Tyson’s Secret
Now retired, former boxer Mike Tyson was professionally hypnotised before his fights to ensure he was as ferocious as possible in the ring.
Tyson won his first 19 fights by knockout after becoming a professional boxer at the age of 18. In the process, he developed a reputation as a particularly vicious and aggressive fighter, who would quickly bear down on opponents at the first bell.
According to The Daily Telegraph (26 Nov 2013), the troubled sports icon now attributes the ferocity of his fights to a hypnotist, who he worked with several times a day at the request of his manager Cus D’Amato.
He once told a London Daily Telegraph reporter, “Cus used to have me professionally hypnotised two or three times a day – before sparring, before training and before fights. My objective was to destroy.”
When asked if he ever felt remorseful about the viciousness with which he attacked his opponents, Tyson replied, “No, because Cus didn’t like me to be sensitive like that. He wanted me to be emotionless. He said feelings mean nothing. Feelings have nothing to do with your life. The only thing feelings do is distract you.”
While we don’t endorse or admire Cus D’Amato’s objectives, it’s clearly possible to focus the mind on anything with hypnosis and achieve that goal – any goal – if we go after it persistently.
