Origins of Mike Tyson's Face Tattoo: The Heart Concept Initiatio

During an interview with Graham Bensinger, Mike disclosed the origins, mentioning his initial desire for heart tattoos on his face.

Transcript

00:00 Mike Tyson was one of the fiercest boxers of his time and remains one of the greatest in the boxing world

00:06 However, he has a unique recognition attributed to his face tattoo

00:10 Which many not know the meaning of its origin in a talk show Mike revealed how he got it mentioning that initially

00:17 He wanted hearts on his face. He said I just thought it was a cool tattoo

00:22 I was going to get a bunch of hearts and stuff that would have been really stupid

00:29 He further explained the encounter with the tattoo artist Victor Perez I was going to be the man of hearts, baby

00:36 I was very close Victor Perez the tattoo artist said I aren't doing that. I can't do that

00:42 I said what do you think I should get because I was confused Victor being a good guy

00:48 Said come back in a couple of days

00:50 I am going to try and design something after waiting for a couple of days

00:55 Perez called and said Mike I've got some tribal stuff Tyson was intrigued and agreed

01:00 Whoa, put another one over there. This is cool. I like this. So the tattoo artist inked it on my face

01:07 Tyson recounted the reactions he received. I thought it was so hot

01:12 I would be in these dens these clubs and strip places sometimes and all the girls said oh you are very exotic

01:20 Where are you from? Where did your family come from? Why did you put this tattoo on your face?

01:25 They said I look like some tribesmen or something

01:28 I ran into some chicks that happened to be from the Maori tribe and they said hey

01:34 You have got some of my tribe on your face and the lady pulled her pants down and she has this tattoo on her butt

01:41 You

01:43 You

01:45 (upbeat music)

01:47 you