyson is not just a force of nature in the ring, but a symbol of raw resilience, transformation, and the relentless pursuit of truth. His fist throughout history, but his journey through triumph, pain, and redemption reveals a heart as fierce as his punch. Mike's story is one of power, vulnerability, and the courage to evolve. He's a warrior a philosopher, and a beacon for anyone who has ever faced impossible odds and dared to rise again.

Mr. Mike Tyson, welcome. Thank you, sir. Pleasure. So Mr. Tyson, we talk a lot about mentorship and leadership here, and your relationship with Customado is literally one of the most famed relationships ever between a mentor and an apprentice, two masters rising together. And you've spoken about so much what he meant to you, what it was. What I I'd love to know is just at the outset, what did he mean to you? How would your life have been different, you think, without the mentorship of Customado?

I don't even like to think about how it would have been different. It's just bad. It looks bad. So I'm one of those guys that believes it wasn't meant to happen, so it didn't happen. But if I didn't meet this guy, it would have been bad. I just can't believe how I met this guy. I met this guy from the sewer system of Brownsville, Brooklyn. And the next thing you know, I'm 13 years old, and I'm in the presence of a master. How did that happen? I don't know nothing. The only thing I know is crying. That's all I know, crying. I've been in detentions all my life before I'm in school, and I'm in front of this guy.

How did you meet him?

I was in a reformatory. And this is how I started the boxing because I had just... I was in this other fraternity, and unfortunately, I stabbed somebody there. So they shipped me to this other place that was really not a nice place. Before, the other place, you could go outside, but you had stayed in this place constantly. And so I went there, and as I got there, I was locked up. I couldn't come in the population yet. But I saw guys running to the back, going to their rooms, and they had cracked ribs and had cracked teeth, but they were happy. And I'm like, What's going on in there? I couldn't believe they blood. They're happy. And they said, They're boxing with Mr. Stewart. It was an ex-professional boxer. They used to box with the kids if they behaved themselves. So these guys are always on the roller because they wanted to box Mr. Stewart. Even though he was killing them, they wanted to go and box with him. So I'm going to box this guy, right? The little white guy. I'm going to go in that box. I've never boxed before. You think they're smaller than you, you could beat him.

So I'm in this way in a way. He got me tight, hit me in the stomach. I've never been hit in the stomach in my life. I went down. And then I asked him, Could you show me that stuff? I never thought about being a boxer. I'm thinking about, I could do this, knock a guy out and go in his pocket. I never thought about being a boxer. So he started teaching me. Once I got my grades up, I had to get my grades up in order for him to do that. And he started teaching me and teaching me and teaching me. And then eventually, I hit him and he had got a black eye one day and he was mad the next day. I didn't understand why he was mad because he always kills me. But he was mad because his wife said he couldn't box with me no more. He said, Don't worry, I'm going to take you to somebody else and we're going to go to the next level. I had no idea what he was talking about at all. He took me there, Gus met me and said all these great things about me the first day that I didn't believe.

I thought he was some weirdo perv guy saying all these great things about me. He didn't even know me. He said, Well, you got to be champ if you listen to me. Everything he told me was right. I didn't know who this guy was, but he was like, God sent. There's no doubt. When I met him, I believed in God.

That's amazing. Thank you. And the power of mentorship, leadership, God in the space. We'll talk about all that today. But what are other... I had the honor of interviewing Michael Ruzioni from the Miracle and Ice team, the Olympic gold medalist. He played for Herb Brooks, and he would describe Herb Brooks as one of the most difficult, challenging, aggressive, but masterful humans. And his love for Herb Brooks, It resonates. Herb Brooks didn't save his life. Dwecustamano saved yours. But the rise in his mastery was so powerfully present through the level of mastery that Herb Brooks demanded. You're coming from a place where you can't trust people. You come up in gangs. We'll talk about that in a little bit. But there's all these people who tried to use you, hurt you, lie to you. Dynamics in your home, your folks, your beautiful relationship with your mom, absent dad, all these things going on. And as you said, you thought Customado was a weird- I had a hardware relationship with my mother. I'm sorry?

You said I had a good relationship. I had a hard moment with your mother.

I'm sorry. I had heard a positive thing. This is true. Yeah. So you had all these people who let you down in ways from your mom, dad, all community, I'm sure teachers people. You meet Customado, and you think for a second, he's a weird guy lying, just saying nice things to you to use you. What were some of the hardest moments with him? We watched the movie The Karate Kid, and Daniel, at some point, is telling Mr. Miyagi, he thinks he's full of it, and he's using him, and he just wants him to sand his deck, wipe his floors, and he's ready to quit. We have times like that with Cus D'mado.

The same thing. Yeah, please. The same thing. He was a strong believer in discipline, to the T. Discipline to him was doing what you hated to do, but do it like you love it. You know what I mean? He loved the art of suffering. No, really. He loved the art suffering.

And what were some of the hardest things that Customado put you through where you doubted him the most? If you doubted him.

Hey, listen, I never doubted him. I doubted me. I doubted me, and I never could see what this man could see in me. This white old 70-year-old type, and what did he see in me? I was 12 years old. I never lived life, and as I get older, I could see now.

But that's incredible that you didn't doubt him.

No, because he told me this. He said, If you listen to me, everything I say and it don't work, you can go home and I'll give you money, too. You can go. And I started listening to him, and I started knocking people out. I became national champion, the world amateur champion, this guy, this guy. This is in a year. It takes years for these kids to win these titles that I'm winning. I'm winning them in one year. Yeah, I was a big star when I was a kid. One year. It takes people years doing this title. Me being with him took me one year. Right.

And for everybody to remember, because I think it could be easy, right? It's so hard for me to call you Mike, Mr. Tite, but I'll call you Mike. You ask me to. So thank you, Mike. You are gifted. You had talent, you had ability.

That don't mean nothing.

Please explain that to people.

That don't mean nothing. You have to have the will, the determination, the desire to win. Talent means absolutely nothing. Everyone has talent. Everybody in this room has talent. How far do you want to go with it?

I think that's such a critical point because so many people could look at you and see what you did at such a young age. I think the point that I'm takeaway most and think I'm learning today with you here is that when you first started boxing, did not have a box. The guy that's training you, punched you and hit you in the stomach. Never in my life. Then because of a master meeting somebody with incredible talent and ability, you-No, not with desire.

Wanted to do it. Well, that talent means nothing if I didn't want to do it.

And why did you want to do it? What was it that was making you feel good and want to put the suffering in with Castamado? What was the why? All these other kids are there. Okay.

He made me believe that if you didn't do this, you were nothing. This was the thing to be, the heavyweight champion of the world, the baddest man on the planet. He did a number on my head. He did a head job on me. Oh, God.

How do you do that? I did read about some of the mind exercises and things, and he would have you visualize. Absolutely. Please tell us about some of that.

Visualization, talk about day by day in every way. I was just going to cry. I was thinking about my old saying that when I was a kid.

And what was it that you would say?

Day by day in every way, you're getting better, better, better. That's the beginning stage. At the end of it, the next thing you know, you'll say, I'm fucking God. It's just what it is. It's You start from day by day, where every way I'm getting better, better, better. Next thing you know, I'm the best fighter ever live. That's just what confidence do to you. Confidence breeds success. Success breeds confidence.

Amen. Would it be okay if we shared, let's go to the Just the clip with Cus real quick.

Okay.

Is that okay?

Please. See him talking like that? Scares the shit out of me. I'm scared that I'm nervous. I'm not doing it right. You're right shoulder. See, a little bit this way. It should be more this way. So when you're driving it, nothing to hold that blow. You're going to do real damage. You might drop the guy with one punch, but you aim at here and bring the same hand. When he gets here, he'll have to bring it down. He'll have to bring it up. Bang, over here. Bang, what's what took care of here? I can't say honestly, I have a very steep affection for him. I do. To me, he's my boy. He's with me. I often take him, You know why you're alive? He doesn't know what I mean. I'm going to tell him now what I mean. If he weren't here, I probably wouldn't be alive. The fact that he is here and doing what he's doing and doing as well as he's doing and improving as he has, gives me the motivation and interest to stay alive because I believe that a person dies when they no longer want to live. But I have a reason with Mike here, and he gives me the motivation.

I will stay alive, and I will watch you become a success because I will not leave until that happens.

How does that make you feel?

We did it.

And this isn't like a contrived moment. Mike, I've had incredible mentors in my life, too, that have caused things like custom on it. I wasn't world champ. I would never be sitting here as a blind man. Seventy-five % of people like me are unemployed. And I'm here because I have my custom on us. As my high school coaches in athletics, that drove me like crazy. And this is something we try to bring out to the world because the things that you're talking about, Mike, are the things that we want the people here to know. We don't want to talk about ear bites and hangover movies and all that's beautiful, it's fun, it's magical, and all the things you did. But what people want is what you have. People want to feel the the way you feel about Customado, about somebody in their life. They want their life saved like you had your life saved. And that's what my purpose here in these next 30 minutes is to help bring out for people. Because as Mike Tyson said, if he could do this, maybe he can't be the champion in the world, but you could be the champion in your house, and you could build a business and do things.

So I thank you for your- That's what this is all about. Not necessarily about being the champion of the world, but you're the champion of your world. And that's what life is about. He ain't able to make us care about Chris. Chris is always about sacrificing. Here's one day he may not eat for two months, you're disciplined. All about discipline, doing what he hates to do, but doing it like he loves it. He has loved starving himself or whatever it is. He may not want to drink water for a week or something. He just likes pushing himself to the limit because he's so infatuated with discipline.

Can I tell you the truth about something?

Please.

I thought a lot about these days coming up, and it's really attractive, interesting, fun, sexy to have Mr. Mike Tyson here causes views, people are going to watch because of it. The most important reason that I want to be in this room is because I'm going to be the motherfucking champion of changing people's lives on the fucking planet. That is my outcome and my goal. The people that put us together are helping us do that with the truth. Because I want to be what Customado was to people's lives and their businesses. I want to be here and feel the energy because I knew a lot of this backstory. I heard you. All I'm the What it doesn't say is I had the privilege of meeting you at Tony Robin's house. And that day, the stories you told and what you said, this is what human beings need. People are so scared and so afraid. And I know I've asked you a couple of times. I'm going to try to ask you one more time, though. What is so special about you is that you didn't tell him to go fuck himself. And so many people want to tell that person who is standing for their future to go fuck off.

You had no training, no background in listening to people and being disciplined at that. What I don't understand is the miracle of you and how you didn't tell that white guy to go fuck himself and see him as using you. How did that happen so people who are listening could do the same thing so they can get the help they need and not be little runaway bitches running from that. You want to know? Yeah.

I want to know? Please. I was scared to death of him. I was scared to death. That's why I didn't do no stupid shit. He put the fear of God in me.

How did he do that?

I don't know, but he did it. Every day, I was a slave. Every time he told me I would do it. If he told me to kill somebody, I would do it.

Amen. And lock that in, everybody. Next time you feel like you got to go to some consciousness retreat for mindset and being flow, that's the champion of fucking world that people would say was the greatest heavyweight of all time.

Nobody should talk. You should talk to yourself. No, we don't need to talk to nobody. I know it sounds crazy. You might want to be good. Talk to yourself about that. We don't know who we are. We might be God. We don't know. We might be the aliens we're talking about. We might be. A matter of fact, I think we are the aliens. They got us thinking that some aliens. We're the aliens.

Well, thank you. So if I could ask you this, right? So how do you tell the difference, though, right? So at some point, Don King comes in. I'm not here to put you to say anything you don't want to say, right? But Don King comes in. He's got to look like he's got a lot of value to bring to in your life. He's going to promote fights, do things. How do people... If you could go back and tell your younger self, would you still have entered the relationship with Don King? Yeah.

I don't know why. I'm going to explain this to you. I lost my mentor. I was injured. I was sick. I wasn't strong anymore. I lost the stress. A major part of me. And so that's why I was really vulnerable. I was looking for that, that role model.

About how long... This, forgive me, I don't know this. How long after Customado passed, does Don King swoop in?

Two years, probably. Well, no, what year did he lay down? Died in '83? No, '85. So this guy comes in a year and a half.

Got it. Can we look at one thing real quick? We got two more video clips. Let's go see when Mike Tyson becomes the undisputed, the youngest heavyweight champion in history of the world. Let's go take a look at that right now.

That was a right to the body and an uppercut in the hand, and Burbick is down. This one is going to be over, I believe. It's over.

That's all.

And we have a new era in boxing. The winner by a GKO and youngest and new, WBC Anyway, champion of the world, Michael. I see my son in me just now. My little baby boy.

Your son's how old now?

He's 14.

Fourteen. You have a daughter, 16, right? Yeah. So how do you feel when you see that? And what did Customado say to you after that?

Well, he wasn't alive. He died before he became a champ.

I'm sorry. From in your heart, your mind, what do you think Customado was saying to you?

Oh, what he said about the fight? Yeah. You're sloppy. You meant moving your head. You're swinging one punch at the time. You're not moving. Listen, let me explain what guy we're talking about. I had an amateur fight. And listen, man, please, when I say this, man, you have to believe I'm very serious. I believe you. I'm an amateur fight. I'm the national, the finals. I knocked the guy out in eight seconds. No, no, no. You know what Cut said? If that guy was a little bit more experienced, he would have hit you. You didn't move your head. You just went right through him. His power went through like this muscle just went through without moving your head after you punked. If he was a little bit more experienced, he would have hit you. I'm scared. Like I said, I have highest respect for him. Yeah, you're right because I do see that. You're right. I didn't believe that, but I said, Yeah, you do because I'm just afraid of the guy. I'm not going to say, No, because I could have been. No way. Because I would never talk to him. That I would never do.

Then he never had to worry about me saying you're wrong. No, that would never happen. I said, Yeah, you're right. I'm going to work on that.

Michael and Michael, do you hear that? Michael and Michael, you hear that? Yes. You're hearing it from this man.

Listen, you didn't want him to go on a rampage. He was an anger freak. You didn't want him to go on a rampage. So you're like, Yes, sir.

Amen. And the power of mentorship and leadership.

You need it. Anyone that doesn't have one is going to be screwed. I don't care how much money he got or anything. We've seen it happen to the richest guys, how they have had nobody to take care of them and they just went to shit.

So let's go to that then, Mr. Tite. And again, thank you. This is incredible. It really is. The value you're adding, greatest podcast we've done yet. Facts. Love everybody. I've had a lot of famous people on. This is the best because it's the truth. It's not just luck, and you had to work for everything, go man to man in the arena, and win what you did.

Listen, my guy was... If I went to a school dance, right? And it was getting late, and I was getting ready to say, I'm going to call wait. I'm waiting for the cap. He said, waiting for a cap? I got to stay up. Run. Run home now. I got shoes on. I'm at the dance, the school at the dance. I just leave my girl and start running. She got to catch a cap. I can't wait for the cap. I'm serious. I got to start running home. The shoes. Dressed up, looking nice with my grand, running home.

That is amazing. Okay, So custom auto passes. What was that like for you? And how does that turn into a different era of your life?

It was almost suicide Why do I? I didn't want to exist anymore. I wanted to do it with him. He made this... Excuse me. He made this fucking ride exciting. He was the one he was to push. He made it exciting. I didn't do anything. I didn't do anything about being no champion. He made it exciting.

From all my heart, I'm sorry. I am so sorry that happened. I'm sorry for you. I'm sorry for Customado. I'm sorry for the world. Because what that would have looked like in the rewriting, you rewrote Boxing anyway. But what that journey would have looked like if Customado was still there with you.

Was it meant to be? Was it meant to be? He's always shaken this place up. He was so proud of me, too. I wasn't even proud of me. He liked me more than like my mouth. See, this is what a mentor makes you do. A great mentor make you, too, that he talk about.

Amen.

You're a little guy. He wasn't afraid of nobody. How big you are, how tough you were, he wasn't afraid of nobody.

And the reverence and love you hear from Mike Tyson, that's who you should beg to be your mentor, your coach, the person who's impacting you, somebody who has the mastery of the skills, and somebody who caused this in your heart, in your soul, in your being.

No, a little old man, 78, not afraid of nobody, knife, gun, and he's afraid of you. He's afraid.

So it's okay then, Mike, if I ask you, what happens from there when that mentorship is gone. The vacuum is created. Other people come in. What does that do to your trajectory, your life, your career from there?

It throws you off for a while. I got blinded. I was just fortunate God blessed me to last long enough. I didn't give in. During those periods of time, you think about killing yourself. I didn't do it. A couple of times, when I got married, I thought about it. When I got divorced, I thought about it. I got divorced, I thought about it. I just went through a motion I never thought I could survive. I did it. I made it. His training helped.

Thank you. And so choices people make. You have all these influencers online. I love there's a quote that you said recently. It was something like, I'm not going to get exact. You put it out, something like, oh, people can hide behind their keyboards now and be disrespectful and not get punched in the face. Tell me about that. Tell me about what you think about the world today. Think about people posing, pretending to be something they're not.

Please It's just that we live in a world now that... And listen, I'm not picking on no particular group or anything. I'm just saying what it is. The computer, what's the thing we're on again? Chatgpt or whatever. Whatever it is. That's the pedophile or a child rapist. That's his dream. That's his dream. Those guys getting in touch with more kids than anybody does now. I don't like that. It gives all the bad guys all the power. It does.

Well, if you can go back and give yourself some advice after Cust passed and talk to your younger self about it, daunting, becoming on the part of your life, what would you tell your younger self? Because some of this was really valuable. You made a lot of money.

Listen, I made a lot of money that wasn't valuable. It was more valuable than making all that money was losing it. You That was more valuable than having any of it because you realize that that doesn't define you. I realized even more than myself, I realized people looked at me, You're Mike, where's a billion dollars in your Mike with 40 cents? You're still Mike. I never treated anybody bad when I was on top of my game. I never treated anybody bad when I wasn't doing what I used to do. I was always Mike. And that's just what I lived on. Broke Mike, Rich Mike, whatever, my Mike.

If you gave advice to somebody, though, right? So you had an incredible mentor that you believe cared about you in the way you wanted to be cared about. Then later you had people come into your life that maybe, I'm not sure, but it seemed like from things I've heard and read that you said, right? That didn't care about you.

Well, they're mentors, too. They're bad mentors, but they're mentors, too. You learn from them as well. I I look at everything that I experience in life is just a learning moment in my life. It's something that I can even make it a crutch, so I can make it a good experience and learn from it.

And what did some of those people do You. It seems like Cus gave you discipline. He gave you tools. And it seems like from what I've read and heard, I'm not sure, right? You could tell me if I'm right or wrong. It seems like the bad mentors gave you vices, gave you parties and a surface level. It seems like Cus, the model, gave you this deep level that you had purpose, and other people tried to give you surface level things, jewelry and cars and women and things. Am I hearing that correctly and true?

I'm not sure. This is for some people. This is... A guy like me who has powers, having a lot of money to cuss power's giving money away. That's the difference between him and some people. Because we believe the more you give away, the more powerful you are. That's awesome. Well, that's just how he thinks. I don't think I think like him, but that's just how he thinks. That's how he thinks. The more you get, the more you give.

Awesome. And what do you think? What do you think from here? What's life about for you from here? You have a beautiful family.

That's what it's all about, it care about the people you care about and the people that care about you. You guys just love each other. That's what life is all about. You can't love the people that don't love you. Even if you love them, you can't make them love you because it's not meant to be. It's just the people with which even if they're not blood family. I saw some people, and I've done it, too. Well, sometimes your blood family is not doing right, so you have to make your own family in the street sometimes. So it happens. Whoever you consider your family, your lifelong friend, you got to stick together and show that against the world.

Thank you. And let's go back then in time for that. Let's talk about some bigger problems in the world. You've seen it up close in person You said coming from Brownsville and all the pain and insanity of that. Why are gangs so attracted to kids? And is there any solution to that? And were there positive things that came out of for you being a gang?

I was really never a gang guy. We had crews, friends. We never said we're the this or that. We just had crews, a friend, and we hung together, we stole together, we did a bunch of stuff together. But What you do get from gangs are power. Normally the big tough guy at the grocery corner, you go to the store, he's there to pick you up. But now he knows you got 20 guys that you're hanging with. You're hanging with those 20 guys in the corner all the time. He's not going to say nothing to you, but hi. That's just how it goes. He know you're hanging out with all those guys that caused all that trouble, the shooting people, the shooting that people. Hey, man, how are you doing? He's not going to bother that guy anymore. And that's a little guy. He's not going to bother him never again. Maybe if he did, then what happened to him, if he lived through it, he'll never bother those guys again. That's just what a gang does. You only have one time to violate them. Can you imagine what power that gives somebody to have been picked on most of his life.

Yeah, incredible. It's like powerlessness to powerful. So is there a solution? If you were there and you could do anything, tell the politicians or governors or business people, anybody who cares, is there a fix?

Just get these guys some jobs. Prepare them for some jobs or something. Listen, I'm just saying this because I know really there's some people in America that's just so good, they don't want to work. And they don't have to be poor. They can be middle. Sometimes they don't want to work. And that's why we have problems with ICE, because the people that are coming in here, they want to work. And I know I I know people don't like that, but what are you going to do with people that want to work against people that don't want to work? I never just understood that, but I understand this, too. Illegal criminals coming here, killing people, murder people, for two. That has to stop. That's the only thing Trump... They're not letting Trump really to go loose on. They're letting him hold. He's holding back from the ICE people now. He's not allowing them really to do what he really feels they should do. I'm just a strong believer that we should protect the company, this country, and keep the people that want to be in this country and make this country stronger should be in this country.

Well, thank you. You're certainly one of those profound leaders. And so from here, Mike Tyson, what's the rest of this journey? I hope you're here for another 100 years on this Earth.

What's it? I wouldn't want to be another 100 years. God, no.

But what is it about from here? It's family, but it's still things that on a mission level or professional level, you're here today.

A lot with family. Family has to understand this, that regardless of politician, religion, whatever it is, we're still family. We don't have to be enemies because we have different beliefs in what, religion or politician. We're still blood families. That's not fight. That's what's going on now, crazy. Listen, I think the This has probably been the biggest family dispute since the history of politics since Trump's been involved. Friends and family, they're having disputes now.

Amen. And so when we're hearing from Mike Tyson, who get in the ring and knocks somebody out and through the ropes, is we're hearing, Let's come together.

A hundred %.

Let's have peace.

Listen, what's the guy, Mandoni, the Communist guy? If he got along with that guy, God, what enemy do we have? He's not mad at anybody. I never in a million years thought him in the sky would get along. Not in a million years. I was there at the White House and I saw the meeting. It was beautiful. I didn't have the slightest idea that would go that way.

That's beautiful. So with that heart and that love, at one point, you have a fight with an Olympic gold medalist, Michael Spinks. And me and my friends save up all of our money. And it costs $40 to go see in a movie theater about 20 minutes from here in Hackensack, New Jersey. We get our popcorn, we get our soda. We're ready to see Mike Tyson and Michael Spinks go at it. And would you give me my 40 bucks back?

I was told that for a long time.

So let's go see what that looks like.

Oh, God. He lands it ahead of Mike Spinks. It's Tyson all the way here on round number one. Oh, God. Future shots to the body. Nothing really heavy landing yet, but he's taking them. The uppercut. Body shot. Down he goes. Mike Spade for the first time. The count was up to four, and five, and six, and seven, and eight. That was a body shot that took him down. It comes Mike Spade's end. He leaves the right-hand. Wow. How he goes. I don't think he can get up from this. Mike Spence is getting flat on his back. The count is up to five, it's six, it's seven, and eight. He won't be able to show it. It's all over. Mike Tyson has won it. Mike's almost fell back through a dramatic first-round knockout. Four, Mike Tyson. Unbelievable strike. It came in the first round.

I didn't even get a sip of my soda.

That was really wild. I don't even know that guy. I look at that guy, I said, Who the hell?

How do you feel about that guy that did that to Michael Spinks?

He was just a child. I was in love for really the first time. I never had really a girlfriend before. I'm 21 years old. I have a wife. I probably I had one or two girlfriends. The next thing you know, I have a wife. I wasn't even experienced with women or nothing. I just wanted to be a fighter. I was really a knobhead back then.

How afraid of you... When you came out there, could you feel the fear of your opponent when you were getting the instructions or you didn't feel that, you didn't think about that? What was present? What were you thinking was in your mind as you're standing there against Michael Spinks? Could you feel him? It looked like he was afraid.

I'm just waiting for the the bell to make. That's not going to do anything. It's looking at each other. You want to hit the guy to make something happen. That's awesome.

Could you feel the fear of your opponents at that time? Like that they would be standing there because you feel their fear or you weren't feeling that?

I could feel. You could listen. I try to explain this. It's all about energy. Sometimes I go into the ring, center of the ring with my attitude, and the guy puts his head down and he doesn't look at me. And I go right through the corner and say, This guy's coming to fight. I'm going to keep my hands up. I'm going to just try and move my hand because I can see he's coming. I could tell when the guy doesn't look at me, normally nine times out of ten, probably eight out of ten, he's coming to charge right at me. He's coming at me. It never fails. It never fails. Because I see the energy telling me, I'm giving it all. I don't give it them. It's going to go all the time, giving it my best. And that's pretty scary because this guy, somebody He comes down, he doesn't care. Anything could happen. He has nothing to lose. He comes back a little nervous to the ring. He said, Wow, he's going to give it all out in the first round.

Well, thank you for that. How many minutes we have left? Ten. Ten. Okay.

We have a 30 minutes already? Thirty-five-five. Really? We're having fun. We kicking it.

I'm going to ask you some questions that, again, I promise, not trying to put you on the spot. I'm not going to put you on the spot.

I'm not going to put you on the spot.

I love Muhammad Ali. I love Mike Tyson. Muhammad Ali in his prime with Angela Dundee. Mike Tyson, his prime, Customato. What happens? What does that look like? What is that all about? So Muhammad Ali never loses those years in his career.

Customato love that fight. Customato loves Muhammad Ali so much. He I love that stuff. I love Ali. Ali is the greatest I've ever in my mind. I just think it's the greatest. He inspired me. When I first saw him, I was in an institution called Spoffin in New York City. And we came there and they showed the movie. It was in 1977. They showed the movie The Greatest. Then the lights went on and Muhammad Ali walked in. I go to visit those kids at home. He came to visit us. I said, Wow. I wanted to be like, I want to be like that guy. Then next time I go to the next reformatory, some guy, and then teach people how to box. It was just ordained by God for it to happen, for me to see him and say, wow.

So what do you think that fight, Before you get into who would have won or lost, what do you think the fight would have looked like? What would it have been like? Putting your styles together? Tell us about that fight.

This is what different about Maham Ali that other people don't see. Ali is He's just different. It's hard to explain him. It's just hard to explain this guy because he's the guy, like I say a guy like Lister and George Foreman, those guys are ferocious animals, monsters. They kill anybody. But Ali handles him, those two guys, like they're nothing. Anybody else, those guys will kill him, wipe the floor with them. But Ali beats them like they're nothing. They fight Ali. Ali is like, Toufanel. He fights Frazier. Toufanel, anybody could win. He fight Norton. Then Toufanel, anybody could... Norton and Frazier fight these guys for him. For him, it kills him like they're nothing. They fight Ali. They almost kill each other, him and Ali. Ali fight these months because he kills them. He knocks them out. So styles have a lot to do with fighting. The bigger and tougher you are, the more Ali kicks your ass. These guys that are not as tough as those other guys, they give them tough fights for some reason. Style make fights.

So how about putting your styles together? What would that have looked like? What do you think would have happened? What do you think Customada would have said would have happened?

Wow. I don't know. He told me nobody in the world could beat Muhammad Ali when I was a kid.

He told me. Here's something I'm going to tell you. And I'm not a boxer. I was a baseball player, football player, I'm not customado. Here's something I have never wanted to admit because Muhammad Ali was my favorite of all time, is I truly believe, and I don't want to say this, but I truly believe you would have beat Muhammad Ali. At that Spanx fight, my friends and I sat there, and they were even bigger than Mike Tyson fans than I was. I really appreciated you. I was like, You're great and amazing, but I loved Ali. Anything that was even getting near Ali's legend, I was like, No, no, no, no, no, no. I was like, Larry Holmes, no way. He beat Muhammad Ali when Muhammad Ali was already old. No way, no way. So when you were coming up, I was afraid that you were going to become the greatest of all time and replace Muhammad Ali. I truly believe this. I do believe you would have beaten Muhammad Ali. Thank you. I do.

That's pretty awesome. I really appreciate that. But me, when I look at Ali, I think of the guys he beat and the men that he beat, the personality they are. Like, Listen, as soon as they come off the airport, a bus station, they see a cop, a cop. This is their racist time. The late '50s, early '60s. He see a cop, he goes right after what? They killed Blacks for so much less than that back then. Ali beats these guys like they're nothing. Talk about their mother, talk about screwing their sisters and mother rights fight. Listen, you think I'm playing? I know. Listen, Ali was fighting for me. The The announcement one that talked to the referee, what was going on in the clenches with him informing, and the referee, Oh my God. I can't say what he was saying. You can't believe what he was saying about the guy's sister and his mother. I just can't The referee was saying, he was just saying, I can't say what he was saying. I just can't believe he said it. And he said, I can't believe he had time to say that while he's fighting. Ali, he would talk about your mother, your sister's having sex with...

While he's fighting, while he's fighting, He was talking about all this crazy stuff. Ali wasn't a normal guy, man. Something was wrong with him. How are you in a fight in your life? This guy's a killer. You're talking about his mother and his sister doing things. Oh, God. Joe Frazier, did you hear this? Man, this man is crazy. How do you talk about a guy's mother? Joe Frazier, you think he's totally out of his mind? How does he have a chance to talk? Why are you fighting these guys? You're talking about their mother and sister's God.

So what I'm hearing Mike Tyson say Ali, is that the reason Muhammad Ali was the greatest or may have been the greatest, who knows what would have happened with Mike Tyson without the loss of Cusumano, who is, I mean, inarguably, people say that you, Ali, are the two greatest heavyweets of all time, which is interesting because Rocky Marciano was undefeated. It was a different time, different place. But what I'm hearing you say is that one of the reasons Muhammad Ali was so great and so successful is because his influencing skills, his ability to control people's minds when they fought, like the Ropa Dope and Zair. Absolutely. Tell us about that.

No, he just gave people hope. He beat the greatest odds. That's what was big about Ali. When anybody think he was going to lose, listen, a monster, then after that, then listen, Protege, another ferocious, vicious, scary monster. Then he beats them like that. People are worried. People are writing letters. Please don't fight him. Don't fight him. Then he beats these guys.

Because Joe Frazier had beaten Ali after he came out of the spring court thing. Exactly. And then Foreman destroys Frazier.

And Norton as well.

And Norton as well.

And then people- And they both beat the shit out of Ali, Frazier and Norton. They're the only two guys that beat Ali. This guy is obliviated, though.

Incredible. Well, it I mean, how amazing is it an honor to talk to Mike Tyson about Muhammad Ali in these fights. This is a dream of mine. So thank you for that as well. In our final couple of minutes, Mike, what do you do for fun? I know you're family. I know you love pigeons. I knew somebody who knew you at one point. I think you had a Hawk. Is that right? At one point, you had a Hawk that you'd play with in the desert. I was on the phone one time with someone who was on the phone with you when you were out with your Hawk in the desert. That was a fun special moment. I was listening as you were doing that. But what's fun for you now? I know you love animals. I know you love kids. You love charity.

Believe it or not, I can't believe I'm this way. It's my wife and my kids. It's a trip. And I mean all the eight of them, not just the younger ones, but just all of them. Even though we have our different beliefs and stuff because they're adults, but we always support each other. We're always family together. And some of them don't get along, but I know they fight together for each other. It was just family. And sometimes I wonder myself, I wonder what it's like being my sibling, being my daughter. Is that a pain in the neck or something? Is that pressure?

I'm sure it is. How about this? Movies. I know you said you love cartoons. I know you love the Rocky movie. I know you love Bruce Lee. Any other things? I know you love Rocky, Bruce Lee. Any other cartoons, things? What are movies, heroes, stories that you like to watch? Wow.

I love the... I like the Jet Lee movies and all that stuff. The Sunday movies, the Kong Fu Theater and all that stuff when I was a kid. That's pretty much inspirational stuff. And mostly they're fighting. They're not fighting another clan. They're fighting the Japanese. And it's all about sacrifice. You're stronger than me. The people will follow you. So let me sacrifice my life and you come back and avenge me. In America, you say, I'm going to sacrifice myself and you avenge me. You say, yes, go sacrifice. As soon as you die, boom, the hell with you. We take all the money for ourselves. But those guys, they gave us dignity and pride. And all the black kids went in because that was the cause of the gang, the gang theory, too. We all stick together as one. The Chinese movies, that's what that was all about. We stick with our clan and we avenge each other.

Thank you, Mike. I'm hearing respect, honor, leadership. And so if maybe we begin to draw to close with this, do you think about being remembered? Some people are, I don't care about that. Do you care about being remembered? And if so, what do you want to be remembered for?

Not that much. But if I have to be remembered for something, I never fuck nobody over that didn't have it coming to them.

Me too.

That's what I want to be known for.

Amen. I want to thank you for the honor of coming here today, the trust. I thought this was going to be amazing and masterful. It blew my mind. It was 100x, but I swear to God. Do I say what I don't mean? No.

I do not. Did you talk to my wife? I will. Did you never talk to her?

I will. If you could talk to Bella, I'll talk to your wife.

Did you never talk to her? I thought She talked to her, huh? I thought you talked to her. She had all the night things. She knew everything about you. And you never talked to her, huh? I didn't. Why? I thought you talked to her before we got this going on.

I would be honored to.

No, she knew everything about you. That's why.

No, thank you.

That's why I thought you'd talk. And That's interesting.

Thank you. And what I'd love you to know as we close is I think that people chase the wrong things. What Custominal taught you is what I was taught by incredible high school coaches and leaders. People told me I could never be a division one athlete. And baseball player was, captain of my team. I was going to go on to play professionally if it wasn't for going blind. And I channeled it into the business and the things we do. And what I would love you to know Now, me, as we close, is that there's in the world, Mr. Tyson, is that there's people out there who really do care like Customado did, and I'm one of those people. And my life, my stand is for people to unlock their greatness. And what you have done for me today is priceless because here's what it is. I back off sometimes the way Customado didn't. I give space to people in ways I shouldn't because I I don't want them to feel bad. They're going to be mad at me. And that's not what Customado did for you. It's not what my coaches did for me. Because Mr. Mike Tyson, you blessed me on a Saturday morning with coming to this space.

You've made me a better leader. You've reminded me the truth. And I am going to be a 100X more powerful, more effective leader than I was walking that door. I was doing pretty good before, but you've made me better. And so is Customado. And it's been an honor and privilege, Mr. Mike Tyson.

I can't believe my wife hadn't talked to me. She told me that she was talking about you, that she knew you and talked to you and everything.

Thank you. Any final things that you'd like to share today?

I'm just happy that I came here. I'm just really happy that I came.

Thank you. God bless you, sir.

Thank you so much, brother. Thank you.

Mr. Mike Tyson, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.