CAPE TOWN – According to a memoir, former undisputed world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson wanted to beat up Michael Jordan in 1989, causing promoter Don King to intervene.
Tyson’s former manager Rory Holloway wrote in the book, Taming the Beast: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson that the former sporting icons were both attending the birthday party of an NFL star when things went south.
Holloway wrote that Jordan had had a relationship with Tyson’s ex-wife Robin Givens, which didn’t sit well with the hard-punching boxer.
“Mike Tyson’s sitting there with his drink of choice, a Long Island Tea, and when he drinks, his real feelings come out,” Holloway wrote.
“I’m telling the server to water his drinks down ‘cause I see where this is going. Mike stares across the table at Michael Jordan. He says, ‘Hey man, you think I’m stupid? I know you f****d with my b***h’.
“Jordan looks like he’s just seen a ghost.
“’I know you messed with her’, Mike says. ‘You can tell me’.
“Jordan, it’s obvious he just want to get up and run. He wants no part in this.
“It was a circus, for real, that night. Don King trying to change the subject. Me trying to hold Mike down. Mike telling everyone he’s going to bust Jordan’s ass. Jordan’s dressed sharp as always and he can’t get out of there fast enough.”