On March 6, 1985, a boxer named Mike Tyson made his professional debut in the heavyweight division. He was a ferocious puncher with a rare combination of both power and speed. In 1981 and 1982, he won gold at the junior Olympic games. His first fight against Hector Mercedes was one-sided, an ugly affair, really. Tyson made quick work of him in the first round, sending him to the canvass multiple times in the first 1:47 of the fight. In all, after less than a year in boxing, only three opponents made it past the first round.
In March 2011, roughly 26 years after Mike Tyson’s debut, a woman named Ronda Rousey had her first pro MMA bout. She was also a ferocious fighter, possessing skills unseen in women’s MMA. In 2008, Rousey won bronze in judo at the Olympic games in Beijing. Her first fight — if you want to call it that — lasted 25 seconds. In all, after her first 12 bouts, only one opponent made it past the first round.
The comparisons between the two have been made several times before, so this is nothing new. In fact, over the weekend in Rio, Rousey made some brief comments about Tyson:
“I think that Mike Tyson is a legend as a fighter. His career is legendary, his reign is legendary. I can only hope to aspire to have as much of an impact on my sport as he had on his.”
In July, Tyson himself weighed in on Rousey’s potential:
“She has that killer aura, meaning anything is capable of happening. Whoa! That’s exciting before the fight even starts. I think of myself when I watch her.”
To give you an idea of just how similar the two are, take a look at their first 12 fights:
And look at their stare-downs: No flinching, no words, nothing.
Above all, the two have a watchability factor. People tune in because they know something extremely violent will happen. There’s no dancing around, and there’s no feeling out your opponent. It’s no holds barred right after the bell. In today’s society, we want things now, and we don’t want to wait. Rousey and Tyson fulfill our expectations and then go above and beyond in a matter of seconds. We can’t get enough of it. That’s why, for now, the comparisons are spot-on. Not so much in what they mean to their respective sport, but more or less how fans view them ahead of and during fights.
Don’t walk out of the room, don’t grab a snack, and don’t even blink. You might miss it.
