Surviving 10 rounds against Mike Tyson with your face still recognizable is a huge achievement: When A Gang Leader Confronted Tyson| HIGH LEVEL
BLTV Classic recaps the infamous two-fight saga between Tyson and gang leader, Mitch ‘Blood’ Green
Mike Tyson and Mitch ‘Blood Green had a notorious street-fight… but this is an untold story about another time blood was spilled
The ugly brawl you know about is part of boxing’s dark folklore – Mike Tyson at the height of his rampage, approached by a former rival in the New York ghetto at the dead of night. Photos of a battered Mitch ‘Blood’ Green appeared in the next day’s newspaper.
But there is another ruckus that somehow hasn’t escaped the secrecy of the few people who saw, until now. It is whispered to Sky Sports and reveals how ‘Blood’, unhinged and desperate, lost the plot after seeing his own blood at an attempted TV comedy sketch which went horribly wrong.
This is the story of the Mike Tyson and Mitch ‘Blood’ Green incident that you’ve never heard before.
Image:19-year-old Tyson already had a 20-0 record when he met Green in the ring
Image:Green was the second opponent to survive with Tyson until the final bell
Image:Green had lost just once in 18 fights at the time
In 1993 TV presenter Marc Middleton had a weekly comedy segment called ‘Marc’s Monday Match-up’ on US television. People would send in challenges and Marc, to great amusement, would try to beat them at their own game.
For example, one day a kid called in to say he could spin a basketball on his finger for longer than Marc. Sure enough, Marc had a device built that span a basketball on his finger non-stop. It was a segment constantly on the lookout for “hokey-cokey angles”.
That’s when a local boxing promoter called, offering up the services of Mitch ‘Blood’ Green. Seven years earlier Green lost a 10-round decision to a 19-year-old Tyson, a fight which is remembered now because they had an unscheduled rematch on the streets of Harlem and a grudge that exists to this day.
“We were asked if Marc wanted to do three rounds of sparring with Mitch,” a source told Sky Sports. “It sounded entertaining so we said: ‘Let’s do it!’
“It wasn’t long after his fight with Tyson. In the States, Mitch had a reputation for being a character.
“Because of Tyson, boxing was mainstream so everybody knew the names of the guys that he fought.
“We knew we would great soundbites from Mitch.”
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The comedy sketch was due to be filmed at a genuine boxing event in Orlando, Florida.
By coincidence, Tyson’s ex-trainer Kevin Rooney was in attendance as the cornerman for one of the boxers in action that night. Rooney caught the eye of ‘Blood’ immediately.
“There was no locker room or changing area for the boxers,” Sky Sports’ source explained. “Everybody was in the office – it wasn’t big enough for multiple grown men especially nine fighters plus their trainers!
“Mitch just suddenly started on Kevin Rooney, saying: ‘where’s my money? Tell Mike I want my money. He owes me’.
“Mitch felt like he didn’t get paid from his fight with Tyson.
“Rooney is laughing it off, not paying too much attention.
“But a trainer for one of the other fighters was getting really upset about this.
“He shouted at Mitch: ‘If you want your f***** money, why don’t you call Mike Tyson?'”
Mitch ‘Blood’ Green was quick-witted and hurled back abuse aimed at his absent rival Tyson.
“Everybody in the room burst out laughing except for this one trainer, who punches Mitch right on the nose!
“Mitch was wearing wrap-around sunglasses, which broke, and it cut him.
“Mitch ‘Blood’ Green sees his blood, and now he’s p***** off. He goes after the guy. Full-on donkey kong in this office!
“I’m standing there thinking: ‘What is happening?'”
Remember, this was intended to be a comedy sketch for TV presenter Marc Middleton’s show.
“Marc tapped our cameraman on the shoulder and said: ‘Are you rolling?’
“He wasn’t.
“I figured: ‘I’ll step into this’.
“But some dude who was a middleweight with the most perfect physique grabbed the trainer by his shoulders and lifts him to the side.
“At that point, I thought: ‘You guys handle this! If you need me, I’ll be outside!'”
Perhaps most shockingly is that, after ‘Blood’ and the trainer that attacked him were pulled apart and the blood was wiped away, “cooler heads prevailed”.
“But now Marc is freaking out because he’s got to go into the ring with Mitch ‘Blood’ Green who has been cut! I had no idea if Marc would become the centre for Mitch’s frustrations.
“Marc was asking the promoter of the event: ‘Mitch is okay, right?’
“There’s one more thing…
“We bought a Don King wig for Marc to wear, to make Mitch mad!”
Maybe it speaks volumes about Mitch ‘Blood’ Green, somewhat of a showman, that he went through with the comedy sparring sketch with the utmost professionalism.
“Mitch was great,” Sky Sports’ source remembered. “He liked to laugh and have a good time. He couldn’t have been nicer about the whole thing. He was cool.”
Image:Green sporting an injury after his infamous brawl with Tyson
In 1988, five years earlier, Mitch ‘Blood’ Green cemented his legacy by hearing that his old ring rival Tyson, a fellow New Yorker, had strayed into the wrong part of town. ‘Blood’, when he wasn’t a boxer, was a notorious figure for street gang The Black Spades and nobody came into Harlem without his say-so.
Tyson was purchasing a leather jacket with “don’t believe the hype” inscribed from Dapper Dan who dressed the entire ghetto and has since become a mainstream fashion designer.
A fight erupted – Green was photographed with a swollen eye, Tyson sustained a fracture to his hand which postponed an upcoming title defence against Britain’s Frank Bruno. Donald Trump, then an advisor to Tyson, renegotiated that fight away from London’s Wembley Stadium and to Las Vegas.
Tyson remembered on his podcast Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson: “[Green] started talking and saying: ‘What you doing in my hood?’ Then it was on from there.
“Right in the street [we fought]. Real quick.
“He was just talking a lot and I really thought he was grabbing for my pockets, so I pulled my pockets out because if he ripped my pants all the money would fall and I wouldn’t have a chance to get my money so I’d have to fight this cat and then my money is to the wolves.
“So, anyway, that’s just when I started punching him.
“Boom, I knock him out cold! He keeps getting back up.
“Then I’m in the car. He rushes to my car in my Rolls-Royce, he breaks the side mirror off.”
Green became more incoherent and two months after the brawl, he was arrested for screaming about Tyson in public. A police sergeant said: “[Green] stopped his car in the middle of the street and started yelling – it was completely irrational.”
In 1997 Green sued Tyson for $25m over that brawl but was awarded just $45,000.
He was barred from going near Tyson for the next 30 days, according to the LA Times. Green’s attorney said: “Mitch has no problem with that, because he has no intention of going near Tyson. It’s like giving away snow in the winter.”
Mitch ‘Blood’ Green left the courthouse shouting: “I’m the winner, I whupped him.”
But Green never forgot his beef with Tyson.
It cost him a bullet, according to the book The Bittersweet Science: “Mitch slapped a man who’d been baiting him about his fights with Tyson. The guy bolted into his apartment and came back blasting.”
The book also said Green’s “father had been shot dead at point-blank range by a man he was simultaneously shooting dead”.
Kevin Rooney had other run-ins with Green. According to the book The Years of the Locust: The Story of Murder, Money and Mayhem in the Last Age of Boxing: “Kevin Rooney went for Mitch Green. He chased him through the crowd. Mitch Green started pushing and shoving Kevin Rooney. Other boxers jumped between them. The crowd cheered.”
Green told ESPN in 2005: “It’s a damn shame Tyson’s scared of me like that. We could make a lot of money. Aw, man!”
Green’s exact whereabouts are unknown although surely he remains in Harlem. He certainly remains forever in Tyson’s shadow.
