The 100 Greatest Brooklynites: 40 to 31
In his prime, Mike Tyson was probably the most feared boxer in the history of the sport—metaphors fail, but buzzsaw is a pretty good one. Of course, everything that made Tyson such a terror in the ring, made him a pretty lousy citizen of the world, and his meteoric rise to pugilistic greatness was beset by bad decisions and failed personal relationships. Growing up in Bed-Stuy and later Brownsville, Tyson had been arrested 38 times by age 13, largely for fighting bigger, older kids who made fun of his high-pitched lisp. But unlike millions of other troubled teens, Tyson actually found an outlet for his frustration. And man, was it scary: of his first 28 bouts, 16 of them ended in first-round knock-outs, and he soon became the youngest man in history to hold a world title. Of course, there followed his soap operatic marriage to Robin Givens, his loss to Buster Douglas, his rape conviction, his repeated comeback attempts and… face tattoos. So great, so sad.