Mike Tyson and Donald Trump were business partners of sorts back when Tyson was the heavyweight champion of the world and Trump wanted him to fight in his Atlantic City casinos.
Now that Trump is the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, Tyson thinks Trump has a better understanding of what the boxer’s world was like in the late 1980s under the spotlight of public scrutiny.
“Now he knows what it’s like when everybody is out to get you,” Tyson told The Post this week. “He’s probably never known that to this extent. All those people he sat down with and gave him [things], now those people are saying, ‘We’ve got to get rid of him at all costs.’ ”
Tyson and Trump shared the spotlight in 1987-88 when Trump Plaza served as the casino host for a series of title defenses in Atlantic City. Tyson knocked out Larry Holmes and Tyrell Biggs at what now is Boardwalk Hall with Trump at ringside before a quick trip to Tokyo, where Tyson dropped Tony Tubbs.
That set up a unification showdown with Michael Spinks, a fight delivered for Trump by promoter Don King. Tyson viciously knocked out Spinks in 91 seconds in June 1988, making him the undisputed champion.
But it was the beginning of a tumultuous time for Tyson. His soon-to-be ex-wife, Robin Givens, and her mother, Ruth Roper, had filed a lawsuit against Tyson’s manager, Bill Cayton. It wouldn’t be long before Kevin Rooney was fired as Tyson’s trainer and Steve Lott, Tyson’s confidant and assistant manager, also was asked to leave.
Lott said the attempted takeover by Givens and Roper was supported by Trump and King with the goal of locking the fighter into long-term exclusive deals.
“Trump knew that if they got Mike away from Bill, he could make a deal with Robin behind Mike’s back to keep Mike in Trump Plaza,” Lott said. “He wanted Mike fighting there and there alone. Bill, of course, would go wherever the big money is.”
Tyson lost his heavyweight title 20 months after beating Spinks, but at the time he fought at Trump Plaza, he felt invincible. He said he sees a similar attitude in Trump.
“I think it’s a pretty awesome thing that he’s doing so well,” Tyson said. “People are combining together to make sure he doesn’t win. He’s probably telling himself, ‘They hate me more than they hate [President Barack] Obama.’ You know it’s crazy when people who fought so hard to get rid of Obama would now rather keep him because they hate Trump more than they hate him.”
Tyson wouldn’t disclose for whom he plans to vote, but said he thinks the campaign has exposed an ugly side of American culture.
“There’s so much hate in this country,” he said. “I don’t care what color you are. You’re just born with that hate in us.”
Nonetheless, things are going well for Tyson. He recently won the Best New Actor Award at the 2016 Macau International Film Festival Aries Awards for his performance in “Ip Man 3,” a Chinese martial arts film.
He also just began a second limited run of his one-man show, “Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth,” at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, running Thursdays through Sundays until June 26.
The Brooklyn native, who became the youngest heavyweight champion, premiered his show at the MGM Grand in 2012 before a stint on Broadway and a worldwide tour.
This second edition promises to offer new stories and insight into his life from living in poverty in Brooklyn to becoming the most famous athlete in the world. He’ll probably add a few new lines about Trump.