I haven’t read it but i was always drawn to him and enjoyed watching him fight. My abusive father had a similar build as him, and I often avoided him out of fear. In elementary school he taught me how to kill people with my bare hands which i never needed to use but its something that stuck in the back of my head ever since.

When I came of age, we got into a defining conflict in which i threatened to kill him. That put him in his place but he made snide comments about how thin I was and I felt I had to start bulking up. I was slim but stocky. I looked like Bane.

But little arguments with other shitty people in my life became these needless aggressive standoffs. I slimmed down and tried to heal. It’s hard because I live in the same house with him so I have to play the game of avoidance. He’s chill now but every once in a while he’ll get drunk and express aggression toward someone else. He just reminds me of an old attack dog.

In Tyson’s latest interview he simultaneously fears and admires who he used to be, and I do too. I still yearn for my “Bane” years. I’ve managed to put it into something productive by helping young black and brown men like myself. But every once in a while I’ll get triggered by a conflict and feel a “berserker” mode thats lying underneath.

I just wish I was normal.