Michael Jai White once played Mike Tyson in a 1995 film called ‘Tyson. Although Tyson thought “the film was garbage”, he said White “did a good job” at playing him. High praise coming from the man himself. But, as it turns out, his connection with Mike Tyson goes back to when he was a teenager.
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The movie star has revealed that he was known to many as Mike Tyson when he was a teenager. And not because of his fighting prowess, even though he holds black belts in seven different martial arts, but because of a surprising reason.
Michael Jai White reveals why he was called Mike Tyson
In an interview he gave VladTV two years ago, the movie star shared his experience of meeting Mike Tyson. He then told an interesting story about how a misunderstanding with a club owner’s wife led to him being known as Mike Tyson in the clubs that he used to dance at.
“You know what’s funny? I don’t know if I ever told you this, but do you know I was called Mike Tyson before I ever met him. One of my hustles was, uh, when I was 16, I used to do break dancing,” he said.
The 55-year-old then recalled how he and his partner would offer to break-dance and pop-and-lock at clubs for a fee, as the dance style was in vogue during that time. The duo called themselves ‘Enticement’, which a club owner’s wife misheard as ‘Tysons’. This name stuck, and Michael Jai White, who went by ‘Mike’ back then, was called Mike Tyson in the clubs.
“It was a cat from Pomona, California… Me and him became a team, right. And we would do a little, like, display for the bouncer or the doorman at clubs… and say: “Hey, for fifty dollars we’ll come in and dance for 20 minutes,” he said.
“The name of our two-man group was called Enticement. We danced for this guy. He was like the numbers runner and his wife. The first time we danced, she asked us what our names was. His name was Patrick Teal, right. My name is Mike, Mike White. And, they said: “Oh, Patrick Tyson and Mike Tyson,” because she thought we were saying ‘The Tysons’,” he added.
Michael Jai White is one of the most interesting people in Hollywood, with his bona fide martial arts credentials. Fans will remember videos of him practicing his vicious kicks on a heavy bag as well as his sharp insights into the principles of hand-to-hand combat. And his connections with Mike Tyson just prove this point.
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Edited by
Anuj Jacob