'Rip his head off'- Joe Calzaghe recalls Mike Tyson's heated interaction with his father
Joe Calzaghe recently discussed the first time that he and his father met Mike Tyson.
It was 2000, and 'The Italian Dragon' was set to fight on 'Iron Mike's undercard. The card itself had a lot of hype behind it, as it was Tyson's debut in the U.K. The former heavyweight champion matched up with England's Julius Francis in the main event.
Calzaghe was set to defend his WBO Super Middleweight Title against David Starie on the undercard. Tyson and his camp set up time to train at the same gym as the WBO Super Middleweight Champion. There, Calzaghe's father decided to ask 'Iron Mike' for a picture.
While Tyson agreed to take the picture, he seemed less than thrilled. That sort of attitude caused Calzaghe's father to stearnly tell him to smile. Recalling the story in an interview with talkSPORT, 'The Italian Dragon' said:
“I thought [Mike Tyson] was going to rip his head off... I thought, ‘Dad, don’t start man.' But Mike just said that he’d had a long day, so I thought, ‘What a p****!'"
How Joe Calzaghe’s dad annoyed Mike Tyson
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Joe Calzaghe discusses his conversation with Mike Tyson
When Joe Calzaghe got his dad away from Mike Tyson, the two had a conversation. At that point in time, Tyson was an extremely controversial figure, as he was just a few years removed from prison and biting off Evander Holyfield's ear.
While he didn't discuss any of that, Calzaghe revealed what him and Tyson spoke about in an interview with talkSPORT. The undefeated great noted that 'Iron Mike' mostly just discussed his former promoter, Don King, and how he was screwed over by him.
Recalling the story, Calzaghe said:
“[Tyson] goes, ‘You know, man? I’ve been f***** by Don King about all this money.' And he says, 'You know it makes you want to f****** kill him man and eat his f****** children, man.’ And I’m thinking in my head, ‘You’re f****** nuts,’ and just nodding. So, to be honest, he’s just a very strange and complicated character.”
While Calzaghe may have thought Tyson was nuts, it worked for him at the time in the U.K. Both 'The Italian Dragon' and 'Iron Mike' scored victories that night in 2000.
Tyson takes over Manchester 💥💪
@MikeTyson hit the headlines when he arrived in Manchester to fight Julius Francis. Tyson knocked out Francis in the second round 🔥 https://t.co/Qms5m5FQnV