While the banter ahead of a boxing match is always laden with barbs and threats, one does get the feeling that ahead of Mike Tyson’s July 20th fight with Jake Paul, there is a certain element of justification mixed in with the normal chatter. Indeed, many have called the rules of the fight farcical as they appeared to significantly protect Paul. Interestingly, Tyson has now insisted that while the bout won’t be considered official – it’s an exhibition match – it will not have the restrictions that such matches normally do.
From 1992 to 1995, while in prison for the rape of Desiree Washington, Tyson read a large number of books, including works by Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong. Spike Lee sent Tyson a copy of tennis player Arthur Ashe’s deathbed memoir, Days of Grace. Tyson was moved by the book and respected Ashe’s ability to be nonconfrontational and admired his political views and his success as a black athlete in a white-dominated world. Tyson got prison tattoos of both men on his biceps: A portrait of Mao, captioned with “Mao” in all-caps, on the left; a portrait of Ashe beneath the words “Days of Grace” on the right. Gerald Early views the Mao and Ashe tattoos as together “symboliz both newfound self-control and his revision of black cool”, with Mao representing strength and authority. Clifton Brown in The New York Times describes the Ashe tattoo as “a contradiction” with Tyson’s “fits of rage”. Early and biographer Richard Hoffer cast the two bicep tattoos as an unusual combination of, in Hoffer’s words, “alternate icons”.
Variety reported in July 2009, that production on The Hangover 2 would begin in October 2010, for a May 26, 2011 release, following the same production schedule used for the first film. Also in July, Zach Galifianakis stated in an interview with Latino Review that the film will be set in Thailand, “Well, I think we’re going to Thailand. The problem with Hangover 2 is that we have to live up to what we did which is very difficult. So we get, I think, kind of kidnapped. It has nothing to do with the bachelor party. We’re definitely not doing that again but we do end up in an exotic place. That’s all I know.”
The film took $8.7 million in the Netherlands and $6.2 million in France and $3.1 million in Italy ($4.6 million with previews); a five-fold increase over the opening-weekend gross of The Hangover. On its second weekend, the film accrued $63.8 million from 53 territories, placing it second behind Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the film having earned 79 percent of its predecessor’s entire overseas run. On the weekend of June 10–12, 2011, it surpassed its predecessor and There’s Something About Mary in international earnings to become the highest-grossing R-rated comedy overseas.
Back when Mike Tyson first showed up in public in 2003 with his now-instantly recognizable tribal face tattoo, the first reaction of many folks was, “huh?” followed by, “why?” followed by, “seriously though, why?” But let’s be honest: was anyone going to make fun of him to his face and risk getting detonated by one of Iron Mike’s fists? No, sir. Not only was Tyson still the #1 dude who you did not want to get into a brawl with (and also the man with the most disproportionate “intimidating presence: intimidating voice” ratio), he had bitten off a bit of Evander Holyfield’s ear during a boxing match division match back in 1997. Tyson was considered volatile, as well as loose, cannon.
Why did Mike Tyson get a face tattoo? Tyson talked about his decision to get a tattoo, citing a desire to assert his individuality and express himself artistically. For Tyson, a tattoo represents a form of self-expression and empowerment.
As if Zhilei Zhang wasn’t already intimidating—as if being 6′ 6″ with Thanos-like fists didn’t make your knees rattle, as if back-to-back knockout wins last year over granite-chinned Brit Joe Joyce weren’t enough—on this particular mid-November afternoon, inside a nondescript gun range in northern New Jersey, Zhang has his fingers wrapped around a Sig Sauer P365 XL. Guns, Zhang insists, were never his thing. His trainer, Shaun George, introduced him to recreational shooting a few years ago; Kurt Li, his co-manager, translator and, it turned out, part-time range safety officer, showed him the ropes. The first time he pulled a trigger, his hands trembled.
What is the purpose of this copy? Warner Bros. isn’t in the business of tattoo design and inking, so they’re not trying to make a profit off of the design itself. The message they are trying to convey with the “tattoo” is different from the message Whitmill and Tyson are going for — the latter pair are expressing the fighter’s nature, while the studio is referencing popular culture (and possibly poking fun of a drunk tourist’s surface-level appreciation of cultural practices). If Ed Helms came at you with a tattooed face you’d fall on the floor laughing, while if Mike Tyson did, you’d drop into the fetal position.