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Robin Givens, Mike Tyson, and Michael Jordan in 1988. (Getty Images)
It might be hard to believe some 27 years later, but Robin Givens and Mike Tyson were at one point America’s most famous sporting couple. His fall from grace and her scattershot acting career may have diminished their notability in the years since, but the heavyweight champ and "Head of the Class" star were quite ubiquitous in 1988 both during their coupling and before their marriage came to a tabloid-fed end.
According to one retelling of Tyson’s life, a recently released book excerpted in the New York Post on Monday, Tyson once confronted the just-as-ubiquitous Michael Jordan in a liquor-fueled rant pitched in front of Jordan’s friend Richard Dent, and Dent’s Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka.
From the recollections of Rory Holloway, Tyson’s former friend and manager:
“Mike Tyson’s sitting there with his drink of choice, a Long Island Tea, and when he drinks his real feelings come out …,” Holloway writes.
“I’m telling the server to water his drinks down ‘cause I see where this is going. Mike stares across the table at Michael Jordan. He says, ‘Hey man, you think I’m stupid? I know you f—-d with my b—h.’
“Jordan looks like he just seen a ghost. ‘I know you messed with her,’ Mike says. ‘You can tell me.’
[…]
“It was a circus, for real, that night. Don King trying to change the subject. Me and John trying to hold Mike down. Mike telling everyone he’s going to bust Jordan’s ass. Jordan’s dressed sharp as always and he can’t get out of there fast enough.”
Givens divorced Tyson in 1988 amid claims of spousal abuse. Tyson later lost the heavyweight crown in 1991, and was convicted in 1992 of a rape charge. Upon his parole, despite several comeback attempts, Tyson failed to regain his top rank in the boxing industry.
