Gone are the days when boxing great Mike Tyson walked the world unimpeded by concerns over whether or not he'd be able to afford whatever his heart may have desired. But memories of the good times enjoyed with friends along his rags-to-riches story remain. One buddy who goes way back with the 51-year-old Brownsville, Brooklyn native is hip-hop radio personality, Ed Lover, and one of the fondest memories he has of Tyson involves the capacity he once had to treat those around him to the best time of their lives.
As the story goes, Ed bumped into Tyson one Thursday night, sometime in the late 1980's/ early 90's, when he was at the height of his storied popularity. Just before heading into a club the DJ was eager to spend his night at, Tyson discouraged him in the interest of getting him to join him at a more ideal spot. They wound up leading a caravan of cars to Ed's home borough of Queens, where Ed says was one of the most popping places on the weekday night. Tyson was so live at the moment, he wasn't trying to wait around, so he convinced Ed to leave his car in the city, and to simply hop in his whip for the ride.
To make a long story short, Ed, Tyson, and Tyson's entourage wound up having a great time. It was nothing for the world's wealthiest prizefighter (at the time having a fortune of more than $300 million) to buy the bar out for the entire club. And when Ed reminded Mike that they had selected to leave his car in the city, and that he needed a ride back to get it, it was nothing for Mike to let him take the Bentley.
Little did Ed Lover know, when Tyson passed a set of wheels over to a friend in those days, he did so without expecting it back. It is estimated that spent over $4 million on over 100 cars for himself and those closest to him during his heyday. So, when years later the champ informed Ed that the $300,000 car had been his to have, Ed found himself grinding his teeth for being duped into giving it over to manager John Horne some weeks after their night out.
