Boxing Hall of Fame inductee and former world champion Dwight "The Cobra" Kawasaki joins us to talk about his career and life after the sport. Dwight also talks about his retirement from boxing and what it was like being a professional boxer in the late 80s and early 90s, and why he never thought he'd make it back to the ring again. He also discusses his plans for an upcoming exhibition in Japan and what he's looking forward to in 2020, and how he feels about the current state of boxing in the United States and the state of the sport in general. Finally, Dwight talks about why he doesn't think he'll ever fight again, and who he'd like to face in a fight in the future, and if he'd even be interested in a light heavyweight fight again. Thanks to Dwight Kawasaki for coming on the show and talking about his life and career, and for being a great guest on this episode of the Boxing Hall Of Fame. We hope you enjoy this one, and we look forward to seeing you in 2020. Thank you so much for tuning in! -Your continued support is so appreciated. -Dwight Kawasaki and we hope you have a great Christmas and New Years Eve! -BONUS EPISODE. XOXO (featuring Dwight Kawaii . - , & . . . AND - Thank you for listening to the show, Dwight Kawahi Thanks for listening and supporting the show! (HAPPY THANKS! & God bless you, Blessings Love ya, God Bless You, - Blessings, Eternally - P.S. - MURDERING YOU, MALAYA, JUICY, JOY, JAY & P.A. & KELLY, RAY & JAYE - RYAN MCCARTO - SONGS - EASTER, MABY, PODCASTING, GAYLE, AND KAROLO, AND THANK YOU, DAWN, MARYA AND JAMES, GRAHAM AND JAYO & JOSH, MAYO, RYO AND JOSEPH, AND POTTERY, AND YANNA, AND TAYLOR, AND MABO AND KEVIN, AND MORE! )
00:04:16.000It seemed like back then the problem was when people would lift weights, they would get sore and then they would go to the gym and they wouldn't perform as well.
00:04:24.000And so everybody would say, oh, weights are making you stiff.
00:04:26.000They didn't allow themselves to get through a full program with a real strength and conditioning guy like Tim Hallmark or Mackie Shilstone.
00:04:33.000They were the first guys really to bulk guys up.
00:04:36.000Well, it's all about confidence and someone taking to another level, you know.
00:04:42.000And I think that at that time, people just kind of In this level, this is all we know, and this is the only way we can go, because you have to work harder if you lift weight.
00:06:35.000Well, you guys had some crazy fights, but the craziest one was probably the one where the guy landed in the middle of the ring, the guy with the parachute.
00:06:44.000What was that guy's, what did he call himself?
00:08:25.000Yeah, it's not something you can pay attention to, but was it hard to get your mind back into it after the settle, and they had to clear the guy out and arrest him and clean the ring out and everything?
00:08:35.000No, I stayed focused, and my whole thing is that You know, I felt that I won the first half.
00:09:27.000I mean, look, man, you had some incredible fights, but to me, one of my fondest memories is, you know who Kevin James is from the King of Queens, the TV show?
00:09:36.000Me and Kevin James were at my house in Encino the night you fought Tyson, the first one, the first fight, when you dropped Tyson.
00:09:43.000I'll never forget it because back then, I mean, we knew that Buster Douglas had beaten Tyson, but we kind of almost thought it was like a fluke.
00:09:50.000But when you were battering Tyson and then you put him down and stopped him, I'll never forget Kevin James jumping off the couch.
00:13:31.000And you, besides Michael Spinks, you were one of the rare guys to move up, to move up and be successful as a heavyweight.
00:13:40.000Did you just decide, like after you'd beat Dwight Muhammad Kawi, who was a cruiserweight champion, and you'd beat, you know, some real good names at that weight class, you had just decided that heavyweight was where the real money was at?
00:13:52.000Well, actually, you know, my goal, I wanted to be the heavyweight champion of the world.
00:13:58.000And the only person I knew is Mike Tyson do it, I could do it.
00:14:05.000So when Mike Tyson whooped everybody, you know, people tend to make up excuses.
00:16:03.000And so the thing is, is that, you know, he was that person that I watched everyone in his fight, and I realized you can't make that many mistakes with Mike.
00:16:16.000When you finally did beat him, when you did fight him and did beat him, do you think that that raised your celebrity and your notoriety to a different level?
00:16:36.000Because, you know, my whole thing, I could box, but everybody thought that because I didn't curse a lot or I don't get in trouble, that you ain't mean enough to be the mean guy.
00:17:29.000I knew that I could take it, but can you take it?
00:17:33.000And so the whole big thing is, the whole big thing, my whole thing, my whole big thing with Mike is that what Mike had told somebody, say, everybody got a plan until they get hit.
00:17:46.000Because, you know, if you hitting it, if this guy worry about you hitting him, and he ain't worried about getting hit, so he ain't got to worry about it.
00:17:53.000But I knew if you hit me, I was going to hit you back.
00:17:58.000And so that was part of the plan was to let him know that early.
00:18:02.000When you fought him, particularly in the first round, you pressed him.
00:18:06.000That was a rare moment to see someone really pushing Mike back and getting Mike back on his heels.
00:18:12.000Well, in order of the game, if you like Mike get you back, that may be it.
00:19:08.000Was there anything surprising about that fight?
00:19:12.000Not to me because I didn't want no surprise because of the surprise you may get knocked out.
00:19:17.000So the thing is to stay on him and let him think about all those things.
00:19:24.000Now once you stopped him in the first fight, the second fight is the fight that's probably the most famous fight because he bit a chunk of your ear off and I saw it when you were coming in here.
00:19:50.000That was one of the craziest moments when Mills Lane looked at you and you were jumping up in the air and looked at Tyson and realized, holy shit, he bit a chunk out of your fucking ear.
00:22:54.000He bit me when we went back in, and he thought I was going to be scared, and he seen I caught him with these two shots, and He bit me again.
00:23:03.000Man, I jumped back and I was just getting ready to kick him in the bowl.
00:24:52.000Well, I mean, when you tell people, you know, when you don't choose your parents, you don't choose your neighborhood, you ain't choose your skin color, you ain't choose to be tall or short, but, you know, this is your statue.
00:25:04.000And two people, two people came from the ghetto who boxed and...
00:25:11.000Boxing was the only thing I did real well, okay, in football.
00:25:14.000But the thing is that after all that, look how much money we made doing something that we, by doing it properly, we make money.
00:25:24.000We make money and we can both, you know, raise our family in the way that We want to raise him.
00:25:33.000How long did it take after the fight before you forgave him?
00:25:38.000I think about the time I got into the locker room and everybody started complaining.
00:25:47.000I can't believe he did this, this, this, this.
00:26:10.000Because the thing is, the thing is, I, you know, I was really mad coming down and people throwing water and people man and they upset because they didn't get a chance to see what they really wanted to see.
00:27:09.000And, you know, it's a very powerful statement, you know, for you to forgive him after that.
00:27:15.000I mean, that really, that probably did a lot of good for a lot of people to realize, man, if Evander Holyfield can forgive Mike Tyson after he bit a chunk of his ear off, I mean, that's a strong statement of character right there.
00:27:31.000Well, you know, the thing is, I didn't, now, A little earlier than that, they may not would have got that.
00:27:41.000But it's amazing what time would do for you.
00:27:47.000At one point in time, something would have happened.
00:27:51.000But because they gave me a little time to think about it and gave me, and I was like, and you know, with me, when things don't go right, I go back to the prayer and say, Lord, what is this all about?
00:28:17.000So, you know, the whole big thing is, and I talked to, a week after that, I talked to my, we were We was at the All-Star basketball game in New York, and I looked up, and everybody was streaming, and I wonder what they were streaming about, telling me to watch out.
00:31:06.000I think you've been a bully when you know you're better than somebody and you want to You want to play them in something that you know you're going to beat them.
00:37:27.000I had some people talk about nutrition, but I kind of ate the way that I want because I knew, but I was very disciplined in what food to eat and what not to eat.
00:37:40.000When you were eating, did you meal plan or did you just eat whatever you wanted to?
00:37:44.000What was a typical meal for Evander Holyfield?
00:37:46.000When Evander Holyfield, when you were in your peak condition and you're training for a fight, what would be a typical meal during camp?
00:41:02.000So he had these things that allow me to understand that Whenever I get tired, this is when you know how good to shape you into what you do when you're tired.
00:42:21.000So I remember when with the Pan-American game in 1983, so they got the cap practice to pop everybody in their neck and put them in where they can fight good because they want to see everybody win.
00:45:07.000Why don't I just rest and be thankful?
00:45:10.000And I chose to because the fact of the matter, records are meant to be broken.
00:45:15.000Somebody's going to break it eventually.
00:45:17.000Long boxing continues to go because you're looking for it to improve, the game to improve.
00:45:23.000That's a great attitude that I wish more boxers would have because it's, for fighters, many times the highs of being a champion and winning big championship fights on television under the bright lights, those highs are so high that after they get off and they retire...
00:48:49.000You're a group of people, you have to, at different hours, different time you go to these different things, make sure that you learn to see all the different things that you can be.
00:49:01.000But if you never was in class and have rules to tell you to do what you want to do, you may not ever become nothing.
00:49:09.000I became who I am because I went to that boys club and they wanted me to learn all these different things.
00:49:15.000You find that you ain't going to be great and everything, but at least you know when to be quiet, when to talk, when not to, because you're not going to be the greatest one in all the things that you do.
00:49:26.000Do you have any regrets when you look back on your championship career?
00:49:51.000I wanted my mama to be proud of me because my mama cries so much about what you should have did, what you know, and you know, And I just wanted to be one of the ones that I did what my mama said and she was proud of me and all that.
00:50:20.000But you know, when I came back from the Olympics, I kind of had that ego a little bit because I have done something that nobody else done in my family.
00:56:56.000The other thing is that I don't exactly want to coach on one person because I don't want to be that adversary that if I'm in your calling, they're just going to give it to you.
00:57:54.000And so my business manager, Shelly Finkel, told me, he said, Evander, it's my job as your business manager to tell you the thing about money.
00:58:05.000He said, you know, I said, I want to get the 30. He said, no, I'm going to get you 50 million.
00:58:14.000He said, If you fight George first, they're going to give you 20. He said, but if you fight Tyson first and get 30, they're going to give you 20 to fight him.
01:00:11.000I said, but Tyson was 20. I said, I ain't no telling what I would have been if I would have been somebody at 20. I said, you know, you're talking about a kid.
01:00:21.000I said, I came headweight champion of the world at 28 years old.
01:00:24.000And everybody said, well, you act so different.
01:00:29.000In a 20-year-old, you're going to see some difference.
01:09:58.000Yeah, but they stop it when they want to stop it.
01:10:04.000So you've got to understand who's leading this thing off to a point where you've got to get...
01:10:10.000In the game, with me in the box game, I just wanted it to be right because I know how important it is For anybody who put their life on line to be a fighter and want to say it was fair.