Bruce Silverglade previously patronized children’s amateur boxing, and then opened his own gym – the same legendary Gleason’s boxing gym in Brooklyn (New York, USA).
In conversation with a correspondent
The Sun he shared memories of a young Mike Tyson: “One way or another, I was involved in the organization of most of his fights. You know, those were hellish times. Even now I remember how he filled out a questionnaire at the age of 14 to participate in Youth Olympic Games (two-time champion). Nobody believed that he was only 14. Why? Yes, he looked like a fully formed man. We had to collect a whole pile of papers: a birth certificate, a passport, a baptismal certificate. Nobody believed us anyway, but we proved our case. There was no other way – he was too awesome to refuse him.
Tyson often sparred under the supervision of Teddy Atlas in Gleason’s boxing gym. Says Silverglade: “He trained at Catskill, and it was a very small gym, there were no sparring partners. Therefore, together with Atlas, they often visited me. And Atlas himself was one of our coaches, which is why he brought him here. They were afraid of him then, they didn’t want to fight with him and even spar with him. And he transferred all this to the professional ring. This worked until 1990, before his first defeat. Until then, opponents considered him invincible.
“I always had a very high opinion of Michael Spinks, I was with him in Montreal when he took the Olympic gold,” recalls Silverglade. He was a light heavyweight champion, then became a heavyweight champion. Very tough. You know, such a man is a nail. He flew into Tyson by knockout already in the opening round. Stood in front of him like a deer in headlights. He got scared. Only after Tyson’s defeat in Japan did the opponents believe that he could really be beaten.
The other day it became known that Mike Tyson was offered a fistfight with the WWE champion. And even earlier, he shared his opinion about the favorite of Usyk’s rematch – Joshua: “The dude has balls!”
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