‘The scariest man on the planet’ Mike Tyson once secretly visited a children’s cancer hospital and banned all cameras or video cameras from recording.
The youngest heavyweight boxing champion of all time, Mike Tyson, was known for his brutal and intimidating fighting style. But according to his former manager Shelly Finkel, Tyson was a kind, caring and good-hearted person.
“When we were in Arizona, Mike ‘Thep’ asked us to take him to a children’s cancer hospital,” Finkel revealed. “When we got there, there were a lot of paparazzi following us. Mike told me straight up that he didn’t want them at the hospital. He didn’t want the kids to be a media sensation. That’s a side of Mike that people don’t understand. He can be hysterical in the ring, but he’s also a caring and funny person.”
Mike Tyson has been with Shelly Finkel since their amateur days. They first worked together in 1988, when Finkel brokered a huge pay-per-view (PPV) deal for Tyson against Michael Spinks.
After Tyson lost to Evander Holyfield in 1997, Finkel became “Iron” Mike’s full-time manager. Finkel took Tyson all over the world in an effort to revive his career, with stops in England, Scotland, and even Denmark. And Tyson’s popularity spread throughout Europe.
Finkel worked with Mike Tyson until his final professional fight , a devastating loss to Kevin McBride. “In that last fight, when I was in the locker room with Mike, he told me he had absolutely no confidence in this fight,” Finkel recalled. “And so it happened.”
