Mike Tyson may have lived the dreams of 1000 men inside the boxing ring but even ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’ isn’t immune to a little fight geekery.
Tyson, who confirmed that his latest comeback fight is set for May against Evander Holyfield, has been introduced to the ring by the rich tones of Michael Buffer on many an occasion — but has never had the honour of having Michael’s brother Bruce do the same.
Until now, that is.
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘦’𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳, 𝘉𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘦 𝘉𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘏𝘰𝘵𝘣𝘰𝘹𝘪𝘯’ 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸. #ItsAlmostTime @brucebuffer pic.twitter.com/1V3rq06q6t
— Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson (@hotboxinpodcast) March 24, 2021
Buffer has also shared the story of how he met his brother on the episode, detailing how they didn’t become acquainted until much later in life.
“I saw this man come out [on TV],” Bruce said to BT Sport. “This very handsome, debonair James Bond style man with an incredible voice.All of a sudden I’m becoming a fan and then he started putting his name on the TV screen and it said Michael Buffer and I thought ‘are you kidding me?’
“Who is this guy? I started getting curious,” he continued. “I called [promoter] Don King’s office and Bob Arum’s and found out [Michael] grew up about 20 miles away from where I grew up in Philadelphia.”
“My dad never told me that when he was serving in World War II he had gotten married at a young age, a son was born [on 2 November 1944] and nine months later when he came back they divorced,” Buffer explained.
“The last time he saw the child was when he was two-and-a-half. Michael was raised by foster parents under the name of Huber but when he went into the army during the Vietnam war [recruiters] saw his birth certificate said his name was Buffer as he was never formally adopted as Huber.”
