From afar, George had cringed at how Zhang was being developed. There was no plan, he says. No visible signs of improvement. The only objective seemed to be to lard Zhang’s record with enough warm bodies until one of the top heavyweights would pay a premium to face him. “Do you remember Nikolai Valuev?” asks George, referencing the 7-foot Russian who briefly held a heavyweight title. “That’s how everyone was looking at Zhilei. Like a gimmick.”
In 1997, Tyson infamously bit a part of Evander Holyfield’s ear off during a fight. The move cost Tyson both the fight and his boxing license, though he was later reinstated. It was one of the most bizarre moments in boxing history, and one Tyson would be remembered for the rest of his career.
Each tattoo narrates a chapter of his saga. With Paul mimicking Tyson’s facial ink, questions arise. Is it mockery, homage, or strategy? As the fight looms, the symbolism of Tyson’s tattoos becomes a focal point. What stories do they tell?
They reunited in October of 2017 when Zhang switched back to George after a stint with trainer Diego Rosario. Their first fight together in July, Zhang’s first in 10 months, resulted in Zhang’s sixth straight first-round knockout win. That’s more an indication of the level of competition he’s been fighting, but Zhang had been near an opponent befitting his aspirations a few days prior when he posed for photos next to Joshua at a press conference for the DAZN streaming app.
Upon discovering Exodus in distress, the brother alerted their mother, who found Exodus unresponsive and immediately contacted emergency services. Fire department workers arrived and performed CPR before transporting her to a Phoenix hospital. Despite being placed on life support in the ICU, Exodus tragically passed away.
Shortly after the Olympics, Dino Duva was invited to Beijing to consult for the Chinese Boxing Federation. In Zhang, he saw not just talent but unprecedented ambition. At the time, Chinese boxers didn’t turn pro. Few of the country’s athletes did. “When you’re a national athlete in China, you get treated very well,” says Duva. “You’re supported by the government. They support your family. They give you bonuses and pay you well. But if you decide to make the move to become professional, they cut you off.” Zhang, Duva says, wanted more.
The design of Tyson’s tattoo is inspired by Maori warriors’ facial markings, which are traditional tattoos called ‘moko.’ These tattoos are highly revered in Maori culture, often used to signify status, identity, and ancestry. While Tyson’s tattoo is not an authentic moko, the design borrows elements that symbolize warrior status and strength, echoing Tyson’s own identity as a fighter both in and out of the ring.
What wasn’t as public was how Zhang had suffered from kidney failure, anemia and dehydration during the fight, and box had to be hospitalized for three days after. Under those circumstances, George says he discovered how much heart Zhang has.
On February 22, 2003, Mike Tyson, after the loss to Lennox Lewis the year prior, fought Clifford Etienne at the Pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee. Tyson won the bout via first-round knockout. It would be the last time he would win a boxing match in his illustrious professional career. But the fight gained fame for a different reason.
The passing of Mike Tyson’s daughter, Exodus, prompted a wave of mourning that reverberated beyond the Tyson family, illustrating the public’s connection to the former heavyweight champion. The grief spanned from intimate family circles to global platforms, where fans and celebrities expressed their condolences.
Warner Bros. asserted about 16 defenses. They acknowledged that the tattoos were similar but denied that theirs was a copy. They further argued that “tattoos on the skin are not copyrightable”. They reasoned that a human body is a useful article under 17 U.S.C. § 101 and thus not copyrightable. The question of a tattoo’s copyrightability had never been determined by the Supreme Court of the United States. Arguments in the alternative included that Tyson, by allowing them to use his likeness and not objecting to the plot device in The Hangover Part II, had given them an implied license, and that their use of the tattoo constituted fair use as parody because it juxtaposed Tyson as “the epitome of male aggression” with the “milquetoast” Price. Scholar David Nimmer, participating an expert witness for Warner Bros., argued that treating tattoos as copyrightable would violate the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution as a badge of slavery; Nimmer’s declaration was then excluded because it was a legal opinion.
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Regardless of personal meaning, one thing is for sure. Tyson embodies strength, wisdom, and freedom – as do many of the other inspirations that he has tattooed on his body–and his tattoos represent who he has been, is now, and will be in the future.
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